In its ongoing commitment to support veterans, the Jones Graduate School of Business hosts an annual series of lectures by veterans who have excelled in business and public service.

Pete Dawkins is senior advisor to Virtu Financial, an electronic market making firm. A 1959 graduate of West Point, Dawkins served for 24 years in the U.S. Army. During his military career, he commanded a company in the 82nd Airborne Division, led a battalion in Korea, taught at West Point, was a White House Fellow and served as military assistant to the Deputy Secretary of Defense. After serving in Korea, he commanded the Third Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division, and was promoted to Brigadier General in 1981.

Dawkins holds numerous military awards and decorations, including the Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Bronze Star for Valor with Oak Leaf Cluster and three Vietnamese Gallantry Crosses. At West Point, he was First Captain of the Corps of Cadets, President of the Class of 1959, Captain of Army's undefeated football team and an All-American halfback. He won the Heisman Trophy as the nation's outstanding college football player. Selected as a Rhodes Scholar, Dawkins studied at Oxford University, and later received a masters degree and a Ph.D. from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University.