"Dr. Ben Magee has spent his career at the intersection of intelligence, technology, and community — building systems that protect, platforms that empower, and books that equip."
By the Numbers
16
Years of Military Service
$140M+
Aggregate Revenue Managed
14+
Companies Founded or Acquired
$175M+
Portfolio Company Value
2019
Began Studying the Great Wealth Transfer
The Origin Story — Why 2019 Matters
He Was Studying This Before It Had a Name
In 2019, Dr. Ben Magee began studying a phenomenon that had not yet entered the mainstream conversation: the largest generational transfer of wealth in American history. While most of the country was unaware of the term "Great Wealth Transfer," Dr. Magee was already mapping its implications for minority entrepreneurs — analyzing the data, identifying the gaps in existing financial empowerment frameworks, and developing the blueprint that would become his forthcoming book, THE GREAT WEALTH TRANSFER™.
He was not responding to a trend. He was ahead of one.
Full Biography
Four Decades of Building
Military & Intelligence
Dr. Magee served in the United States Army and Army National Guard for 16 years — from 1986 to 2004 — holding roles that represent the highest levels of military service and specialization.
He served as a Sentinel at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers, one of the most demanding and honored posts in the United States military. He was a Member of the First Presidential Honor Guard, providing security for the President of the United States, foreign dignitaries, and VIPs. He served as a Tactical Military Intelligence Officer, a Nuclear Weapons and Strategic Arms Specialist, an Infantry Scout, and a Ranger.
He held a Top Secret/SSBI security clearance. The discipline, analytical rigor, and high-stakes decision-making forged in 16 years of service are the foundation of everything he has built since.
Technology & Governance
Dr. Magee has operated at the highest levels of national security technology for more than three decades — not as an advisor, but as the architect.
He served as Chief Design Architect supporting the Architecture Management and Information Assurance directorates of the Office of the Secretary of Defense Chief Information Office, where he designed the OSD enterprise firewall, created IT change request policies and procedures, and built the architecture framework for the new OSD Enterprise network. He directed the $500M DoD Command Communications Survivability Program at the Pentagon.
Earlier in his career he served at Booz Allen Hamilton as Project Manager and Design Architect, engineering network and security architectures for DoD agencies, and at SAIC as Senior IT Systems Engineer — including managing a Y2K firewall engineering team that deployed 122 firewalls worldwide for a global banking client.
He is the founder of Reform Intelligence®, a technology and AI governance firm serving enterprise and DoD-adjacent clients. His certifications include CISSP, CHS-III, CCIE, CCNP, CCNA, PMP, and more than a dozen others — a credential stack reflecting sustained mastery across technology, security, and enterprise leadership.
Publishing & Financial Literacy
Dr. Magee is the founder of Reform Publishing LLC, distributed by Phoenix Marketing & Distribution LLC. His catalog spans nine published titles across two series — with a flagship forthcoming title that represents the culmination of research begun in 2019.
The Financial Literacy Series includes Understanding the Numbers™ (2nd Ed.), validated as a First Step Act program reaching incarcerated individuals and reentry populations across the country, as well as In Wealth We Trust, The 12 Tenets of the Richest Man in Babylon, and Poverty Is A Mindset, Wealth Is A System.
The Communication Mastery Series™ is a six-volume progression through the levels of human communication — The Art of Small Talk, The Art of Conversation, The Art of Listening, The Art of Asking Questions, The Art of Persuasion, and The Art of Negotiation — with The Art of Silence as an advanced companion volume.
His forthcoming book, THE GREAT WEALTH TRANSFER™, is the first comprehensive acquisition playbook written specifically for minority and underserved entrepreneurs — drawing on research that began in 2019, years before the topic entered the mainstream conversation.
Advocacy & Community
Dr. Magee is the founder of VALOR (Veterans' Alliance for Legislation & Organizational Reform, Inc.), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit headquartered in Washington, DC. Through VALORLink™, VALOR connects veterans in crisis with trained fellow veteran volunteers in real time, synchronized with the VA Crisis Hotline.
He is also the founder of the Minority Owned Business Coalition, Inc. (MOBC), a certified 501(c)(3) nonprofit organized since 2003 to provide financial assistance, endowments, scholarships, and mentorship to companies, youth, and underserved communities across the country.
Credentials & Affiliations
Certifications & Education
Education
Certifications (Selected)
Memberships
Security Clearance
Philosophy
Principles That Drive the Work
"Inspiration without implementation is entertainment. I write books that change behavior, not just beliefs."
"The data has always been there. The question is whether people with the right information are willing to act on it."
"Technology should serve the vulnerable, not just the powerful. That's true in AI governance and it's true in veteran crisis response."
"Generational wealth is not built in one lifetime. It's built in one decision — made in the right lifetime."
Personal
The Person Behind the Credentials
Dr. Magee is married to Marie, with whom he has built a family over 35 years. He is based in Virginia. He is a builder — of companies, of communities, of platforms, and of people. Everything he writes, he has lived.