Dr. Pilkington has had a successful 20-year career in the United States Marine Corps and was the Program Manager for the Navy's Anti-terrorism & Force Protection Program after leaving active duty. He has been an executive coach to senior leaders, conducted diversity, equity, and inclusion interventions, and has been in the role of a thought leader. He has conducted team building using qualitative and quantitative analysis. He has been a consultant with Global Consortium for eight years.

Dr. Chris Pilkington is the director for the Educational Leadership & Management (ELM) online program at Alliant. He earned a Baccalaureate degree in Workforce Education and Development, a Master's in Human Resources, and a doctorate in Leadership.