John Batiste joined Klein Steel Service in November 2005 after 31 years of service in the US Army. He retired from active duty on November 1st, 2005 and transitioned to Klein Steel in Rochester, New York the same month. He and his wife Michelle were married in 1977 and have five children. Michelle has been a strong advocate for military families through multiple extended deployments.

John was commissioned as an infantry officer in 1974. Over the next 31 years, he served in a variety of leadership and staff positions, to include platoon, company, battalion, brigade, and division command. His major combat and peace enforcement experience included deployments to Saudi Arabia and Iraq during Operations Desert Shield and Storm from August 1990 to April 1991, to Bosnia-Herzegovina during the Implementation Force mission from December 1995 to November 1996, and again to Kuwait and Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom 2 from January 2004 to February 2005.

John’s final assignment in the Army was commanding general of the 1st Infantry Division from August 2002-June 2005. During this timeframe, the “Big Red One” conducted successful peace enforcement operations in Kosovo and combat operations in Iraq. The division combat team was deployed to north-central Iraq from February 2004 until February 2005 and included 22,000 soldiers from active and reserve component units from throughout the United States.

John is a graduate of the United States Military Academy and the Army War College. He earned a masters degree in financial management from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. He serves on the executive committee and board of directors of the Metals Service Center Institute, the executive committee of Raffles Insurance Ltd, and the board of advisors of the Johns Hopkins University Carey Business School. In support of veterans and their families, he is a board member of the Rochester-based Veterans Outreach Center, chair of the CDS Monarch Warrior Salute Advisory Board, past president of the Rochester Regional Veterans Business Council, and a member of the board of advisors of the First Division Museum at Cantigny.