WADE ZIRKLE, PRINCIPAL
Wade Zirkle is the founding principal of German River Management, LLC, in Woodstock, Virginia. German River Management specializes in providing ATM processing and monitoring, vault cash services, cash logistics, and telecommunications for retail businesses in Virginia, West Virginia and Washington D.C. Wade’s background includes broad experience in the financial, political, and military arenas.
Prior to founding German River Management, Wade worked in Manhattan for Lehman Brothers Asset Management. At Lehman Brothers, he worked in the institutional sales and client service group, where he advised various institutional clients on financial management and pension fund planning. Clients included domestic and international corporations, as well as domestic state and local governments. Wade was on Wall Street during the historic 2008 financial collapse, where he witnessed first-hand what works – and what doesn’t work – in global finance.
Wade previously worked on a series of grassroots political campaigns on the regional, state, and national level. In 2005, he served as Field Director on former Virginia Attorney General Jerry Kilgore’s unsuccessful bid for governor. Wade served as Campaign Manager for Delegate Todd Gilbert’s first campaign for Virginia House of Delegates in 2005, in addition to managing Gilbert’s most recent re-election campaign in 2009. Wade also served as Senator John McCain’s state chairman for college GOTV operations in the bruising 2000 South Carolina GOP Presidential Primary.
Wade was the founder and first executive director of Vets for Freedom, which today is America’s largest Iraq and Afghanistan veterans political action organization. At Vets for Freedom, Wade managed day-to-day operations, including strategic communications, fundraising, marketing, and internet operations, in addition to running national television advertising campaigns for pro-mission congressional candidates. To date, Vets for Freedom has raised and spent over $11 Million in support of federal candidates who have shown unwavering resolve for U.S. military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In 2006, Wade was an early and leading voice in the veterans’ community that called for a massive troop increase in Iraq. In 2007, when the U.S. military initiated its “surge” strategy in Iraq, Wade was invited to the White House three times, along with a panel of Iraq experts, to discuss counterinsurgency strategy with President Bush and senior military officials.
After graduating from college in 2000, Wade served for five years as an Infantry Officer in the U.S. Marine Corps. He served as a Light Armored Vehicle Platoon Commander in the historic U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 with Regimental Combat Team One (RCT-1). In 2004, he returned to Iraq as a Rifle Platoon Commander and fought in the First Battle for Fallujah. Wade has been personally decorated twice for valor and is also a recipient of the Purple Heart. After the invasion, Wade’s unit, the 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, was awarded the prestigious Presidential Unit Citation for “Gallantry and determination under extremely difficult and hazardous conditions.”
Since his honorable discharge from the Marine Corps, Wade has returned to the front lines twice as a civilian combat correspondent. In 2006 he was embedded with U.S. and Iraqi troops in Ramadi, Iraq, where he wrote for The Weekly Standard and The Philadelphia Inquirer. In 2009 he wrote for Fox News while he was embedded with U.S. troops and Afghan Commandos on the Pakistani-Afghani border. Wade’s editorials have been published in numerous national publications, including The Washington Post, The Weekly Standard, and The Wall Street Journal. He has appeared regularly on cable and network news to discuss U.S. military and foreign policy.
Wade currently serves as legislative aide to Virginia Delegate Todd Gilbert (15th House District), and he is the Managing Partner of Zirkle Family Farms, LLC.
Wade holds a B.A. in political science from the University of South Carolina, and an M.B.A. from Virginia Tech’s Pamplin School of Business. He lives in his hometown of Edinburg, Virginia.