Colonel Stephen Banks began his U.S. Army career as an armor officer in 1998 after his graduation from Purdue University with a degree in electrical engineering. He was initially assigned to 3rd Infantry Division and deployed to Kuwait in 1999-2000. He was subsequently assigned to 1st Armored Division in Wiesbaden and Buedingen, Germany and deployed to Iraq in 2003-2004.

In 2006, Colonel Banks was selected to serve in Functional Area 57 – Simulations Operations and was assigned to West Point as an instructor and simulations center director from 2008-2011, after completion of a Masters of Business Administration degree at Purdue University.

Following completion of Command and General Staff College and the School of Advanced Military Studies, Colonel Banks was assigned as a planner and later chief of knowledge management for the XVIII Airborne Corps. He deployed to Afghanistan in 2014 as a planner to the NATO International Security Assistance Force - Joint Command (IJC). In 2016 he was assigned as the Chief of the U.S. Army Europe Regional Joint Combined Exercise Branch in Wiesbaden, Germany; and then served as the Chief of Operations for the U.S. Army Joint Multinational Simulation Center from 2017-2019. Following completion of the U.S. Army War College, Colonel Banks was posted as the Division Chief of the Environment Operations Division, Joint Staff J7 in Suffolk, Virginia 2020-2023.

In 2023, Colonel Banks was assigned as the Branch Head Modelling and Simulation Learning Technology, HQ Supreme Allied Commander Transformation in Norfolk, Virginia. He also serves as the capability monitor for three programmes: NATO Next Generation Modelling and Simulation, Political Military Assisted Decision Making, and Education Training Exercise and Evaluation Functional Services.