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Leslie Maher

Leslie A. Maher

  • Brigadier General, U.S. Air Force (Ret.)

Biography

Brig. Gen. Leslie A. Maher is the former commander of the Jeanne M. Holm Center for Officer Accessions and Citizen Development, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama. In that capacity, she led a 3,000-member workforce to educate, train and develop over 120,000 high school, university and post-graduate students in the principles of leadership, officership and citizenship.

Brig. Gen. Maher, a native of Gregory, South Dakota, enlisted in the Air Force in 1987. She served as an aircraft mechanic on the A-7, F-117, F-16, and B-1 aircraft for her first eight years.  After her enlistment ended, she attended Wichita State University and joined the 184th Fighter Wing, Kansas Air National Guard.

Upon completion of her degree, Brig. Gen. Maher was commissioned through Officer Training School at Maxwell AFB and reported to Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida, and Randolph AFB, Texas, for Joint Undergraduate Navigator Training. She earned her wings in 1997 and has participated in numerous operations including operations Southern Watch, Allied Force, Noble Eagle, Desert Fox, Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom and the relief efforts in support of Joint Task Force-Matthew.

She has served in several capacities including KC-135 Weapons Officer, Foreign Area Officer, and the JTF-Port Opening Commander for JTF-Matthew, where she led recovery efforts for the island of Haiti after a devastating hurricane in 2016. Additionally, she served as both deputy and director of Mobility Forces directing more than 2,700 airlift missions, supporting the recovery of the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico after Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017. She later served as the commander of the 375th Air Mobility Wing at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, and the senior military assistant to the 24th and 25th secretaries of the Air Force while assigned to the Pentagon.