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Air Force Maj. Gen. Gary Keefe, the adjutant general of Massachusetts and a member of the NGAUS board of directors for the last 10 years, is now the association’s chairman of the board.
Delegates to the 148th General Conference & Exhibition over the weekend in Indianapolis elected Keefe to the post.
He succeeds Army Maj. Gen. Paul Rogers, the adjutant general of Michigan.
The NGAUS bylaws limit the chairman to a one two-year term. Rogers will remain on the board as the immediate past chairman.
Keefe has 40 years in uniform. He has been the adjutant general of Massachusetts since 2016. He deployed twice in his career.
Conference delegates also elected a new vice chair-Army, new vice chair-Air and a new treasurer.
Maj. Gen. Thomas Friloux, the adjutant general of Louisiana, is now vice chair-Army.
He has mobilized onto active federal service four times in his 34 years in uniform, including for two tours in Iraq. He also mobilized with U.S. Northern Command as the dual-status commander in response to Hurricane Ida in Louisiana in 2021.
Friloux succeeds Army Maj. Gen. Hal Lamberton, the adjutant general of Kentucky, who did not run for reelection.
Air Force Brig. Gen. Shannon Smith, Idaho’s assistant adjutant general-Air, is now vice-chair-Air.
A fighter pilot with 4,600 flight hours including 500 in combat, he is also chairman of the NGAUS Combat Air Forces Task Force, which provides subject matter expertise on fighter force structure, modernization and recapitalization.
Smith succeeds retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Ondra Berry, the former adjutant general of Nevada, who did not run for reelection.
Retired Army Maj. Gen. Jimmie Cole is the new treasurer.
Cole, the deputy commissioner of the Tennessee Military Department, is a former association vice-chair-Army and the current chairman of the NGAUS finance committee, which advises the board on the budget and other fiscal matters.
He succeeds retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Ken Ross of Louisiana, who served as the association’s treasurer for the last 26 years.
Conference delegates reelected Air Force Brig. Gen. Bobbi Doorenbos of Arkansas as board secretary.
Elections were also held for board positions (Army, Air and TAG representatives) for Area II and Area V, the company-grade-Army director and the retired/separated-Army director.
Conference delegates reelected Army Maj. Gen. James Ring of Virginia, Army Lt. Col. Eric Cherkauskas of Pennsylvania, Air Force Lt. Col. Jody Schweickart of Ohio for Area II; Army Maj. Gen. Shawn Manke of Minnesota and Army Lt. Col. Quenten Johnson of South Dakota. Air Force Col. Dan Statz of Wisconsin was newly elected as the Area V Air Rep.
They also reelected Army Capt. Ryan Peterson of Massachusetts as the company-grade-Army director and retired Army Brig. Gen. Mike Oster of South Dakota as the retired/separated-Army director.
—By John Goheen
