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Below are the 2021 KEYNOTE SPEAKERS for the Leadership Summit!

 

 

THURSDAY, 22 APRIL

 
Vice Chief, National Guard Bureau, Lt. Gen. Marc H. Sasseville

 

Lt. Gen. Marc H. Sasseville is the 12th Vice Chief of the National Guard Bureau, Arlington, Virginia. The VCNGB is second in charge of the National Guard Bureau which is a joint activity of the Department of Defense. The VCNGB assists the Chief of the National Guard Bureau in performing duties as a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and principal advisor to the Secretary of Defense, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Secretary of the Army, and Secretary of the Air Force. The Vice Chief also serves as the principal advisor to the Secretary of the Army, Secretary of the Air Force, the Chief of Staff of the Army, and the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, on matters relating to federalized forces of the Guard and its subcomponents, the Army National Guard of the United States, and the Air National Guard of the United States.

Lt. Gen. Sasseville graduated from the United States Air Force Academy in 1985 with a Bachelor of Science degree in International Affairs. Following pilot training, he served in various operational units in United States Air Forces Europe, Tactical Air Command/Air Combat Command, and Pacific Air Forces. After his last active duty assignment, he joined the District of Columbia Air National Guard. He has held squadron, group, wing and numbered air force command. He also served as the Senior Defense Official and Defense Attaché to Turkey.

Prior to assuming his current position, Lt. Gen. Sasseville was the Commander, Continental U.S. North American Aerospace Defense Command Region and First Air Force, Air Forces Northern, headquartered at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida.

 
Director, Air National Guard, Lt. Gen. Michael A. Loh


Lt. Gen. Michael A. Loh is the Director, Air National Guard, the Pentagon, Arlington, Virginia. He is responsible for formulating, developing and coordinating all policies, plans and programs affecting more than 107,000 Air National Guard Airmen and civilians in more than 90 wings and 175 geographically separated units across 213 locations throughout the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Virgin Islands.

Lt. Gen. Loh is a 1984 graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy. He served seven years on activeduty as an F-16 instructor and strike pilot for U.S. Air Forces Europe and at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona. He joined the Colorado Air National Guard in 1991 and has held command, staff and supervisory positions including group and squadron commander; Air Force Assistant to the Commander, North American Aerospace Defense Command; Assistant to the Chief of Staff; and Assistant Adjutant General of Colorado for Air/Space. He has deployed multiple times to both the Pacific and Central Command regions and commanded combat operations during operations Iraqi Freedom and Provide Comfort II. Prior to his current position, he was The Adjutant General, Colorado National Guard.

 

FRIDAY, 23 APRIL

 
Director, Army National Guard, Lieutenant General Jon A. Jensen


Lieutenant General Jon A. Jensen is the Director, Army National Guard. He guides the formulation, development and implementation of all programs and policies affecting the Army National Guard; a force of nearly 335,000 Soldiers in the 50 states, three territories and the District of Columbia.

General Jensen served previously as the 31st Adjutant General of the state of Minnesota and earlier as the Commanding General, 34th Infantry Division, St. Paul, Minnesota; he was dual-hatted as the Deputy Commander and Army Reserve Component Integration Advisor, United States Army Africa and Southern European Task Force, United States Africa Command, Vicenza, Italy.

General Jensen has commanded at the company, battalion, brigade, and division levels. His operational assignments include OPERATION DESERT SPRING, OPERATION JOINT FORGE, and OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM.

 
Dr. Miriam Matthews, PhD


Dr Miriam MatthewsMiriam Matthews is a senior behavioral and social scientist at the RAND Corporation. She conducts research in the areas of political psychology and diversity and multiculturalism.

Matthews has published research on multiple topics, including the factors that contribute to negative intergroup attitudes among Americans and Arabs, the effects of threats on political attitudes, the situations that influence support for anti-Western jihad, and the possible effects of malign and subversive information efforts on attitudes and behaviors. She has also examined barriers to diversity within the Department of Defense civilian workforce, hazing measurement and prevention, sexual assault prevention and response, and racial/ethnic harassment and discrimination. 

Matthews earned her Ph.D. in social psychology from Claremont Graduate University, and she was a postdoctoral research fellow with the University of Oxford.

 

 
Research Focus