FOR RELEASE: Thursday, January 4, 2024
CONTACT: Colorado National Guard Public Affairs office, 720-250-1053 or email ng.co.coarng.list.militarysupport@army.mil
Adjutant General of Colorado promotes at official ceremony
CENTENNIAL, Colo.— The Adjutant General of Colorado U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Laura Clellan will promote to the rank of major general during a formal ceremony at the Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum, Denver, Colorado, Jan. 5, 2024, at 3:00 p.m.
Retired U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Gregory White will serve as the presiding official at the ceremony. White was a Colorado National Guardsman and served as the director of space operations, National Guard Bureau, and director of joint staff, Colorado National Guard.
Lieutenant Governor Dianne Primavera will be in attendance.
“Congratulations to General Clellan on her well-earned promotion. Laura’s leadership is making Colorado a better place for everyone, including our strong veteran community,” Governor Jared Polis said. “She has led the National Guard through challenges like wildfires and the pandemic and continues working to ensure the Guard remains ready to protect our state and nation.”
Clellan is the 44th adjutant general of Colorado, and the first female to lead the Colorado National Guard. She also serves as a member of the governor’s Cabinet and as executive director for the Colorado Department of Military and Veterans Affairs.
“I am honored to work alongside the amazing people at the Colorado Department of Military and Veterans Affairs,” Clellan said. “It is a privilege to be a part of this team of dedicated professionals who are Always Ready, Always There to support our state and defend our nation.”
Clellan commissioned in 1989 through the Reserve Officers Training Corps program at Rio Grande College in Ohio. After commissioning, she served in various assignments in the U.S. Army and U.S. Army Reserve before transferring to the Colorado Army National Guard in 1998.
Over 22 years, she served in positions of increasing responsibility within the COARNG, to include the assistant adjutant general, Army, before being appointed by Governor Polis to serve as the adjutant general of Colorado in July 2020.
She is a decorated commander with five overseas deployments and more than 34 years of military service. Her numerous awards and decorations include the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star, and Meritorious Service Medal.
Clellan also previously worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Department of Veterans Affairs.
The DMVA consists of the Colorado National Guard, Division of Veterans Affairs, and Colorado Wing of the Civil Air Patrol, totaling more than 7,300 Citizen Soldiers, Citizen Airmen, civilians, state employees, and volunteers. The DMVA supports the National Guard to defend the homeland and mobilize for overseas contingency operations, coordinates National Guard disaster response in Colorado and the region, supports the missions of the Civil Air Patrol, and assists our military members, veterans and their families to receive the state and federal benefits that they earned and deserve. The CONG also has strategic state partnerships with the Republic of Slovenia and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
For more than 160 years, the men and women of the CONG have served our nation in wartime and as the first military responders in support of civil authorities during state emergencies.
The promotion ceremony is closed to the public.