PORTLAND, OR, June 16, 2021 /24-7PressRelease/ -- General Merrill A. McPeak has received the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award. He was the fourteenth chief of staff of the US Air Force. Following retirement from active military service, General McPeak became a successful investor and director of private and publicly-held companies.
General McPeak entered the Air Force in 1957 as a Distinguished Graduate of the San Diego State College ROTC program. He won his pilot's wings in early 1959, as a Distinguished Graduate of Air Force Flying Training. His first operational assignment was to an F-104C squadron, at George AFB, California. His unit spent 4 months a year on rotation to Moron AB, Spain, where he pulled 24/7 air defense alert. Back in California, his unit was brought to increased readiness during the Bay of Pigs invasion. He was then assigned overseas to an F-100 squadron at RAF Station Woodbridge, in East Anglia. At an early point in his service there, his unit was recalled from gunnery training in Libya and put on heightened alert when the Russians and East Germans began construction of the Berlin Wall. Later, he was on nuclear alert during the Cuban Missile Crisis. He was later reassigned to Headquarters, Third Air Force, then located near London, to serve as an instructor and check pilot for fighter units located in the United Kingdom. Returning to the United States, he became a gunnery instructor and weapons officer for West Germany's F-104G program, located at Luke AFB, Arizona. In this capacity, he was awarded honorary Luftwaffe pilot wings. At the end of 1966 he was chosen to become a demonstration pilot with the Air Force Thunderbirds, stationed at Nellis AFB, Nevada. He spent two years as Solo Pilot with the elite aerobatic team, performing before millions of people in 199 official airshows in the US and overseas. Reporting to Phu Cat AB, Vietnam, he flew close air support for Army and Marine Corps "in-country" operations. Later, he volunteered for service with "Misty," the celebrated high-speed Forward Air Controllers, flying "out-country" missions to stop traffic down the Ho Chi Minh Trail. He flew 98 Misty missions, first as Operations Officer, and later as Commander of the unit. Midway through his Vietnam tour, he was transferred to Tuy Hoa AB, where he was the wing's chief check pilot. In all, he flew 285 combat missions.
Returning from Vietnam, General McPeak attended the Armed Forces Staff College, then reported to the Pentagon for duty with the Air Staff. During a three-year tour, he worked closely with Israel's Air Force in the period between the "War of Attrition," and the "Yom Kippur War." Promoted twice, he left the Pentagon to attend the National War College, Class of 1974. He then went to MacDill AFB, Florida, flying the F-4E, but was soon reassigned to French language training as the perspective Air Attaché to Cambodia. When Cambodia fell to the Khmer Rouge, he went to New York City as Military Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. While at the Council, his article, "Israel: Borders and Security," appeared in the April 1976 edition of Foreign Affairs.
Returning to Europe, General McPeak spent five years in a series of assignments: Base Commander of RAF Station Mildenhall, England; Wing Vice Commander of the Fighter Training Wing at Zaragoza, Spain (flying F-4s); and Assistant Chief of Staff for Current Operations, at the NATO Center Region's war headquarters, Boerfink, Germany. He then got his dream assignment, Commander of the 20th Fighter Wing, RAF Station Upper Heyford (flying F-111s). Upon promotion to Brigadier General, he moved to the Air Force's European Headquarters at Ramstein, Germany, as chief of staff. He returned to the US for duty as Deputy for Plans at Headquarters, Tactical Air Command, Langley AFB, Virginia, then back to the Pentagon as Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff for Programs and Resources. He left the Pentagon to become Commander, Twelfth Air Force, Bergstrom AFB, Texas (flying F-16s). His duties there involved command of 40,000 people and 8 main operating bases in the US and Panama, while serving concurrently as commander of the Air Force component of the joint US Southern Command. Upon promotion to four-star general, he assumed command of Pacific Air Forces, Hickam AFB, Hawaii (flying F-15s). He commanded 75,000 people and 10 main operating bases in Hawaii, Alaska, Guam, Japan, Korea, and the Philippines, and served concurrently as commander of the Air Force component of the joint Pacific Command.
General McPeak was Air Force chief of staff from late 1990 to late 1994. During this period, he was responsible for a combined force of 850,000 active duty, reserve, National Guard, and civilians serving at 1300 locations around the world. As a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he was a military advisor to the Secretary of Defense and the President. He served during a period of very active US involvement overseas, including Operation Desert Storm, the "Blackhawk Down" intervention in Somalia, and the disorder accompanying the breakup of Yugoslavia. At the same time, he conceived and executed the most extensive reorganization of the Air Force in its history, creating a service better suited to meet the nation's twenty-first century defense needs. His US military decorations include the Department of Defense and the Air Force Distinguished Service Medals, the Silver Star, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Legion of Merit, and the Air Medal.
Following retirement from active military service, General McPeak began a second career in business. He has been a director of nearly 20 public companies, including Tektronix, TWA, Aerojet Rocketdyne, and ECC International, where he was for many years Chairman of the Board. He had long service as a director of privately held Sensis Corp., before Saab acquired that company in 2011. His public company directorships include Iovance Biotherapeutics (IOVA), where he reorganized the company while serving as interim CEO.
General McPeak was a founding investor, director, and Chairman of Ethicspoint, a Portland-based provider of risk management and compliance software-as-a-service that was acquired in February 2112 by The Riverside Company, with a significant return to investors. He co-invested with Riverside and remained a director of the company, rebranded as NAVEX Global and sold again in November 2014 to Vista Equity Partners. Based on return to investors, Ethicspoint/NAVEX is the one of the most successful Oregon business startups in decades.
General McPeak was for several years a director and Chairman of Coast Plating, Inc., a Los Angeles-based company doing metal finishing for the aerospace and other industries. Trive Capital acquired Coast Plating in October 2013. He co-invested with Trive and remained a director of the company, rebranded as Valence Surface Technologies. VST became the world's largest independent provider of metal finishing services to the aerospace and defense industries. It was subsequently sold at a high-multiple return to partners and investors.
In 2008, General McPeak was a national Co-Chairman of Obama for President. The president subsequently appointed him to the American Battle Monuments Commission, responsible for supervising the many cemeteries and monuments in 15 countries overseas that commemorate the achievements and sacrifices of the men and women of our Armed Forces. He was the eleventh Chairman of the Commission and the first airman to hold that position. In September 2017, in connection with his success in raising funds to renovate the Lafayette Escadrille Memorial, in Paris, France, and making this monument an ABMC property, General McPeak received the Air Force Distinguished Public Service Award, the highest civilian decoration awarded by the Department of the Air Force. In September 1918, General McPeak was made an Officer of the French Legion of Honor.
Hangar Flying, the first of three books of memoirs, was published in May 2012. Volume Two, Below the Zone, appeared in November 2013. The final volume, Roles and Missions, went on sale in January 2017. General McPeak appeared in and was technical advisor to the Ken Burns/Lynn Novick documentary The Vietnam War, released September 2017.
General McPeak earned a Bachelor of Arts in economics at San Diego State College in 1957 and a Master of Science in international relations at George Washington University in 1974. In 1992, San Diego State University honored General McPeak with its first ever Lifetime Achievement Award. In 1995, George Washington University gave him its Distinguished Alumni Award, the "George." In 2005, on the 150th anniversary of the founding of Sigma Chi fraternity, he was selected one of 150 members of its Hall of Fame. He was among the initial seven inductees to the Oregon Aviation Hall of Honor. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, New York City. His social memberships include the Arlington Club and the University Club, both of Portland, Oregon, and the Cercle de l'Union Interalliée, Paris.
A celebrated Marquis listee, Gen. McPeak has been profiled in the 44th through 70th editions of Who's Who in America, the 34th through 37th editions of Who's Who in Finance and Business and the 2000 edition of Who's Who in 20th Century America.
About Marquis Who's Who®
Since 1899, when A. N. Marquis printed the First Edition of Who's Who in America®, Marquis Who's Who® has chronicled the lives of the most accomplished individuals and innovators from every significant field of endeavor, including politics, business, medicine, law, education, art, religion and entertainment. Today, Who's Who in America® remains an essential biographical source for thousands of researchers, journalists, librarians and executive search firms around the world. Marquis® now publishes many Who's Who titles, including Who's Who in America®, Who's Who in the World®, Who's Who in American Law®, Who's Who in Medicine and Healthcare®, Who's Who in Science and Engineering®, and Who's Who in Asia®. Marquis® publications may be visited at the official Marquis Who's Who® website at www.marquiswhoswho.com.
# # #