Richard M. Clark

From Richmond, Virginia, Richard Milo Clark[3] graduated from Jefferson-Huguenot-Wythe High School, where he was an All-Metro offensive lineman in football and also stood out in track and field. Originally committed to play at William & Mary in Williamsburg, he took an interest in the United States Air Force Academy during his senior year,[4] was accepted, and graduated in 1986 with a Bachelor of Science in management. As a cadet, he was a four-year letterman on the football team at linebacker.[5][6][7] During his senior season in 1985, the Falcons went 12–1 and were eighth in the final AP poll.[8][9]

In 1991, Clark was named a distinguished graduate from Squadron Officer School at Maxwell Air Force Base and, in 1994, he received a Master of Arts in human resource development at Webster University.[1] In 1996, he attended the USAF Weapons School, then at Ellsworth AFB, and in 1998 he was again a distinguished graduate at the Naval War College. The University of Maryland awarded him an honorary doctorate.[1]

Clark is a command pilot, with more than 4,200 combined hours in the B-1 Lancer, EC-135 Looking Glass, KC-135 Stratotanker, T-1 Jayhawk, T-38 Talon, T-6 Texan II, and Learjet C-21.[1] Four hundred of his flight hours have been in combat, and he received the Distinguished Flying Cross for extraordinary achievement and courage in the Global War on Terror. His initial flying assignment after pilot training was the Looking Glass in 1988 at Offutt AFB, then moved to the B-1 in 1991 at McConnell AFB.[1]

From 2010 to 2012, Clark served as the Commandant of Cadets at the United States Air Force Academy. In 2016, Clark took command of the Third Air Force in Ramstein Air Base, Germany, and in 2018, he was named Deputy Air Force Chief of Staff for Strategic Deterrence and Nuclear Integration.[1]

In July 2020, President Donald Trump nominated Clark to become the next Superintendent of the United States Air Force Academy, succeeding Jay Silveria.[10] He began his duties on September 23, becoming the first black person to lead the institution.[6][7]