Lt Col Kelsey Smith is the Deputy Director of the Center for Character and Leadership Development at the U.S. Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colo. In this role, she oversees cadet character and leadership development, provides oversight of the Cadet Wing Honor System and Experiential Learning and Education Divisions. Furthermore, she promotes internal and external strategic relationships to leverage best practices in character and leadership development, including with other military service academies, Department of War leadership centers, civilian universities, and other institutions and organizations with expertise in this area.

Lt Col Smith received her commission at the University of Wyoming in December 2009 with a degree in Psychology. She has deployed to Guam, Africa and Iraq in support of Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. After assignments at JBER, Alaska and Hurlburt, Fla. she participated in the Education with Industry program at Delta TechOps in Atlanta, Ga. There, she was tasked to learn how the culture of the company enabled new and transformative programs like predictive maintenance and data analytics. These lessons learned were brought back to the Pentagon and the Tesseract Innovation Team before transitioning to Force Development, where she was the Education and Training Chief for Aircraft Maintenance Officer Force Development at the Air Staff Logistics Directorate. Lt Col Smith was responsible for aligning the education and training ecosystem for the 21A career field across AFIT, AMOC, AMMOS, and the Eaker Center and others to develop officers with organizational leadership and sortie production expertise. Mostly recently, she commanded the 33d Maintenance Squadron at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. where she was responsible for approximately 330 Airmen across 11 AFSCs who oversaw all back shop maintenance support for 53 F-35A Lightning II aircraft and a $43.6 million dollar fleet of support equipment.

Air Command and Staff College (2023)

Maintenance Officer’s Intermediate Course (2017)

Squadron Officer School (2015)

Masters Degree – Strategic Leadership (2012)

Masters Degree – Conflict/Negotiation Management (2012)

Air and Space Basic Course (2010)

Bachelors of Science Degree – Psychology (2009)

Deputy Director, Center for Character and Leadership Development, U.S. Air Force Academy, Colo. (June 2026 – Present)

Commander, 33d Maintenance Squadron, 33d MXG, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. (May 2023 – June 2026)

Education and Training Chief, Force Development, Aircraft Maintenance Division, Logistics Directorate, Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics, Engineering, and Force Protection, the Pentagon, Va. (October 2021 – May 2023)

Tesseract Director of Operations, Tesseract Logistics Office of Innovation, Logistics Directorate, Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics, Engineering, and Force Protection, the Pentagon, Va. (July 2019 – October 2021)

Education with Industry Fellow, Delta Air Lines, Atlanta, Ga. (August 2018 – July 2019)

Wing Executive Officer, 1 SOW, Hurlburt Field, Fla. (June 2017 – August 2018)

Director of Operations, 901 SOAMXS, 1 SOMXG, Hurlburt Field, Fla. (June 2016 – June 2017)

Maintenance Operations Officer, 801 SOAMXS, 1 SOMXG, Hurlburt Field, Fla. (September 2014 – June 2016)

90th Aircraft Maintenance Unit Officer in Charge, 3 AMXS, JBER, Alaska (May 2013 – July 2014)

36 Maintenance Operations Officer, 36 MXS, Anderson Air Force Base, Guam. (October 2012 – April 2013)

3d Maintenance Group Executive Officer, 3 MXG, JBER, Alaska (February 2012 – October 2012)

Fabrication Flight Commander; 3 MXS, JBER, Alaska (January 2011 – February 2012)

Aerospace Ground Equipment Flight Commander; 3 MXS, Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska (July 2010 – January 2011)

Effective Dates of Promotion

Lieutenant Colonel (November 2024)

Major (September 2019)

Captain (January 2014)

First Lieutenant (January 2012)

Second Lieutenant (January 2010)