Ms. Leslie Y. Forrester is the Chief of Staff, Headquarters U.S. Air Force Academy (USAFA), Colorado Springs, Colo., the nation’s premier institution for developing officers and leaders of character and quality dedicated to service to our nation. Ms. Forrester serves as the Academy’s Chief Business Officer, overseeing a broad range of administrative, policy, and organizational functions of the Academy’s 500-person headquarters staff supporting the commissioning and university missions as well as the installation’s 10,000 personnel workforce, $450 million budget and over $9 billion in real property and infrastructure. Previously, Ms. Forrester held positions as a program manager with the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center and several positions in the Outreach Division of the USAFA Directorate of Strategic Communications/Public Affairs. She was the Deputy Chief of Staff before assuming her current position.

Her 27-year active-duty military career is marked by diversified assignments and leadership in a variety of disciplines including program management, recruiting, weapon system acquisition, and public affairs. Ms. Forrester served in multiple positions including at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, with the ICBM System Program Office; at Andrews AFB, Md., with Headquarters Air Force Office of Special Investigations; at Peterson AFB, Colo., in the Electronic Systems Group and at Headquarters, Air Force Space Command; at the U.S. Air Force Academy in various positions in the Cadet Wing, including Cadet Group 3 leadership, and as Chief of Recruiting in the Directorate of Admissions. Her last military assignment was with the Secretary of the Air Force, Office of Public Affairs at the Pentagon, Washington, D.C. Ms. Forrester also served as an Air Advisor with the Combined Air Power Transition Force to the Afghanistan Air Corps, and as the Joint Acquisition Review Board Deputy Director for U.S. Forces-Afghanistan.

A native of southern California, Ms. Forrester first entered the Air Force in June 1988 as an enlisted Information and Personnel Manager. She was commissioned in 1998 through the Officer Training School and retired from active duty in 2015. Ms. Forrester earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Chapman University in California, a master’s degree in Military Operational Art and Science from Air University, and is a certified Level 3 acquisition professional. Ms. Forrester is married to Colonel (Ret) William J. Maxwell, Jr. They have two adult sons.