General Merrill A. (“Tony”) McPeak is President of McPeak and Associates, a fifteen-year old consulting firm. From October 1990 until October 1994, he was chief of staff of the U.S. Air Force. During this period, he was the senior officer responsible for organization, training and equipage of a combined active duty, National Guard, Reserve and civilian work force of over 850,000 people serving at 1,300 locations in the United States and abroad. As a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he and the other service chiefs were principal military advisors to the Secretary of Defense, the National Security Council and the President.
General McPeak entered the Air Force in 1957 as a Distinguished Graduate of the San Diego State College ROTC program. A career fighter pilot, he spent two years with the Air Force’s elite aerobatic team, the Thunderbirds, performing before millions of people in nearly 200 official air shows in the U.S. and overseas. He flew 269 combat missions in Vietnam. Senior leadership assignments included command of the 20th Fighter Wing in NATO, the Twelfth Air Force (and concurrently U.S. Southern Command Air Forces) and the Pacific Air Forces. He was Air Force chief during a period of very active US involvement overseas, including Operation Desert Storm. While leading the Air Force, he conceived and executed the most extensive reorganization in its history, creating a service better suited to meet the nation’s defense needs.
Following retirement from active service, General McPeak began a second career in business. He served on the board of directors of Tektronix, TWA and ECC International, where he was for many years chairman of the board. He is currently a director of DGT Holdings (DGTC.OB), Derycz Scientific (DYSC.OB), Miller Energy Resources (NASDAQ, MILL), Genesis Biopharma (GNBP: OTC.BB), and Coast Plating (privately held). He is Chairman of Ethicspoint, a privately held, Portland-based provider of risk management software-as-a-service, including secure, anonymous reporting of ethical violations in the workplace. General McPeak has been and is an active investor and director of companies in the early development stage, mainly in the high tech sector. He is a member of the Advisory Board of the L.A. Film School.
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.” 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, and in 2008-9 was a national co-chairman of Obama for President. In 2010, President Obama appointed General McPeak to the American Battle Monuments Commission. The Commissioners subsequently elected him Chairman.
