Policy, Operations, and Technology
Sharpest Knife in the Drawer of Space
Building Large Organizations
Leading Change
Foreign Intelligence
General John W. “Jay” Raymond was raised in a military family and, after graduating from Clemson University in 1984, he was commissioned into the United States Air Force. Throughout his over 38-year career, he has served in numerous command, joint and service staff jobs in nuclear, space, cyber and air operations.
He has commanded at every level to include the 5th Space Surveillance Squadron, 30th Operations Group, 21st Space Wing, Fourteenth Air Force, Joint Forces Space Component Command, Air Force Space Command and served as the first commander of the reestablished U.S. Space Command, our nation’s newest Combatant Command. He has deployed serving as Central Command’s Director of Space Forces supporting operations in both Afghanistan and Iraq. In 2011, he was stationed in Japan and served in a critical leadership position in Operation Tomodachi, a humanitarian and disaster relief operation following a 9.0 magnitude earthquake and resulting tsunami and nuclear reactor disaster.
General Raymond is globally recognized as a transformational leader with over 38.5 years of National Security experience. He has planned, established, and led large complex organizations with a budget exceeding $30B dollars. In December of 2019, the President of the United States appointed Gen Raymond to serve as the first Chief of Space Operations for the newly established United States Space Force. As the Chief of Space Operations and the first ever Guardian, he oversaw the standup of all new Space Force organizations, transfer of personnel from other military branches, consolidation of space units from other services, setting of the services culture and the designing of its force structure. He has built extensive global partnerships with our allies and coalition partners, and with the intelligence community, the commercial space sector and civilian space agencies. As a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he served as a strategic advisor to the President, Secretary of Defense and National Security Council.
For his work in leading the initial building of the Space Force, Raymond has been described as the "father of the Space Force.” He retired from military service on January 1, 2023.
General Raymond currently serves as a Senior Managing Director for Cerberus Capital Management. Additionally, he serves as a board member for Impulse Space and Axiom Space and on the advisory board of LMI.
Raymond has been named a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institute and a Distinguished Senior Advisor for the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Included in his portfolio, Gen Raymond serves as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees for Arnold Air Society and Silver Wings a way to give back to an organization that was critical to his professional development and as an Easter Seals Ambassador.
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