Professional Affiliation

Colonel, United States Air Force

Expert Bio

Colonel Eries L. G. Mentzer is the Commander, 42nd Air Base Wing, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama. She leads all base operating, infrastructure and services support for 42,000 active duty, Reserve, civilian, and contract personnel, students, and families at Maxwell and Gunter Annex in direct support of Air University, 908th Airlift Wing, Air Force Materiel Command units, Defense Information Systems Agency and more than 40 other mission partners. As Maxwell’s installation commander, she partners with local officials across a three-county, 12-city region with an annual military economic impact of $1.2 billion.

Colonel Mentzer commissioned in 1997 graduating with academic distinction from the University of Nebraska. She has served as an Air Force Intern for the Deputy Secretary of Defense, a Major Command Legislative Liaison, a Squadron Commander in Southwest Asia, a Joint Staff Planner, an Executive Officer to the Joint Staff Director, Chief Speechwriter to the Air Force Vice Chief of Staff, Executive Officer to the Air Force Chief of Staff, a Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars National Defense Fellow, and as the Vice Commander of a Navy-led Joint Base. Prior to her current position, she led the Air Force Transition Team, coordinating all ceremonial and administrative milestones to retire the 21st and appoint the 22nd Air Force Chief of Staff.