Maj. General Jeff Taliaferro

U.S. Air Force (Ret) and Former Vice Director for Operations, Joint Staff, the Pentagon

Major General Taliaferro retired from the U.S. Air Force after 32 years of service. Jeff first served in a variety of B-1 flying positions, including U.S. Air Force Weapons School Instructor, and his career culminated as the Vice Director for Operations on the Joint Staff, Pentagon. He has commanded at the squadron and wing levels and last commanded the 9th Air and Space Expeditionary Task Force and NATO Air Command-Afghanistan as the senior Airman in Afghanistan.

He has extensive experience in corporate decision-making within the Department of Defense, including programming over $44 billion dollars a year into combat air force portfolios, and guiding several major weapons systems through the requirements and acquisition process. His experience includes various operations, strategy, programming and military planning positions within headquarters U.S. Air Force, Air Combat Command, U.S. Central Command, U.S Northern Command and the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Maj. Gen. (ret) Taliaferro is a command pilot with over 2,600 hours, including combat over Iraq, Serbia, and Afghanistan.

Jeff graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy (BS Human Factors Engineering), with follow on degrees from George Washington University (MA Organizational Management), and the School of Advanced Air and Space Studies (MA Operational Art and Science). He also served as a National Defense Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Washington, DC.