Brigadier General (Ret.) Anne Macdonald, a combat veteran, graduate of the first gender-integrated class of West Point and senior Army aviator, is the new leader of the U.S. Army Women’s Foundation. She was elected by the board of directors and assumed her duties March 15 in Washington, DC. The Army Women’s Foundation is a non-profit organization that supports the women who serve or have served in the U.S. Army. Its programs preserve history, facilitate discussion, fund research and award scholarships for post-secondary education. “I am absolutely honored to have the opportunity to lead this organization,” BG Macdonald said. “This is an opportunity to empower women, to connect with them, to respect them and to honor their service.”
Until her retirement in 2011, BG Macdonald served over 30 years in the U.S. Army, leading and building highly effective teams. She is qualified as a UH60 Blackhawk pilot, a paratrooper and is air assault qualified. BG Macdonald served 4 years in the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) and 18th Airborne Corps, 7 years in the Republic of Korea, 2 1/2 years in Germany before, during and after the fall of the Iron Curtain and 6 years as a General Officer. BG Macdonald completed two combat tours. The first was in Operation Desert Storm in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq. She completed her second combat tour in Operation Enduring Freedom, serving as the Deputy Commanding General for the NATO Training Mission to develop police in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Her key assignments in the Army include serving as the Deputy Director of Operations, Military Command Center, Joint Chiefs of Staff, The Pentagon; Deputy Commanding General, 7th Infantry Division and Fort Carson, Colorado later designated Division West, First Army and Fort Carson; and Chief of Staff, United States Army Reserve Command, Fort McPherson, Georgia. BG Macdonald continues to train high-performing organizations after her military career. She serves as an executive coach and seminar facilitator with True Growth Leadership. Along with her husband, Major General John Macdonald, USA, Ret., she also volunteers to facilitate an annual West Point Ethics and Leadership Seminar for the faculty members of 45 High Schools in the DC Metro area.