MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. – Cols. Ralph Miller, Pacific Region deputy chief of staff for operations, and Warren Vest, former national finance officer, have been selected as the newest at-large members of the Civil Air Patrol Board of Governors.
With his selection by the CAP Senior Advisory Group, Miller succeeded Lt. Col. Ned Lee of the Pacific Region as one of the BoG’s four at-large members. Vest will replace Brig. Gen. Richard Anderson, former national commander, when Anderson’s term expires Aug. 27.
“These two gentlemen are excellent additions to the Board of Governors,” said retired U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. John Speigel, who serves as BoG chairman. “Their service to CAP is impressive, and we are looking forward to working with them.”
Miller served as Nevada Wing commander from November 2007-October 2011. A CAP member since 1982, he previously served in both the Nevada and Michigan wings as safety officer, standardization/evaluation officer and director of operations.
He is qualified as a CAP check pilot for both powered airplanes and gliders, mission check pilot, mission pilot and incident commander. He holds master ratings in standardization and evaluation, emergency services, operations, safety and finance and senior ratings in communications and information technology.
Miller retired to Nevada in 1999 after a 30-year career in the automotive industry. He held executive positions at General Motors and Rockwell International before becoming president of Modern Engineering and, later, MSX International.
Since joining CAP in 1983, Vest has served as Maryland Wing director of operations; Virginia Wing director of operations, director of finance, chief of staff, vice commander and interim wing commander; Middle East Region vice commander, and served as national finance officer from September 2009-October 2012.
He was honored as CAP’s first National Finance Officer of the Year in 2007 for his role in creating the organization’s Wing Banker Program and implementing it for the Virginia Wing. The program ultimately led to CAP’s first ever unqualified audit opinion for fiscal year 2008.
Vest was a mission pilot and incident commander for more than 20 years. He is a CAP command pilot and holds a commercial pilot certificate. He also holds master ratings in finance and flight operations.
Vest co-founded and later served as president and CEO of an engineering services company – now part of General Dynamics – that was a U.S. Navy contractor specializing in underwater acoustics, shipboard sonar systems, ship noise and antisubmarine warfare, all fields of professional expertise for him. He is now vice president of Air Serv International Inc., a not-for-profit company providing humanitarian air transportation services.
Civil Air Patrol, the official auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, is a nonprofit organization with 60,000 members nationwide, operating a fleet of 550 aircraft. CAP, in its Air Force auxiliary role, performs about 85 percent of continental U.S. inland search and rescue missions as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center and is credited by the AFRCC with saving an average of 70 lives annually. Its unpaid professionals also perform homeland security, disaster relief and drug interdiction missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies. The members play a leading role in aerospace education and serve as mentors to more than 25,000 young people currently participating in the CAP cadet programs. CAP received the World Peace Prize in 2011 and has been performing missions for America for 72 years. CAP also participates in Wreaths Across America, an initiative to remember, honor and teach about the sacrifices of U.S. military veterans.