Brig. Gen. Regena Aye, Civil Air Patrol’s national vice commander since 2021, will be CAP’s next national commander and the corporation’s CEO.
CAP’s Board of Governors selected Aye as the organization’s top senior leader April 25 at its meeting in New York. She will assume command Aug. 17 at the 2024 National Conference in San Antonio in a ceremony with Maj. Gen. Edward D. Phelka, the current national commander/CEO.
Aye will serve as national commander for the next three years. She will lead the organization’s 67,500 volunteer members across the U.S. and in 11 overseas squadrons in fulfilling the U.S. Air Force auxiliary’s three primary programs — emergency services, cadet programs, and aerospace education.
In its Air Force auxiliary role, CAP is a member of the Total Force, filling a critical role in Defense Support of Civil Authorities that includes preserving life, relieving suffering, and providing training support.
“During this process, I believe the Board of Governors had a task to go beyond hiring Civil Air Patrol’s next leader,” said Col. John Longley, the board’s chair. “We were looking to hire someone who embraces our core values and can carry forward the strategic vision being developed for our future.
“Gen. Aye certainly impressed us in last week’s interviews, and we look forward to her assuming command at the National Conference,” Longley said.
After being notified of the board’s decision, Aye said, “I am deeply grateful to the Board of Governors for the opportunity to serve in this leadership role for an organization that makes such a positive impact. As a former cadet, I have personally experienced the difference our work makes.”
Like Phelka, Aye started in CAP as a cadet. A member of the Kansas Wing’s Capitol City Composite Squadron (now the Topeka Eagle Composite Squadron), she was named the wing’s Cadet of the Year in 1990, 1991, and 1992, and completed all 15 achievements in the CAP cadet program and earned its highest honor — the Gen. Carl A. Spaatz Award — also in 1992.
“The success of Civil Air Patrol lies in the success of our people,” Aye said. “While serving as national vice commander, it’s been my privilege to be able to meet members from across the organization who give their time, talent, and treasure to CAP. I have been inspired by our members and the stories of their service at countless events. Every member has a story.
“I look forward to collaborating with these volunteers, the Board of Governors, our employees and partners to lead Civil Air Patrol toward excellence in executing our missions.”
As national vice commander, Aye has served as a member of the CAP Command Council, which also consists of the national commander, eight region commanders, and 52 wing commanders, along with the national executive officer, chief operating officer, and the commander of CAP-USAF.
“Gen. Aye has been a key adviser and an integral member of the command team, providing a diverse perspective based on her lived experiences,” Phelka said. “She has led every region commander selection advisory committee for the last three years, directly supervised and mentored region commanders, worked closely with the National Cadet Advisory Council, and chaired numerous working groups at the national level.”
Phelka chose Aye as his national vice commander in May 2021. At the time, she was chief of CAP’s Education and Training, which launched in 2020. She served as team leader of the Leadership Development Working Group that, over a three-year period, revised the legacy professional development program and replaced it with a more flexible education and training program.
A teacher and mentor by trade, Aye developed Volunteer University, a key component of the education and training program that now provides on-site and online professional development experience for CAP’s nearly 37,000 adult members.
Counting her three years as national vice commander, Aye has totaled more than 30 years of CAP service, much of it command experience. Before her work with the education and training program, she commanded the organization’s North Central Region, consisting of more than 4,500 members in the Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota wings.
She served as region commander from 2016-2020 and as Kansas Wing commander from 2008-2012.
“Gen. Aye is one of the most brilliant, caring, and capable leaders I have ever had the pleasure of working with,” Phelka said. “I have every confidence that she will leverage her enormous talents to lead CAP to even greater heights in the future.”
After her transition to adult CAP membership February 1993, Aye’s assignments have included region vice commander (2013-2016), National Blue Beret activity director (2009-2010) and staff (2002-2008, 2013, 2015, 2016), region director of cadet programs (2004-2008), region drug demand reduction officer (2004-2009), and 77th Composite Squadron commander (2001-2004).
Aye earned a CAP senior aircrew rating and was qualified as a liaison officer, ground branch director, flight line supervisor, public information officer, and mission safety officer.
She holds Master ratings in Administration, Cadet Programs, Command, Drug Demand Reduction, Historian, Personnel, Professional Development, and Safety and a Senior rating in Emergency Services.
Aye’s CAP honors and achievements include the President’s Call to Service Award in 2012; Wing Commander of the Year, North Central Region, in 2010; Distinguished Service Award in 2012 and 2020; Torch Award (presented by the Cadet of the Year to his or her mentor) in 2002, 2004, and 2007; Cadet Programs Officer of the Year, Kansas Wing, in 2004 and 2005; Senior Member of the Year, Kansas Wing, in 2002 and 2004; Exceptional Service Award in 2007; Outstanding Tactical Officer, National Blue Beret, in 2003 and 2004; and Meritorious Service Award in 2004.
Outside Civil Air Patrol, Aye works as an online professor at Baker University in Baldwin City, Kansas, where she teaches instructional design and performance technology (IDPT). She has served as the university’s IDPT program coordinator since 2019.
She was the dean for online learning at Allen Community College in Iola, Kansas, from July 2010-August 2018.
Aye has earned three college degrees — a doctorate in educational leadership and a bachelor’s in history from Baker, where she graduated magna cum laude, and a master’s in history from Emporia State University.
