Maj. Gen. Regena Aye is Civil Air Patrol’s national commander and the corporation’s CEO.
As Civil Air Patrol’s 26th national commander, she is a major general (two-star), the highest-ranking CAP officer. She leads CAP’s nearly 70,000 members across the United States in fulfilling the nonprofit organization’s three primary programs of emergency services, cadet programs, and aerospace education.
In its role as the Air Force auxiliary, CAP also 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.
As the CEO, she is the top adviser to the CAP Board of Governors, the organization’s governing body. She also leads the CAP Command Council, whose members serve as her advisers, and the CAP Senior Advisory Group (CSAG).
Aye was appointed national commander/CEO by the Board of Governors in April 2024 and assumed command in an Aug. 17 change of command ceremony in San Antonio.
Her 30-plus-year CAP career began in 1989 as a cadet in the Kansas Wing, where she achieved the cadet program’s highest honor — the Gen. Carl A. Spaatz Award — in 1992.
As an adult member of CAP, Aye quickly rose in rank and service. She was commander of the Kansas Wing (2008-2012) before becoming the North Central Region vice commander (2013-2016) and commander (2016-2020), leading the region’s seven wings, which included her home state of Kansas.
A college teacher and mentor by trade, Aye became the first CAP chief of education and training in 2020, a national post she assumed after leading the Leadership Development Working Group that, over a three-year period, revised CAP’s legacy professional development program and replaced it with the more flexible Education and Training program. The new program, launched in 2020, includes Volunteer University, which provides on-site and online professional development experience for CAP’s 37,000 adult members, and the mentoring program.
Before her promotion to national commander/CEO, Aye served as national vice commander (2021-2024), advising the then-national commander/CEO, Maj. Gen. Edward D. Phelka, and the Board of Governors on CAP operational and policy issues as a member of the Command Council and CSAG.
Aye has a CAP Senior Aircrew rating and was previously qualified as a Liaison Officer, Mission Scanner, Ground Branch Director, Flight Line Supervisor, Public Information Officer, and Mission Safety Officer.
A resident of Osage City, Kansas, she holds Master ratings in CAP in the Administration, Cadet Programs, Command, Drug Demand Reduction, Historian, Personnel, Professional Development, and Safety specialty tracks, a Senior rating in Emergency Services specialty track, and a Technician Rating in the Aerospace Education, Organizational Excellence, and Inspector General specialty tracks.
She completed Level 5 and earned the Gill Robb Wilson Award in 2004.
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 Awards in 2012, 2020, 2021, and 2024; 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 CAP, she 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 doctoral program coordinator and department chair since 2019.
Aye has three college degrees — a doctorate in educational leadership and a bachelor’s in political science from Baker, where she graduated magna cum laude, and a master’s in history from Emporia State University.
Current as of Aug. 17, 2024
