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 Major General Jerry W. Grizzle, PhD, United States
Army National Guard (Retired), became the 19th President/Superintendent of New Mexico Military Institute on July 1, 2009.
General Grizzle was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and graduated from Tulsa Nathan Hale High School. He graduated in 1976 from Southwestern Oklahoma State University with a BS in Accountig and received his MBA from Central State University and his Ph.D. from Oklahoma State University. Previously, General Grizzle was the President/CEO of Orbit Finer Foods, Skolniks, CD Warehouse, and most recently AMS Health Sciences in which he was fully responsible for all aspects of business development in a highly competitive marketplace. Prior to his tenure with CD Warehouse, he was Vice President/Treasurer of Sonic Industries.
General Grizzle started his military career in 1971 as a Private and retired as a Major General in 2005. Attending Light Weapons Infantryman Training, Fort Polk, LA; Infantry Officers Candidate School, Fort Benning, GA; Infantry Officer Basic Course, Fort Benning, GA; United States Army Airborne School, Fort Benning, GA; Infantry Officers Advance Course (non-resident), Fort Benning, GA; Infantry Tactical Leader School; Oklahoma Air Assault School, Camp Gruber, OK; Command General Staff College (non-resident), Fort Leavenworth, KS, Defense Strategy Course, United States Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, PA and the National Security Studies Leadership Course, Syracuse University. General Grizzle was appointed Commander of the 45th Infantry Brigade (Thunderbirds) of the Oklahoma National Guard, where he was responsible for all matters affecting the combat readiness of the command.
General Grizzle served as the on-scene commander for the Oklahoma National Guard response to the bombing of the Alfred P Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995 and to the devastation caused by the F-5 tordado that struck Bridge Creek and Moore, Oklahoma in 1999.
Immediately after the attacks of September 11, 2001, Major General Grizzle entered active federal service and took command of the Department of Defense Joint Task Force -Civil Support (JTF-CS), the only unit in the Department of Defense responsible for the planning and execution for the response to any possible Weapons of Mass Destruction attack within the United States.
In 2009, because of his expertise, Grizzle was selected to serve on the “Advisory Panel On Department of Defense Capabilities For Support of Civil Authorities After Certain Incidents,” created under the National Defense Act for FY 2008, to assess DoD capabilities to support US civil authorities in the event of an incident involving weapons of mass destruction.
General Grizzle also serves his alma mater as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Southwestern Oklahoma State University Foundation.
General Grizzle and his wife, Shawn, also a graduate of Southwestern and a former high school Biology teacher, have two children and two grandchildren.
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