As Air Force Vice Chief of Staff in 2015, Gen. Larry O. Spencer welcomed several hundred high school students to the 29th BEYA STEM Conference in Washington, D.C. During the conference, Spencer and several general officers and senior executive service members led mentoring groups as per tradition at the BEYA Stars and Stripes event.

On Monday, the Air Force Association’s CyberPatriot Program Office announced the appointment of Gen. Spencer  as a member of the CyberPatriot Board of Advisors. He recently served as president of the Air Force Association (AFA) from 2015 to 2019, after retiring from the Air Force following 44 years of distinguished service.

A strong CyberPatriot advocate both during and after his time leading AFA, Gen. Spencer said he was “grateful for this opportunity to continue involvement in this important global STEM program. CyberPatriot offers outstanding opportunities to students of all ages and all backgrounds and its success is vital to our nation’s security. I am eager to do my part to see it grow even more,” he said.

The Air Force Association is a non-profit, professional military and aerospace education association. CyberPatriot, the nation’s largest youth cyber education program, is the association’s flagship science, technology, engineering and mathematics program dedicated to strengthening cyber skills among American youth.

The program features the National Youth Cyber Defense Competition for high school and middle school students, AFA CyberCamps, an Elementary School Cyber Education Initiative and Literature Series, as well as a CyberGenerations program designed to teach senior citizens to protect themselves from cyber exploitation.

Dr. Paul Kaminski, chairman of the CyberPatriot Board of Advisors, welcomed Gen. Spencer’s acceptance of the appointment by saying, “We are grateful to welcome a superb thinker and great leader to this important role. General Spencer will greatly help us further grow America’s technical workforce.”

For more information on the programs offered by CyberPatriot, visit http://uscyberpatriot.org.