02/16/2026
Atlanta Citadel Alumni Community,
The following was sent to the The Citadel Alumni Association Board of Directors today:
Sent on behalf of The Citadel Board of Visitors and the presidential search committee
All,
We are writing today to update you on the presidential search process. Last week, the presidential search committee welcomed a slate of candidates to campus for in-person interviews. Following those interviews, the committee voted for four candidates to be considered by the full board of visitors.
The four finalists are, in alphabetical order:
Lt. Gen. E. Miles Brown, USA, ’95;
Lt. Gen. Thomas S. James Jr., USA (Ret.), ’85;
General Kenneth F. “Frank” McKenzie Jr., USMC (Ret.), ’79; and,
Maj. Gen. John H. Phillips, USA, ’90
Lt. Gen. E. Miles Brown, USA, ’95, is currently the Acting Deputy Commanding General of United States Army Transformation and Training Command. He was previously the Deputy Commanding General, U.S. Army Futures Command and the Commanding General, Combat Capabilities Development Command, U.S. Army Futures Command. He has a B.A. in History from The Citadel, an M.S. in Administration from Central Michigan University and an M.S. in National Security and Strategic Studies from the National Defense University.
Lt. Gen. Thomas S. James Jr., USA (Ret.), ’85, previously served as the Commanding General, First United States Army. Prior to that he served as the Director of Operations, United Nations Command/Combined Forces Command/United States Forces Korea and was the Commanding General of the 7th Infantry Division at Joint Base Lewis-McChord. He has a B.S. in Business Administration from The Citadel, an M.M.A.S in Advanced Military studies from the Army Command and General Staff College and an M.S. in National Security and Strategic Studies from the National Defense University.
Gen. Kenneth F. “Frank” McKenzie, Jr., USMC (Ret.), ’79, is currently the executive director of the Global and National Security Institute at the University of South Florida. Previously, he served as the Commander, United States Central Command and as the Director of the Joint Staff at the Pentagon. He also served as the Director for Strategy, Plans, and Policy on the Joint Staff and was the Commander, U.S. Marine Forces, U.S. Central Command. He has a B.A. in English from The Citadel and an M.A.T. with a concentration in History from The Citadel.
Maj. Gen. John H. Phillips, USA, ’90, is currently the Director of Communications and Cyber Operations (J6), at the United States European Command in Stuttgart, Germany. He was previously Director of IT Planning, Programming, Budgeting and Ex*****on at Headquarters, US Army. He has a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from The Citadel and an M.S. in Strategic Studies from the Army War College.
We are excited by the selection of these four highly qualified finalists. The overwhelming number of interested applicants and the exceptional quality of candidates seeking to lead The Citadel are evidence of the college’s status as an elite institution.
The final four candidates will return to The Citadel’s campus in the coming weeks for additional interviews as well as meetings with cadets, students, faculty and staff. The timing of these interviews has not been determined.
We would like to thank the search committee members for their enormous time commitment and dedication to The Citadel as they helped narrow down a wide and impressive pool of candidates to find the next leader for the college.
V/r
Chairman of the Board of Visitors, Greg Delleney, ’74
Chairman of the Presidential Search Committee, Dylan Goff, ’02
