Board of Trustees

General
Carl E. Mundy, Jr.
USMC (Ret)

Chairman

General Carl Mundy was born in Atlanta, Georgia, but grew up in western North Carolina before moving to Alabama, where he graduated from high school in Montgomery. He enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve at age eighteen and attained the rank of Sergeant. Four years later, in June 1957, he graduated from the Alabama Polytechnic Institute in Auburn and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant. He served on active duty for the succeeding thirty-eight years, retiring in 1995 from the post of Commandant of the Marine Corps and member of the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff.

During his early career, General Mundy held a variety of staff positions and commanded at virtually all levels. He served in combat with a Marine infantry battalion in Vietnam. In thirteen years as a General Officer, he directed recruiting for the Marine Corps, served as its Deputy Chief of Staff for Plans, Policies and Operations, as Operations Deputy to the Joint Chiefs of Staff and commanded major operating forces numbering over 50,000 personnel. As Commandant, the Corps’ highest ranking officer, he was responsible to the President and the Secretary of Defense for military advice on national security matters, to the Secretary of the Navy for command and management of the Marine Corps and to the Congress for the well-being and preservation of the Corps. The latter responsibilities included recruiting, training, organizing, equipping, managing and leading a total active and reserve force of 240,000 uniformed and civilian men and women located at fifteen major bases worldwide. He was responsible for the preparation and execution of an annual budget of $13 billion.