CENTENNIAL, Colo. -- Gov. Jared Polis has appointed U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Laura Clellan as the Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Military and Veterans Affairs and the 44th Adjutant General of Colorado.
Clellan is the first woman to lead the Colorado National Guard.
She will assume command on or about Aug. 1, 2020, when she will begin to serve as a member of the governor’s cabinet.
“We are thrilled to have Brigadier General Laura Clellan serving in this position,” Polis said. “Her incredible experience and lifelong dedication to service makes her just the right person to lead the Colorado National Guard and our Department of Military and Veterans Affairs. The Colorado National Guard has played a critical role in supporting our state’s response to COVID-19, and I know that Laura is prepared to hit the ground running on the COVID response and in making Colorado the best state for veterans to live.”
Clellan, who retired as the CONG Assistant Adjutant General, Army, in November 2019, after nearly 30 years of military service, will succeed U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Mike Loh, who is awaiting U.S. Senate confirmation for his nomination as the next Director of the Air National Guard.
“I am honored to return to serve as TAG during this unprecedented time when our state and nation needs us most,” Clellan said. “I will continue to build on Major General Loh's accomplishments, with an emphasis on ensuring our Colorado National Guard is an inclusive organization that is ‘Always Ready and Always There’ for our communities and partners in Colorado and around the globe,” General Clellan said.
Clellan commissioned in 1989 through the Reserve Officers Training Corps program at Rio Grande College in Ohio. After commissioning, she served in various assignments in the U.S. Army and U.S. Army Reserve before transferring to the Colorado Army National Guard in 1998.
During her service in the COARNG, General Clellan was Land Component Commander for three years and AAG-Army for two years. She also commanded the 220th Military Police Company, the 193rd Military Police Battalion, and the 168th Regional Training Institute of Excellence.
Clellan previously worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife and Department of Veterans Affairs.
The DMVA consists of the Colorado National Guard, Division of Veterans Affairs, and Colorado Wing of the Civil Air Patrol, totaling more than 6,700 Soldiers, Airmen, state employees, and volunteers. The DMVA works to support the National Guard to mobilize for overseas contingency operations, coordinates National Guard disaster response in Colorado and the region, supports the missions of the Civil Air Patrol, and provides services to our veterans to receive the federal benefits that they deserve. The Colorado National Guard also has National Guard State Partnerships with Slovenia and Jordan and a strategic partnership with Israel’s Home Front Command.
For more than 160 years, the men and women of the Colorado National Guard have served our nation in wartime and as the first military responders in support of civil authorities during state emergencies. The CONG’s 5,500 Citizen-Soldiers and Airmen are Always Ready, Always There.