Colonel Yvonne Spencer is one of ten Detachment Commanders for the Air Force’s Installation and Mission Support Center which serves as the single intermediate-level headquarters supporting Air Force wide installations and expeditionary support activities for 177 Air Force bases. She leads 43 members in providing security, emergency services, communications, engineering, logistics and financial services for eight bases nationwide with a $55 billion infrastructure supporting 90,000 civilian and military members. In 1994, she was commissioned as Second Lieutenant from the United States Air Force Academy with a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Engineering Mechanics. In 2001, she received her Master’s Degree in Engineering and Environmental Management from the Air Force Institute of Technology. Throughout her career, she served in a variety of leadership positions at the installation, major command, headquarters and Secretariat levels and is a six-time commander of organizations ranging from 300 to 1,300 personnel. Her military deployments include Saudi Arabia (Operation DESERT STORM), Iraq (Operation IRAQI FREEDOM) and Afghanistan (Operation ENDURING FREEDOM).
Having served 25 years in a male dominated enterprise, Yvonne has acquired a special skill set which enables her to be OUTSPOKEN when she is OUT-front and OUT-numbered. With her toolkit, she has overcome stereotypes and blazed trails where she had to forge her own path. As a military commander, she served in several positions where she was the first. In her current assignment, she became the first woman and first African-American to hold this position. Prior to this, she broke barriers when she became the first woman and first African-American to lead the Air Force’s premier combat engineer unit known as the 819th RED HORSE (Rapid Engineer Deployable Heavy Operations Repair Squadron Engineer). This highly mobile engineering response force supports war contingency and special operations worldwide.
It is through these leadership experiences that Yvonne has learned the importance of having the right “tools” when it’s time to be OUTSPOKEN.