RICHMOND, Va. –
Chief Master Sgt. Kelly B. Reich will succeed Chief Master Sgt. James J. Profita as the Virginia National Guard’s command senior enlisted leader, according to an announcement March 14, 2023, by the Maj. Gen. Timothy P. Williams, the Adjutant General of Virginia. Reich was serving as the acting CSEL following Profita’s retirement in September 2022 and was selected as the permanent replacement with an effective date of March 14.
“I know Chief Reich to be an outstanding professional and a senior leader of the highest caliber,” Williams said in the announcement. “I know she will continue to do great things as our CSEL. She is the quintessential National Guard Airman who has built a career of deep experience at every level of command in the Virginia National Guard while serving in positions of great responsibility in her civilian career. Regardless of the organization she has served in, she has been recognized as the consummate leader.”
As the CSEL, Reich serves as the VNG’s senior noncommissioned officer, and she advises and assists the Adjutant General of Virginia on all health, welfare, readiness, and professional development matters pertaining to enlisted personnel and serves as the key leader in implementing the AG’s vision, goals and objectives.
Chief Reich also serves as lead facilitator for the Air National Guard Command Chief Master Sergeant Training Course.
Reich entered the Air Force in October 1992 as a mobility specialist at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland. After serving on active duty, she joined the Virginia Air National Guard in June 1996 as an information manager and client support administrator.
After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Reich volunteered as an augmentee for the 192nd Security Forces Squadron to fill personnel gaps for deployed members. Later she was instrumental in the establishment of the 192nd Intelligence Squadron, retraining as an imagery analyst in 2007, and later assuming the position of imagery superintendent.
Reich provided analysis during counterdrug, piracy and terrorist operations; utilizing full-motion video, multispectral imagery and measurement and signature intelligence. She provided domestic oversight during the 56th Presidential Inauguration at the VNG Joint Operations Center, which was the first joint Army-Air operation of its kind in the state.
She participated in the VNG State Partnership Program in 2013, serving as the acting deputy in the Office of Military Cooperation at the U.S. Embassy in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.
She also served as the superintendent of the 192nd Operations Group, which is the first Air National Guard unit to fly the F-22A Raptor fighter jet.
Reich previously served as the Virginia Air National Guard state command chief where she was the principle advisor to the Adjutant General of Virginia and the Chief of Staff on qualify-of-life issues and concerns of the enlisted corps, ensuring Airmen were trained and equipped to support continuous operations around the globe.
In her civilian career at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, Reich is an intelligence officer engaging with the National and Allied Systems for Geospatial Intelligence, comprised of more than 30 national members and several nations with which the United States shares a multilateral agreement for intelligence cooperation.