Lieutenant General Richard Zilmer, Retired

Lieutenant General Richard Zilmer retired from active duty in January of 2011 following over 36 years of commissioned service. Among a variety of professional and volunteer activities, LtGen Zilmer presently sits on the CNA Military Advisory Board. LtGen Zilmer is an independent consultant and past board member with the Hershey Trust Company and Milton Hershey School Board of Managers where he served as Vice Chairman. He presently serves as a Highly Qualified Employee and Senior Mentor for the US Army.

During his military career, Zilmer served in a variety of operational and staff assignments throughout the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and Japan. His operational commands consisted of Commanding Officer First Battalion, First Marines, Commanding Officer 15^th Marine Expeditionary Unit, Commanding General Multinational Forces -West (Anbar Province, Iraq) and Commanding General III Marine Expeditionary Force, Okinawa, Japan. Zilmer completed combat tours during Lebanon Peacekeeping Operations, Operation Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Zilmer’s staff assignments included Washington DC tours at Headquarters Marine Corps, Deputy J-3 for Operations at the United States European Command, Presidential Support duties at Camp David, Maryland and Senior US Marine Representative to the Royal Marines in Poole England. His final assignment was Deputy Commandant for Manpower and Reserve Affairs, Headquarters Marine Corps.

A native of Reading, Pennsylvania, Zilmer presently resides with his wife Lorie and youngest son in the Pocono Mountains of eastern Pennsylvania. Lieutenant General Zilmer graduated with a Bachelors Degree in Secondary Education from Kutztown University in 1974 and holds a Masters of Arts Degree in National Security and Strategic Studies from the College of Naval Warfare. He has also studied at the Penn State Executive Programs and the Kenan-Flagler School of Business at the University of North Carolina.