Board of Governors

Brig. Gen. Bernie Skoch

Civil Air Patrol Board of Governors Member

Retired U.S. Air Force Brig Gen Bernie Skoch serves as a member of the Civil Air Patrol Board of Governors (BoG).

As CAP’s top governing body, the 11-member BoG consists of four Air Force appointees, three members appointed jointly by the Secretary of the Air Force and CAP’s national commander/CEO, and four members-at-large selected by CAP’s Senior Advisory Group. The BoG advances CAP through collective decision-making to develop strategic policies, plans, and programs that guide it today and tomorrow.

Gen Skoch joined the BoG in November 2021 as a joint appointee of Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall III and CAP National Commander/CEO Maj. Gen. Edward D. Phelka.

Since his retirement from the Air Force in 2004, Gen Skoch has been a consultant in the cybersecurity and other technology areas. He has been the Aerospace Education Advisor to the Air Force Association since June 2021, after serving as the first National Commissioner of CyberPatriot, the AFA’s National Youth Cyber Education Program, from July 2010 until May 2021.

As the AFA’s Aerospace Education Advisor, Gen Skoch assists in the planning and implementation of the AFA’s flagship STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education programs, CyberPatriot and StellarXplorers, and the AFA’s national high school space challenge. He provides leadership and support for program development. In this role, Skoch helps further students' interest in STEM-related studies and increases awareness of cybersecurity threats. As National Commissioner of CyberPatriot, he led a team that in just a few years took the program from a modest proof-of-concept demonstration to the largest youth cyber education program in the world and a comprehensive suite of activities engaging over a quarter-million participants in grades pre-K through 12 in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and other nations.

Gen Skoch graduated from the University of Arkansas with a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering. Upon graduation, he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Air Force. His 29-year Air Force career took him throughout the U.S., Europe, Asia, the Pacific, and the Middle East on permanent and temporary duty, as well as multiple Pentagon assignments, including three on the Air Staff and an extended Joint Staff tour.

He has more than 20 years of experience in leadership positions, developing, managing, and implementing communications and information systems for the Air Force and the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA). At DISA, he served as the Principal Director for Customer Advocacy, as Commander of the Joint Interoperability Organization, and as the Principal Director for Network Services.

Within the Air Force, he served as Director of Mission Systems, Director of Communications Operations, and Director of the Chief Information Officer Support, where he was responsible for aligning information technology systems with business process improvements. He has developed policies for global telephone, video, radio, voice, data, and satellite systems.

Gen Skoch is a certificated multi-engine commercial-rated pilot, an amateur astronomer, and a 16-time marathon runner. He holds a commercial Federal Communications Commission general radio operator license and is an FCC-licensed amateur radio operator.

He has a unique connection to Civil Air Patrol. He and his wife of 49 years, Debbie, met in the ninth grade as CAP cadets. They have six children and 21 grandchildren, all residing in Northwest Arkansas.