Lieutenant General (retired) Edward D. Baca served in America’s Armed Forces for 41 years. After retiring from active duty military service and prior to forming Baca Group, General Baca consulted in both the public and private sectors and devoted his time to community service. He was in constant demand as a keynote conference speaker and served as a role model for Hispanic and other minority youth. In September 1998, he formed Baca Group as a management and training consulting firm dedicated to not only doing a good job for clients but helping clients to do “good” in the broadest sense of the term. His vision is that Baca Group will seek to help clients with projects that will benefit community and nation and make the world a better place to live.
General Baca's military career included 41 years of distinguished service culminating in an appointment by the President of the United States of America to the position of Chief, National Guard Bureau in the Pentagon in Washington D.C. In this position he oversaw the Army and Air National Guard in the 54 States Territories and the District of Columbia. This included having regulatory authority for approximately 500,000 Guard members in almost 3000 communities nationwide. He had an annual budget of over $9 billion and was the Custodian and Accountable Officer for facilities and equipment valued at more than $100 billion. As Chief, National Guard Bureau, he served as the channel of communications between the Department of Defense and state/ territory Governors on all National Guard matters. He was the principal advisor to the Secretary of The Army and Chief of Staff of the Army and Secretary and Chief of Staff of the Air Force on all National Guard issues. Previously he served for 12 years as Adjutant General of New Mexico, Chief of Staff of the New Mexico National Guard and in diverse command and staff assignments with responsibility for personnel, financial, administrative, and logistics functions.
Under his leadership, the Army and Air National Guard achieved their highest levels of readiness and performed both their federal and state mission in an exemplary manner. He instituted numerous cooperative Guard ventures nationally and internationally though political and personal outreach, relationship building, negotiation and contractual agreements. Geopolitical areas of direct influence included Western Europe, Latin America, Southeast Asia, former Soviet Eastern Bloc nations to include Russia, and the 54 U.S. States and Territories. He gained a national reputation for the National Guard’s involvement in community-related activities to include extensive involvement in counter-drug and drug demand reduction activities and Youth-at-Risk Programs. He is widely recognized as a champion of U.S. veterans and is a role model for Hispanic and other minority youth.
General Baca began his military career when he enlisted in Battery C, 726th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion, New Mexico National Guard. Her served in numerous enlisted assignments and graduated from Officer Candidate School in July 1962. At the onset of the Vietnam Conflict, he volunteered for active duty and overseas deployment and served in the Republic of Vietnam. He returned to the New Mexico National Guard after active duty service in February 1966 and rose to become the Adjutant General of New Mexico in 1983. He was appointed Adjutant General by two Democratic governors and one Republican governor and served for 12 years before accepting a presidential appointment as Chief, National Guard Bureau in 1994.
General Baca is a graduate of numerous military schools and has a Bachelor of Science degree in Liberal Arts from the State University of New York at Albany.
His numerous awards and decorations include the Department of Defense Distinguished Service Medal, two Army Distinguished Service Medals, the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Republic of Vietnam Cross of Gallantry with Palm Unit Citation, the New Mexico Medal of Valor and the Norwegian Royal Order of Merit with Command. He received the Secretary of Defense’s Outstanding Drug Demand Reduction Program Award and the American G.I. Forum Founders’ Award. He also was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Law degree from New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, NM.
General Baca is married with seven adult children and resides in Albuquerque, NM.
General Baca
Article LinkEmail: edbaca@bacagroup.org
June 11, 2002
