Maria Owens

General Owens joined the Cohen Group as a Vice President in August 2005 after nearly thirty years of service in the United States Air Force. In her last assignment, General Owens served as the Director of Manpower and Personnel for the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In this capacity, she was the principal advisor to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on personnel issues and developed policy and guidance for personnel programs governing the U.S. military's major regional organizations. During her tenure, General Owens led efforts to upgrade personnel tracking systems to provide senior military leadership accurate visibility of thousands of deployed military personnel. She spearheaded negotiations between competing organizations and executed a plan to standup the major military headquarters at the United States Northern Command, Colorado. Prior to her assignment to the Joint Staff, General Owens served as the Chief of Staff for the Department of Defense's initial Homeland Security office where she directed the logistic and administrative effort to stand-up this office. Also in this capacity she interfaced daily with the Department of State, White House and other federal agencies. She also served as the director of operations in the personal office of Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld and Cohen. In this role, she was the principal liaison with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Congress, the White House and Cabinet agencies. She was responsible for directing Pentagon logistic and administrative operations for the Office of the Secretary of Defense during the 2001 transition between the Clinton and Bush Administrations. She is recognized for successfully executing requests for military support to the international community and organizations outside the Department of Defense. These efforts include orchestrating sensitive airlift for FBI hostage rescue and logistical support for worldwide humanitarian assistance as well as Navy efforts to recover the wreckage after the 1999 John F. Kennedy Jr aircraft accident. From 1986 to 1999 General Owens served in two major commander roles. She was the Commander, 436th Support Group, Dover Air Force Base, Delaware where she directed the day to day operations of a city-like installation where she led liaison with local, state and federal organizations to execute the $23M Delaware Department of Transportation construction of a military installation overpass. As Commander of the Air Force Inspection Agency in Albuquerque, New Mexico, General Owens led the efforts of 150 military inspectors to evaluate functional areas and recommend solutions to improve Air Force operations. A native of Cleburne Texas, General Owens received her commission in 1975 through the Air Force ROTC program at Baylor University. She is a Distinguished Alumni of Baylor University, has a Master's Degree in Public Administration from Webster College and is a graduate of the Air War College.