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Women's History Month Spotlight: Colonel Beena N. Maharaj

  • Published
Colonel Beena N. Maharaj is commander of the 403rd Mission Support Group, Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi.

She leads more than 550 Citizen Airmen in six squadrons who provide global capabilities and agile combat support directly to the warfighter. She is responsible for the management, readiness, training, and operations of deployable security forces, cyber/communications, logistics, aerial port, and force support personnel.

Additionally, she provides day-to-day support to operate 20 fully combat-capable aircraft providing the only Department of Defense Hurricane Hunter mission and a separate tactical airlift mission. Further, her organization directly supports 1,400 Airmen, civilians and their families.

Prior to her assignment as the commander, Maharaj served as deputy chief, Program Development at Headquarters Air Force Reserve Command, Robins Air Force Base, providing force structure recommendations and programmatic inputs to a $5 billion portfolio.

A graduate of Wesley College with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, Maharaj holds a Master of Public Administration from Wilmington University, Delaware.

Her professional military career in the United States Air Force includes 20-plus years in the fields of Equal Opportunity, Public Affairs, Manpower and Personnel Management, Force Development, Programming, base/group level command, and staff assignments at the Pentagon and Headquarters Air Force Reserve Command.

In September 2007, she deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedome as the chief of personnel support for contingency operations, responsible for accountability of 15,500 personnel who were assigned and transitioned through the Transit Center at Manas, a former military installation at Manas International Airport, Kyrgyzstan.

Her awards and decorations include the Meritorious Service Medal with five oak leaf clusters, the National Defense Service Medal, and Global War on Terrorism Service Medal.