Richards will command one of the biggest air base wings in the Air Force, with more than 5,000 military, civilian and contractor employees.
The wing serves one of the biggest bases in the Air Force, a base home to a major acquisition center, research and development laboratories and more. The base serves as the headquarters for Air Force Materiel Command, which employs nearly 86,000 airmen and civilians worldwide and manages $71.3 billion of budget authority.
Wright-Patterson has more than 35,000 employees, making it the largest single-site employer in the state of Ohio.
Prior to this assignment, Richards was the senior military assistant to the assistant secretary of the Air Force (Energy, Installations, and Environment).
The former commander of the 88th Air Base Wing, Col Christopher Meeker, was relieved of command in December.
No reason for the move was offered beyond standard military language attributing the decision to a loss of confidence in Meeker’s ability to lead.
Since then, Meeker has been working as a special assistant to Shipton, who assumed command of Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Wright-Patterson in January.
It was Shipton who decided to remove Meeker.
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