Vincent J. Perrone

Born in Worcester, Massachusetts, Lieutenant Colonel Vincent John Perrone, Jr. is a graduate of Norwich University, the oldest private military college in the nation and the birthplace of ROTC, where he was commissioned in the United States Air Force. Lt Colonel Perrone’s twenty-year military career included a number of challenging positions. A pilot candidate, he was permanently grounded due to an injury. He served as Executive Officer, responsible for the security and protection of over 200 nuclear missiles and for 800 personnel at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana. In his next assignment, he was Chief of Officer Recruiting at Hanscom AFB in Massachusetts managing recruitment from Maine to West Virginia.

Lt Colonel Perrone took on a new challenge as part of the acquisition community at the Electronic Systems Division at Hanscom AFB, to assist in the development of the $3.2 billion World Wide Military Command and Control Information Systems (WIS) program. Air Force Systems Command Headquarters selected Lt Colonel Perrone as Chief of the Program Integration Division, to manage the acquisition logistics components for over 375 programs. He then gained international experience by assuming the position of Director of Resource Management and Deputy Base Commander at Suwon Air Force Base in Korea, where he led four divisions. He was later assigned to Headquarters USAF, the Pentagon, Washington DC as Program Manager for Developmental Aircraft Support Equipment and spent much of his time on Capitol Hill defending program budgets to Congress. During this time, he also served on the Joint Staff in the Operational Command Center for Desert Storm.

Lt Colonel Perrone returned to Hanscom AFB as the Chief of Requirements Analysis and Engineering Division in the International Programs Office. He served as the gateway to the world in the sales of security assistance systems to our Allies and helped to establish the Presidential Partnership for Peace Initiative with Eastern Europe. He was promoted to Deputy Director of the Joint Tactical Information Distribution System, a classified communications system and later became a Program Manager for the world’s premier surveillance aircraft, the 767AWACS.

Over the years, Lt Colonel Perrone volunteered his time and resources to many community services and programs, such as working with the elderly, church groups, and Native American and Amer-Asian children’s orphanages.

More than two decades ago, he became involved in a grassroots effort to build the largest supportive services agency for veterans and their families in New England, and was subsequently named Chairman, President & CEO of Veterans Inc.

Lt Colonel Perrone has a Master of Science Degree in Business Administration from Central Michigan University and holds Level III certification from the Department of Defense in Program Management and Acquisition Logistics disciplines. His major awards and decorations include the Defense Meritorious Service Medal; the Meritorious Service Medal, with four oak leaf clusters; the Air Force Commendation Medal, with one oak leaf cluster; the Air Force Achievement Medal, with one oak leaf cluster; the National Defense Medal; the Korean Defense Service Medal; and the Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal. He is the recipient of the Massachusetts Nonprofit Network’s Leadership Award and the Award of Merit from the Armed Forces Committee of Worcester County, was named a Hero Among Us winner by the Lowell Spinners, and in 2013, accepted the Seal of Distinction award from the prestigious Call of Duty Endowment.

Lt Colonel Perrone served on Senator Ted Kennedy’s task force for returning veterans of Afghanistan and Iraq and sat on Governor Deval Patrick’s Commission to End Homelessness. He sits on the Board of Directors for the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans. He is the Veterans’ Agent for the Town of Boylston and Past Chair of the Berlin-Boylston Tahanto Regional School Committee. He is a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company and the Armed Forces Committee of Worcester County and sits on the Executive Committee for the Board of Directors of the Korean War Memorial of Central Mass. He served as a member of the Worcester Veterans Council, the Air Force Association, the Armed Forces Communications Electronics Association, the Society of Logistics Engineers, and the Fraternal Order of Police.

Following his retirement from the United States Air Force and before taking his current position at Veterans Inc., Lt Colonel Perrone was Director of Global Government Marketing for EMC Corporation, a Fortune 500 company. Lt Colonel Perrone and his wife, Debra, have four children, Francesca, Vincent III, Samuel, and Ricky.