In this blog, we speak to Chris Law, Regional Director and Central Government Lead within our Social Infrastructure market sector in the UK and Ireland.

He unpacks what meaningful, outcomes-led partnerships will be required in the decade ahead, as well as the trends and challenges shaping central government delivery.

Chris joined ArchTam over a decade ago and became Regional Director and Central Government Lead for Social Infrastructure in 2024. He previously led our Security and Resilience subsector within our National Security market sector, delivering projects for clients including the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Defence Infrastructure Organisation and the Ministry of Justice.

Since 2018, Chris has provided strategic leadership as Account Director for the Crown Commercial Service (CCS) Framework, overseeing high-quality, consistent delivery across our nationwide commitments. He also chairs the CCS Construction Professional Services (CPS) Social Value Focus Group, a role he has held since 2023.

Through this work, Chris supports CCS’s ambition to integrate procurement across UK government departments, driving more coordinated and efficient delivery while maximising social value for communities. Chris has taken on a range of roles within ArchTam and the wider industry in the past decade — each one building on his drive to lead, collaborate and push for better outcomes.

From your perspective, how has the relationship between central government and its delivery partners such as ArchTam in the UK & Ireland changed or evolved over the years?

We’ve seen a real shift to more collaborative and outcomes-focused partnerships.

Government clients increasingly want their delivery partners to be aligned not just to project scope, but to long-term policy goals. The discussion is evolving, focusing on the longer term: building capacity, prioritising ‘place-based’ decision making, developing wider relationships with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and aligning to the government’s long-term policy goals — whether that’s net zero, regional devolution or digital transformation.

Transparency is key. Frameworks like CCS have rightly pushed and developed guidance for early market engagement, the recent UK Industrial Strategy seeks to treat data as a shared, transparent asset, and the new Treasury Green Book is mandating that business cases for major infrastructure projects and programmes are published publicly.

I think these ongoing shifts are going to change the relationship between us and our government clients. I see a future where we have deeper, trust-based partnerships, with suppliers aware of data and pipelines much earlier and government deploying our advice and outputs more frequently.

You’ve worked with a range of government departments. What trends are you seeing in how the public estate is being shaped to support future needs?

The public estate is being reimagined with adaptability, sustainability and social value at its core. Place-based decision making is now at the heart of the recent Treasury Green Book updates, as well as a move away from simple benefit-cost ratios, which have been relied on too heavily in the past to appraise complex investments in the public estate.

Across our portfolios, we’re seeing a decisive move away from siloed, single-use buildings to more multi-functional, data-enabled assets that can integrate with evolving community and departmental needs. Recent announcements on the Cabinet Office’s ‘Places for Growth’ programme, for example, continue to double down on the ambition to move the centre of gravity out of London, with at least 50 per cent of UK‑based Senior Civil Service roles located regionally by 2030.

We’re also continuing to see how hybrid working has totally reshaped central office strategies. Almost all UK government departments are taking the opportunity to rationalise their footprints whilst investing in regional hubs and smarter workspaces. There’s a renewed focus on decarbonising assets through retrofit and modern methods of construction, and on embedding ESG principles from day one. The public estate is no longer just a cost on the balance sheet — it’s evolving to become a platform for delivering policy, wellbeing, innovation and wider community benefits.

How do you balance the technical complexity of major programmes with the need to leave a lasting legacy for communities?

Balancing complexity with legacy starts by embedding purpose into the project brief from the outset. One example is our work on the Defence Estate Optimisation Portfolio. It’s a technically complex and high-profile portfolio, spanning multiple sites and heritage assets, with stringent security requirements.

Allianced with other industry suppliers, our team have worked closely with both the Ministry of Defence and local community stakeholders to ensure that the outcomes aren’t just about military readiness and site disposal, but also about supporting local economies and improving the public realm.

For example, on a number of projects under the programme, we brought our social value specialists to the team to ensure our commitments to community outcomes were purposeful, impactful and achievable. We also prioritised low-carbon construction techniques and advised the client on how these could be more thoughtfully integrated with specific site security requirements. Technical excellence is essential, but lasting impact comes from making projects truly place-based, in collaboration with local stakeholders.

That goes back to why we shouldn’t think in a siloed way around the public estate. If the Ministry of Justice is planning a new prison, the question isn’t just about the prison itself — it’s about what this public asset can deliver for the wider community, local supply chains and how it can support broader regeneration goals. We need to continue working with government to reimagine our public estate cohesively and help to identify opportunities for regional devolved authorities to deliver more by simply approaching the challenge in an integrated way.

What excites you most about the opportunity to support government in delivering its ambitions over the next decade?

I always say to people joining our Central Government sector: you have the chance to be at the heart of solving some of the UK and Ireland’s biggest challenges. Whether it’s climate resilience, regional inequality, housing pressures or digital transformation, the UK and Irish governments have set out ambitious goals, and the scale of delivery needed over the next decade is not only a huge challenge but also a significant opportunity.

There’s a growing appetite for innovation, and it’s great to see our teams deepening their understanding of how government seeks to optimise its functions — and how we can support that. It’s also about how we use our sector-specific skills to respond to key challenges: unlocking better community outcomes, embedding nature-based solutions, empowering investment decisions, and shaping our services to enable those changes.

It really excites me that we are part of the change. I think organisations like ours are in a privileged position to serve not only as a technical delivery expert, but as a long-term partner to government, helping turn policy into tangible, real-world outcomes.

I heard a great quote at the recent UKREiiF (UK Real Estate Investment and Infrastructure Forum) conference, “If you don’t shape the market, be prepared to be shaped by it.” And I think that’s really important, because if you’re not there setting the agenda with government and influencing through associations and institutions, then you’re on the other side waiting for policy to be developed and responding.

So, I see us moving, generationally, into a role where we sit much closer to our clients, integrating across government, and engaging earlier in the process. And it’s this ability to really effect change that drives me; it’s what gets me out of bed in the morning.

Image credit: Hufton + Crow

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As part of CHOGM, the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council and the Commonwealth Secretariat convene business leaders to meet with the ministers and national leaders to discuss how to ensure a prosperous, vibrant and sustainable commonwealth. I was honored to participate in the meetings this year and speak on the topic of climate and disaster resilience.

Key areas of debate included the impacts of rising sea levels, understanding and managing risk, climate adaptation and sustainable wastewater management.

In one of the CHOGM sessions on island resilience, Dominica Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit noted that the nation now has the opportunity to be the first climate-resilient island as they look at rebuilding the majority of their infrastructure. They want to build back better, but must do so with a different model than historically followed, taking into account a broader approach, rather than just rebuilding what was damaged.

Island nations, especially those impacted by recent tropical cyclones in the Caribbean and South Pacific, face the compound challenges of more frequent and severe storms and the constant and increasing threat of sea-level rise. Dominica, for example, suffered $1.3 billion in damage from Hurricane Maria in 2017 — an amount equal to 224 percent of the island’s gross domestic product (GDP).

My comments as part of this session were focused on the need to understand the risks each country faces in designing a resilience plan, but also how we can use adaptive design to ensure continued responsiveness to a dynamic future. There’s a need to balance the costs and risks of resilience. Some risks can be managed by transferring them through insurance or other mechanisms, and other risks must be accepted. However, there are things we can do to mitigate the real and significant risks faced by these small islands and do so in ways that are appropriate for each situation and cost effective. Sometimes we just need to build smarter, with resilience top of mind. The additional benefit of investing in resilient infrastructure is that it creates jobs and economic growth.

Another discussion at CHOGM focused on the causes and drivers of state fragility and how developed nations can better support fragile states and help others avoid this fate. The discussion with ministers, non-governmental organizations and business leaders was chaired by former UK Prime Minister David Cameron on the occasion of a report from an independent panel he also chaired on state fragility causes and solutions. With two financial industry participants, I was asked to comment on the report and remarks by Rwandan President Paul Kagame on the challenges leaders face in fragile states. We stressed the need to look at climate issues, especially adaptation, as they are the principal drivers of fragility, leading to conflict, mass migration and loss of gross domestic product to drought and famine.

I was honored to close out my time at CHOGM with a brief conversation with HRH The Prince of Wales on the challenges of sustainable wastewater management in small island nations. Prince Charles spoke of his interest in addressing the energy and waste management needs of small islands, while protecting the oceans from pollution and helping people grow their economies sustainably. Through his foundation and sustainability team, The Prince has been deeply involved in these issues, and I look forward to continuing to work with his team on their efforts.

It was clear to me that there is a great desire across the entire commonwealth to be leaders in the issues related to climate change. Today, with innovations in technology and the ability to create hybrid gray and green infrastructure, we’re seeing greater potential to leverage these challenges as opportunities and find solutions that are long-lasting, adaptable and create healthier, more resilient economies and societies.

*Note: The Commonwealth of Nations comprises 53 states across six continents and represents nearly one third of the world’s population. Most member states were once part of the British Empire, the majority being island nations (counting Australia and the UK). With the exception of the United States, most of the English-speaking world belongs to the commonwealth. Queen Elizabeth II is the symbolic head of the commonwealth.

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On my third day at COP 23, I chatted with a climatologist from South Africa, delegates from Tunisia and Senegal, a professor from China, and NGO representatives from California and Peru—and that was just on the commute! Due to the number of attendees, many of us were unable to arrange for accommodations in Bonn, so I stayed in Cologne, 25 km to the north.

I spoke at two sessions on Monday. The first was a discussion on climate adaptation finance in developing nations organized by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI). Former UN Climate Change Agency Executive Director Yvo de Boer led representatives from Bangladesh, Kenya, CPI, the Green Climate Fund, the African Development Bank, and the private sector (me) in a panel discussion. Following some opening remarks by OECD Director Jorge Moreira da Silva, Saleemul Haq, from the International Center for Climate Change and Development in Bangladesh, made a point that reminded me climate change is a problem for everyone. He said, “You can be poor and resilient and you can be rich and vulnerable.” Wealth can make climate adaptation easier, but it doesn’t ensure it. We must all work together to be safe and prosperous.

Later in the day, my London ArchTam colleagues Emily LeCornu and Lawrence Avery and I (pictured below) co-hosted a climate adaptation event with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) at their COP pavilion, known as the PandaHub. A WWF official noted that their Panda icon is the second most recognized NGO logo in the world after the Red Cross. I have to admit, seeing the Red Cross logo in a disaster always makes me feel better, but the Panda is a lot more fun. And they have a ginormous one on the side of the pavilion. Not to be outdone during their presidency year, the Fijian pavilion features a native boat, examples of cultural dress and lots of island décor and music. Truly the spirit of Bula has been brought across the ocean by the warm and welcoming people of Fiji. The adaptation event was a big success, and we released a report ArchTam just completed with WWF on resilience and sustainability screening of infrastructure projects by international financial institutions.

What is very clear to me from all of the sessions I have spoken at and attended is that both climate mitigation (reducing carbon) and adaptation (preparing for the impacts of climate change) are being pursued by governments, NGOs, and companies. More on the corporate involvement in the COP in my next update.

I have seen a lot of old friends and colleagues and met many new ones this week. However, I may have missed my best VIP (pronounced “whip” by the Germans) encounter. As I was sitting in the hallway charging up my phone and responding to some emails, a gaggle of security folks went running by. A few minutes later, a full herd of officials, handlers, press, and the security team came walking down the hall. I couldn’t see who was in the middle, but assumed that some head of state or other minister was making a speech or press conference. Nope. Turns out it was the Terminator himself: Arnold Schwarzenegger was back (sorry, but I can’t pass on a bad pun). I may not have seen Arnold, but it’s clear that all of the scientists, government officials, policy experts, and business leaders here this month are deeply committed to addressing the causes and impacts of climate change, and that makes them all action heroes in my book.

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Bula! This traditional greeting from Fiji is ubiquitous in Bonn, Germany, this month as the nations of the world gather for the annual climate change meeting and negotiations—the UN Climate Change Conference. This is the 23rd conference of parties (or COP 23) initiated as part of the UN Framework Compact on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the treaty ratified by 197 nations to address the existential threat of global climate change.

Following Morocco last year and France the year before, the Pacific island nation of Fiji holds the COP presidency for this year’s event. Even with the meeting held in Bonn, the headquarters of UNFCCC, the Fijian influence and culture is well evident as one moves around the various meeting venues. A low-lying area of the world, Fiji is particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Speaking of the country’s leadership role, Fiji Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama, said: “Our concerns are the concerns of the entire world, given the scale of the crisis.”

I arrived in the second week of the meeting when much of the high-level negotiations had been completed—now the focus is on knowledge sharing and partnership. This is a critical component of COP 23, as mitigating and adapting to climate change requires strong engagement and collaboration between the public and the private sectors. It’s the role and responsibility of the private sector that I will be speaking to during three sessions this week.

As an American business representative participating in COP 23, I have been asked a lot about the U.S. commitment to the 2015 Paris Agreement and to climate change action in general. I’ll speak more about this in a later post, but while the executive branch of the federal government is not as visible, our state, local and private-sector interests are clearly here in force. In less than 36 hours, I’ve seen four governors and two U.S. senators and believe the commitment of my own country continues to be strong.

Saturday marked the start of Carnival season in Germany (yes, they start early), so in addition to ministers and climate negotiators from around the globe, I’ve seen a lot of young Germans dressed as their favorite comic book character or mythical creature. As I look down the hall in the train station, it’s my hope that many of these people will act as climate heroes in addition to superheroes as we continue to make steps to champion knowledge and action when it comes to reducing carbon emissions and addressing global warming.

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Anyone who serves in any branch of the military learns from the earliest days the importance of personal integrity and ethics. People in both the enlisted and officer ranks get thrust into leadership opportunities at young ages and learn how to be leaders whom others are willing to follow. Veterans learn early on the value of teamwork and understand that we are part of something bigger than ourselves. Nothing in service to our country gets done in a solo fashion. It requires teamwork, and you have to work at being both a team member and a leader.

How can businesses/organizations best support their veteran teammates and those who are still serving?

One of the best ways is to respect and appreciate their service, and also to learn from it. Because so few people have experienced service firsthand, we are losing a group of influencers in this country who can talk about the military and the opportunities and experiences it can offer. It’s a tremendous educational opportunity for those who have never served to learn from the experiences of those who have, widening the body of those who understand the value of service, even if it’s secondhand.

Why did you decide to join the ArchTam board, and what unique perspective do you feel you bring?

ArchTam was one of the first companies to ask me to join their board after I retired. When I met ArchTam Chairman and CEO Mike Burke, I was a little concerned that I didn’t have specific background in the company’s business lanes of design and construction while I bring a unique expertise in the management services business lane. Mike assured me he was looking for someone who offered a different perspective, a different set of eyes.

I rose to the rank of four-star general and commanded Air Force Materiel Command. In the Air Force, only about 10-12 individuals serve at the four-star level at any given time. Having had the wonderful opportunity to serve at that senior-most rank helped me develop an understanding of what’s important at the strategic level of an institution, and much of that understanding translates well into the corporate boardroom. The importance of organizational culture, the need for a strategic plan and associated metrics to assess progress in achieving objectives, a focus on both product excellence and process standardization, the need to spend time on talent management to include a focus on your bench of senior leaders—these are all things that apply to both military and board leadership.

What advice would you give to someone who is transitioning out of military life?

The first thing I always tell people who choose to serve, whether it’s for four or 20-plus years, is thank you. The percentage of our population who choose to serve is small and going down. I always say thank you first, and then the second thing I would say to people who are making the transition is to reinforce the importance of upholding expectations relative to the way they comport themselves—to honor the professionalism and patriotism of our service.

What was the transition like for you when you retired from the Air Force?

I relished the opportunity to lead Air Force Materiel Command; it was just an honor and privilege to serve and to be given command of the organization where I had spent the majority of my career. I relished every bit of it—the responsibility, the important missions we executed, the extraordinary airmen, both military and civilian, who succeeded every day at those missions, and taking the command through an historic reinvention during my tenure. Just before I retired, a friend of mine asked me how I thought I was going to feel on the first day after my retirement—if I was going to feel relieved of the pressures and burden of responsibility. I remember telling her, “I don’t think I’m going to feel that way; it’s just an honor to command.” However, the day after I retired, I discovered she was right. I immediately felt as if a burden had been lifted. While I was doing it, I relished it, so that feeling of relief was unexpected and welcome. Now, I’m doing volunteer work, board work and consulting, and every day I wake up and I own my day.

What do the Air Force Core Values mean to you, and what purpose have they served in your life and your leadership?

The Air Force core values of Integrity first, Service before self and Excellence in all we do were formalized in the mid-nineties. But long before they were formally established and documented as the Air Force’s core values, they really were my personal core values: the values upon which I based my leadership approach. I’m pleased to see ArchTam has embraced a set of core values [Collaborate, Inspire, Safeguard, Anticipate, Deliver and Dream], as they are absolutely imperative to any growing organization that wants to be held in esteem and attract the best talent. Values are not something you do; they should represent who you are as an organization.

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This is the fifth in a series of posts on ArchTam’s work with cities participating in the 100 Resilient Cities program, pioneered by the Rockefeller Foundation. The program supports 100 cities globally in tackling issues of globalization, urbanization and climate change by developing a resilience strategy under the leadership of a chief resilience officer. ArchTam has assisted 10 cities that have already published their resilience strategies and is currently working with another 20. Stay tuned for more reports from our team!

I’ve moved out of South Florida on three separate occasions, yet I continue to find myself back here, moving farther south each time, from West Palm Beach to Fort Lauderdale and finally to Miami. Why do I keep leaving? Like other growing metropolitan areas, South Florida is crowded and the traffic is terrible. Housing is expensive and incomes don’t compare to those in other metropolitan areas. The economy is dependent on tourists and foreign investments. Temperatures are increasing, flooding is becoming more frequent, and at least once a year we find ourselves locked inside awaiting the eye of the hurricane.

This time I have no intention of leaving because the truth is, like many metropolitan areas, the benefits far exceeds the challenges. Miami’s diverse population has allowed my closest girlfriends to be from Israel, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic. I walk to work and ride my bike along Miami Beach’s coastline. South Florida is home to the Everglades, a World Heritage Site, and the busiest cruise ship port in the world, PortMiami. We host major events such as Art Basel, Ultra Music Festival, and the Miami Open. The uniqueness and opportunities of South Florida have allowed so many of us to become passionate about this place we call home. The governments of Miami-Dade County, the City of Miami, and the City of Miami Beach also recognize this. The three have partnered to join the 100RC network as Resilient Greater Miami and the Beaches (Resilient GM&B). This is the only instance in the 100RC program in which multiple governments are partnered to develop a singular resilience strategy, and as I bear witness, it is no easy feat.

Early in this process, I sat in a room with three chief resilience officers (CROs) and their deputies. I quickly began to understand the established programs that came with each of the governments and the political pressures that accompanied such an endeavor.

Over the last seven months, we’ve spent many hours together learning about Resilient GM&B’s challenges. We’ve begun to understand one another’s passions and pressures, celebrating birthdays and sympathizing over hardships. Our Mondays are now spent together with various leaders throughout GM&B learning about subject-specific shocks and stresses affecting our communities. Our Thursdays are spent updating the 100RC project team on progress and strategy development.

Preliminary resilience assessment workshop. Left to right: Ajani Stewart, City of Miami; Corin, intern, City of Miami Beach; Susanne M. Torriente, CRO, City of Miami Beach; Stephanie Tashiro, Deputy CRO, City of Miami; Jane Gilbert, CRO, City of Miami; Peter Jenkins, 100RC; Amy Knowles, Deputy CRO, City of Miami Beach; Jim Murley, CRO, Miami Dade County; Eric Wilson, 100RC; Lauren Swan, ArchTam. Behind the camera: Claire Bonham-Carter, ArchTam.

Our Monday meetings have allowed us to recognize that the three governments share similar resilience issues: an inadequate and overtaxed transportation system, transient and refugee populations, sunny-day flooding, hurricanes, housing affordability, and income inequality. At the same time, the origin of challenges is different for each government. We learned that an economic crash for the City of Miami Beach means loss of tourism while to the City of Miami it’s a financial collapse and to Miami-Dade County it might be loss of agriculture.

This process of understanding the commonalities and differences of the issues affecting GM&B has allowed three separate governments and their respective departments to identify obstacles and build relationships toward solutions. As the CROs continue on their journey of development toward an inclusive Resilient GM&B strategy, we find that this engagement process has begun to create a platform for stakeholders to learn from one another, integrate ideas and actions, and build a collective voice.

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Today, I help shape bigger projects. I am currently the lead superintendent for the retail mall within the Hudson Yards project in midtown Manhattan, New York. The overall Hudson Yards development is the largest private construction project currently underway in the United States, and it’s very exciting to be part of such an undertaking. 

Before I joined Tishman Construction, September 11, 2001 changed my life and priorities, as it did for so many Americans, and I joined the U.S. Army, completing two tours of duty in Iraq. When my service was complete, I needed to choose a new career path. After some reflection, I considered the construction industry as a field that shares much in common with military service. Teamwork, problem solving and singular goals: these are all things that anyone who has operated in a military environment will find familiar on a construction project.

View from the retail mall Hudson Yards 12^th floor facing NW towards the Javits center in New York City.

My role as the lead superintendent on the Hudson Yards project leaves me feeling fulfilled as a major contributor to such a high-profile development. There is no guide that will teach anyone how to excel in the role, but having strong professional examples and mentors is what has most significantly shaped my professional experience and abilities.

It can be a long, chaotic day on a construction site, in sometimes uncomfortable environments. However, as the superintendent, I am in tune with every aspect of the project, keeping safety and quality top of mind for everyone involved. I feel the pride, teamwork and a sense of satisfaction at the end of each day.

View from the retail mall Hudson Yards 10^th floor facing south towards the World Trade Center and the Statue of Liberty in New York City.

Engineering News-Record New York recently selected me as a Top Young Professional for 2017. Very few superintendents have ever been selected for this honor, and I could not have done it without my military experience and the mentorship that some great superintendents and foremen have given me.

I think all young professionals in the engineering and construction industry can benefit immensely from coming out and learning how a project is built. They will most likely find the same sense of fulfillment I do in seeing how what you dream can become a reality.

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I then joined URS, an ArchTam legacy company, as a project manager for our U.S. government client’s efforts to design, test and deploy a fleet of transport vehicles. I was responsible for the program’s cost, schedule and performance—which taught me the importance of sound execution and customer service.

After a couple of years, I decided to put my legal background to work and transitioned into what is now ArchTam’s Management Services legal department. I advised on U.S. government contract issues, conducted internal investigations and managed a wide variety of compliance activities. Several years later, I was offered the chance to move into a full time ethics and compliance role at the corporate level and leaped at the opportunity. The new role enabled me to operate on a more international stage again—within a year I was able to travel to India, China and throughout the Middle East.

Having worked first on the client side and now leading Ethics + Compliance at ArchTam, I noticed that we tend to emphasize the procedures required to be compliant rather than focusing on behavior. A coherent program to address compliance risks related to issues like corruption and international trade is certainly needed, but there’s no substitute for a strong culture of ethics.

Our leaders point to the importance of safeguarding ArchTam’s integrity, but the strength of our culture ultimately relies on our people internalizing our values and making good choices. That is why ArchTam’s Ethics Week, September 19-23, focuses on individual behaviors rather than policies and procedures. This year’s theme, “Safeguarding our people, our work and our world,” celebrates and promotes our workplace culture built on ethics and integrity. The idea is to empower our people to act with integrity by identifying and resolving ethical dilemmas that they may face in their day-to-day activities.

I’m proud to be an employee of ArchTam, and I am always looking for ways to engage colleagues throughout the company in building a culture that is founded upon doing the right thing and operating with integrity in everything we do.

My Personal Philosophy: I think that we communicate with each other most authentically when we connect ArchTam’s core values of Safeguard, Collaborate, Inspire, Anticipate, Deliver and Dream to our personal values. My personal ethics encourage me to promote the greater good, collaborate with others fairly and meaningfully, and treat all people with dignity and respect. These ethics help me contribute to safeguarding our people, our work and our world.

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ArchTam was selected to manage the construction of hundreds of residences at Cannon as part of the Military Family Housing Privatization Program. The program is a tool to help the military improve the quality of life for its service members by improving the condition of their housing and modernizing their spaces and amenities.

This exposure was taken at 1/160th of a second at f 8.0 at ISO 100 on a Canon 1Dx camera with 24-70mm lens with a heliopan circular polarizing filter.

Photo © Robb Williamson / ArchTam

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How can we overcome workplace and diversity challenges?

My response stems from my experiences in my 35-year Air Force career. When I first came on active duty, about 10 percent of the Air Force workforce was women. Today, just under 20 percent of the Air Force workforce is women. Throughout my career, I wanted to be recognized not for being a woman, but for working hard and accomplishing the mission. I was very fortunate to have been given positions of increasing responsibility from which I could learn and grow. Every one of my jobs was challenging, exciting, on the cutting edge and always worth the hard work I invested. I’m sometimes asked to what I would attribute my success of achieving the highest rank possible and serving as the first-ever woman four-star general in the Air Force. My recipe for success is really very simple.

It has just two ingredients. Number one: I did the best I could at every job I was given — as an individual and as a teammate — because nothing in the Air Force gets done in a solo fashion.  And number two:  I brought a positive attitude with me to work every day. I learned early in my career that you can’t always control what your job (or what life, for that matter) brings. You can ALWAYS control your response. I have made it a point to be as positive as I can be in my response. I’ve learned that when I’m positive, others around me are positive as well. And when you have a team of positive people who are willing to give their jobs their very best, you can’t help but succeed at your mission.

How have you balanced/integrated your personal and professional lives throughout your career?

Serving in the Air Force is a 24/7/365 responsibility. The missions we execute are critically important to our nation and others, so there is a tendency to feel as though we are never done, that there is always more that could and should be done. Because of that dynamic, I encouraged all my folks to seek out an optimum work/life balance for them. There is no “one size fits all” for that balance; it’s uniquely personal for each individual and something that each of us needs to focus on and pay continual attention to. For me, I realized that someday, my career would end. And when that day came (which, in fact, happened on July 1, 2015), I wanted to have three things waiting for me: my family, my friends, and my health. So it was important to me to nurture those three areas throughout my career, to spend time with my husband and daughter, the loves of my life, and to carve out time every week to maintain my physical fitness. And it worked — my quality of life in retirement couldn’t be higher!

How have attitudes toward U.S. servicewomen changed in past decades? What advice would you give to young people considering joining the military who look to you as a role model?

I have seen numerous, substantial, positive changes relative to gender diversity in the Air Force just in my lifetime. I noted above that when I commissioned, women made up approximately 10 percent of the Air Force. Now, women comprise more than 19% of the Air Force, almost double. That’s a substantial change, but it is still not representative of this country’s demographics — so we’re not done yet!  Relative to career progression, for the first time in history, we have now seen women at the highest rank, the four-star level, across all the services except the Marine Corps. And we have dozens of women general officers of lower grades serving throughout all the services. I maintain that trend will continue.

When I entered the Air Force Academy in 1976, there was still an executive order on the books from 1951 that gave the services permission to discharge a woman if she became pregnant, gave birth to a child, or became a parent by adoption or as a stepparent. Today, women (and even men) are granted parental leave, which has just recently been extended from six to 12 weeks. That’s progress! When I first came on active duty, several career fields were completely closed to women. Today, all positions, even those relating to direct combat roles, are now open to women. I maintain you don’t have to look any further than what our military women are doing today, all around the globe, to see how far we have come. Women have proven that they can succeed and that they can lead…on every battlefield!

My advice to anyone considering serving in the military is to join! There is no greater duty than to serve your country, whether that’s for one enlistment or for an entire career!

General Janet C. Wolfenbarger, USAF Retired, joined ArchTam’s board of directors in August 2015. General Wolfenbarger is a 35-year veteran of the Air Force and was the branch’s first female four-star general, commanding the Air Force Materiel Command at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, in Ohio, from 2012 until her retirement in 2015. She has also served as the military deputy to the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition and as the Services Director of the Acquisition Center of Excellence at the Pentagon. General Wolfenbarger directed the B-2 System Program Office and commanded the C-17 Systems Group for the Aeronautical Systems Center at Wright-Patterson.

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