04/16/2026
This years speaker!
BRIGADIER GENERAL OLEN (CHAD) BRIDGES
Brigadier General Bridges was appointed by Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders as the Secretary of the Arkansas Department of Military and the 55th Adjutant General of Arkansas on August 5th, 2024.
He enlisted in the Arkansas Army National Guard in August 1991 and commissioned in August 1998 as a graduate of the Arkansas Military Academy Officer Candidate School, Class 41.
Brigadier General Bridges assumed command of the 39th Infantry Brigade Combat Team in September 2021, leading a 2023-2024 deployment to Grafenwoehr, Germany to train Armed Forces of Ukraine Soldiers. His unit, as the Joint-Multinational Training Group – Ukraine (JMTG-U), partnered with over 107 different U.S. and international organizations to train 7,500 Ukrainians involving 26 different U.S. platforms totaling 80 different training iterations.
His other two operational deployments include commanding an infantry company during a 2004-2005 tour to Baghdad, Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom II and as a platoon leader during a 2001-2002 deployment to Sinai, Egypt in support of the Multinational Force and Observers Mission after the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks.
Brigadier General Bridges served multiple tours in the Pentagon. He was the Chief of the National Guard Bureau’s representative on the 2022 National Defense Strategy Core Development Team. Before that, he served as the Director of Integration and Army National Guard Programs for the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness and as the Military Assistant for Readiness and Integration for the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Manpower and Reserve Affairs.
Brigadier General Bridges served in various other assignments at the tactical, state, and national levels.
He is a graduate of the Infantry Officer Basic and Advanced Courses, U.S. Army Command and Staff College, U.S. Air Force Command and Staff College, U.S. Marine Corps Command and Staff College, and the Joint Forces Staff College. In 2017, he completed the United States Army War College as a distinguished graduate obtaining a Master of Strategic Studies degree.
He is an MIT Seminar XXI fellow, a Harvard Kennedy School fellow for Leadership in Homeland Security, and a Syracuse University Maxwell School National Security Studies fellow.
His awards and decorations include the Distinguished Defense Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star Medal,
