Retired Lt. Gen. Michelle Johnson, former head of the Air Force Academy, will take on a new job as senior vice president and head of NBA referee operations. Air Force photo by Mike Kaplan.
The former head of the Air Force Academy and retired three star general has been tapped for a new position of power—overseeing the National Basketball Association’s referees.
Retired Lt. Gen. Michelle Johnson, who stepped down as head of the academy in May and recently retired, will be the NBA’s senior vice president and head of referee operations, the league announced on Oct. 12.
Johnson is a 1981 graduate of the Air Force Academy, and was one of the academy’s best women’s basketball players, according to the league. In her new job, she will oversee the league’s officiating program and the NBA Replay Center, the release states.
“My love for basketball and the opportunity to help shape the direction of a key operational group within the NBA made this position incredibly appealing to me,” Johnson said in the release.
Before becoming the first female superintendent at the Academy in 2013, Johnson was the deputy chief of staff for NATO and the director of strategy for US Transportation Command. She has also served as the head of Air Force public affairs and the deputy director for information and cyberspace policy for the joint staff.
She is a command pilot with more than 3,600 flying hours in the C-141B, T-41C, KC-10A, C-17A, C-5A, and KC-135R.