Colonel (Col) Black is a Ground Colonel and Regional Affairs Officer in the United States Marine Corps. He has served in the Marine Corps since November 1996.
As an Infantry Officer, he has commanded at the platoon, company, and battalion levels. He has served in OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM, OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM – AFGHANISTAN, and has completed two deployments with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit – Special Operations Capable (MEU SOC) in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region.
As a Regional Affairs Officer, he has served as the MARFORPAC Country Director for Marine activities in Australia, New Zealand, the South Pacific Islands, and Timor Leste, and as the USINDOPACOM Office of Defense Cooperation Chief at the American Embassy in Wellington, New Zealand.
Col Black is a graduate of Harvard's Program of Leadership Development. He holds a Master of Arts in National Security and Strategic Studies from the Naval War College. He is a distinguished National Security Fellow from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Security Studies Program.
Col Black’s awards include the Bronze Star, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, U.S. Department of State Meritorious Honor Award, a Commendation from the Chief of the Australian Army, and the German Armed Forces Badge for Military Proficiency (Gold).
Col Black is married to Dr. Aime Black, former Education Advisor at the American Embassy in Wellington, New Zealand. She is currently an Evaluation Specialist at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) John H. Glenn Research Center. She leads several evaluation studies, including a program-level evaluation study of the NASA Minority University Research and Education Program (MUREP), one of four Congressionally-funded programs that NASA manages.