The Kentucky Center for Veterans Studies Advisory Council provides guidance and subject-matter expertise to define the mission and advance the goals of KCVS. We are honored to welcome Lieutenant General (Ret.) Ken Keen to our team.
Lieutenant General (Ret.) Ken Keen
Lieutenant General (Ret.) Ken Keen
Lieutenant General (Ret) Ken Keen is a native of Hyden, Kentucky. Following graduation as a distinguished military graduate from Eastern Kentucky University, he was commissioned as a 2LT in the infantry in December 1974. Keen retired from active duty on March 1, 2013.
Keen is currently associate dean of leadership development and a senior lecturer in organization and management for Emory University’s Goizueta Business School in Atlanta, Georgia. In this role, he manages a school-wide leadership development program and teaches leadership courses, which includes teaching a Leadership Capstone course; implementing a leadership coaching fellows program and course; crisis leadership seminars; developing high performing teams seminars; and coaching in the Advanced Leadership Academy.
LTG (Ret) Keen served 38 years in the Army with over 11 years working and living abroad in the Republic of Panama, Brazil, Colombia, Haiti, Germany, Egypt and Pakistan. Keen commanded a SCUBA detachment in 3rd Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group; a company and Battalion in the 82nd Airborne Division; Joint Task Force – Haiti following the January 2010 earthquake; as well as serving on three U.S. Embassy Country Teams leading all military forces in Colombia, Haiti and Pakistan during crisis periods. He participated in Operation JUST CAUSE in 1989 as the Assistant S3 of the 75th Ranger Regiment; commanded a ranger task force during Operation DESERT STORM in 1990, as part of a Joint Special Operations Command, while serving as the S3 of the 1st Ranger Battalion; was the executive officer and commander of 1st Ranger Battalion; and was the 11th Colonel of the 75th Ranger Regiment from 1999 to 2001.
Keen is a graduate of the Brazilian Command and General Staff College, Defense Language Institute – Portuguese Course, the University of Florida’s Master of Arts in Latin American Studies program and U.S. Army War College.
He also serves on several non-profit boards in support of military veterans, education and international humanitarian organizations. Keen is chairman of the board of trustees for the U.S. Army War College Foundation; senior fellow for the National Defense University; board member for the Witness to War Foundation; board member of the Community Organized Relief Effort; president of the Ranger Hall of Fame Board; and serves as honorary colonel of the 75th Ranger Regiment.
In 2016, Keen was inducted into the U.S. Army Ranger Hall of Fame and the National Reserve Officer Training Corps Hall of Fame.