Lieutenant Colonel Ronald Kornreich, USAF (Ret)

Inducted September 2021

Citation:

In recognition of LtCol (retired) Ronald Kornreich as the architect and driving force behind the creation of the Air National Guard’s (ANG) Trainer Development Office. He directed the $250 million National Guard investment in training systems to meet critical, underserved training needs.

After retiring from the USAF, he leveraged his experience as an engineer and fighter pilot to deliver innovations in ground and aircrew simulators. His lifetime dedication to training earned him the USAF’s prestigious Modeling & Simulation “Moody Suter” Individual Lifetime Achievement Award, which recognizes USAF leaders whose specific accomplishments and modeling and simulation innovations led to increased readiness and improved quality of training.

He is recognized as an early proponent of distributed training with the creation of the ANG’s Distributed Training Operations Center that annually supports thousands of virtual training events for the Air Force and other DoD components. LtCol (retired) Ron Kornreich’s dedication to the warfighter has made a lasting impact on aircrew training and on future systems’ acquisition and design. His simulator programs reached every State and Wing helping to keep our Citizen Airmen safe, ready and relevant.

Biography:

Originally from New York, retired Lt. Col. Ronald Kornreich earned his aerospace engineering degree from the University of Oklahoma in 1971. After graduating, he joined the U.S. Air Force and served for more than 26 years as a fighter pilot and a staff officer. During his career, Lt. Col. Kornreich had multiple assignments overseas, to include Thailand and Panama, where he supervised fighter operations. At Nellis Air Force Base, Lt. Col. Kornreich worked as an original member of staff at the Red Flag combat training exercise where his passion for modeling, simulation and training began.

Upon retiring from the Air Force, Lt. Col Kornreich worked at Air National Guard headquarters, where he focused on modernizing simulation programs and new engineering technologies. He was directly responsible for expanding the Distributed Mission Operations (DMO) training capability, which has led to him being widely acknowledged as the “Father of DMO” in the Air Guard. Lt. Col. Kornreich is also recognized with establishing the Distributed Training Operations Center, which has become a world-class DMO center of excellence that provides persistent, distributed virtual training to thousands in the Air Force, Air National Guard, and allied nations. As the senior command manager, he developed a dual-track process for both acquisition and modernization of modeling and simulation systems from high-fidelity simulators to lower-end trainers.

Lt. Col. Kornreich has received multiple awards throughout his military and civilian careers recognizing his efforts, in addition to his “Moody Suter” award. These awards include the Eagle Award and the Minuteman Award (twice) from the National Guard Bureau, and the Medal of Merit from the Air Force Association.

LtCol Kornreich continues his contributions to training today. He is a trustee on the board of the Virtual Flight Academy, an Air Force Association member, and is the owner and senior consultant of Simulation Consultants, LLC, where he focuses on helping organizations adapt to change in the simulation community.