Dudney Retiring as Editor in Chief of AIR FORCE Magazine; Hebert Announced as New Editor in Chief

Robert S. Dudney has announced that he is retiring as editor in chief of AIR FORCE Magazine effective September 1. In stepping down, Dudney will end a 23 year run with AFA and a 34 year career of covering defense and foreign affairs in the nation's capital.

Adam J. Hebert, an executive editor since 2007, will succeed Dudney as its editor in chief.

Dudney said he is ready for the change. "It's the right time for me to move on and allow some new blood into magazine operations," he said. "Adam is extremely well prepared to lead."

Dudney is only the seventh editor in chief in the magazine’s 68 year history. He joined the magazine in 1987 as a senior editor and became its second ranking executive in 1989. He was named editor in chief in 2002. He was initiator of the popular online "Daily Report," and has also in recent years served as editor of the Mitchell Institute Press, an arm of AFA's Mitchell Institute for Airpower Studies.

Hebert, a native of Michigan, joined the magazine staff in 2002 as a senior editor. In 2007, he was promoted to his current position, in which he had day-to-day responsibility for planning, assigning, and editing most of AIR FORCE's feature-length free-lance articles. He also played a key role on managing the magazine's finances.

Hebert has, in addition, regularly reported and written his own articles, and, in 2006, began writing the popular, front-of-the-magazine "Issue Brief" series. As editor in chief, Hebert will oversee all aspects of magazine management and publication. He will also be associate publisher and director of publications for the Association.

Before coming to AFA, Hebert was an editor and writer with the respected trade publication, InsideDefense.com, and the Inside the Pentagon family of publications. Hebert holds a Bachelor of Arts degree, in political science, from the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) and a Master of Arts degree, in public policy, from the University of Maryland (College Park) He lives in Columbia, Md., with his wife and three children.

Magazine Changes Effective June 1

On June 1, a Magazine Special Projects office will be created to produce and manage a growing number of AFA specialty publications. This will bring an associated change in management of the Magazine's online products. This newly formed Special Projects office will be headed by Editor Suzann Chapman, who since 2005 has run the Magazine's online entity, airforce-magazine.com. In her new capacity, Chapman will also become editor of the Mitchell Institute Press, publishing arm of the Mitchell Institute for Airpower Studies. Chapman came to the Magazine in 1995, and has served in a number of senior positions.

Taking Chapman's place will be Senior Editor Michael Sirak. Sirak, a Magazine staff member since 2008, will be promoted to be Executive Editor and put in charge of online content, including the magazine's popular "Daily Report." Sirak also writes the monthly feature, "Air Force World," for the print magazine.

The Special Projects office will handle, among other publications, the programs for the Air & Space Conference, Air Warfare Symposium, Global Warfare Symposium, and Cyber Symposium. It will handle all production of Mitchell Institute studies and reports and preparation of content for the highly popular Air Force Almanac, as well as the AFA annual calendar and associated specialty publications. It will also contribute to the development and maintenance of several AFA websites.

Also on June 1, Marc V. Schanz will be promoted to the post of Senior Editor effective June 1. Schanz, a graduate of the University of North Carolina, came to the Magazine in 2005 as an Associate Editor, working primarily on the Magazine's new online product, the “Daily Report”.

In the years since then, Schanz has continued to contribute to the Daily Report, but has spent most of his time reporting and writing for the print Magazine, including trips to Afghanistan and Iraq. As Senior Editor, Schanz will continue to report and write and will assume new editing duties.

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