Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has selected a Morrison native as the next Assistant Adjutant General – Air of the Illinois National Guard.

Pritzker has chosen Illinois Air National Guard Director of Staff Col. Steven B. Rice for that leadership position, the Illinois National Guard announced Monday, Dec. 29. Rice will replace Maj. Gen. Dan McDonough, who will retire after nearly 38 years of military service.

“Colonel Rice was an enlisted airman for the first 15 years of his career, so he understands the Illinois Air National Guard from the ground-level up,” Pritzker said in a news release. “His proven leadership abilities and years of technical Air Force experience make him an excellent choice to serve our state and the Illinois Air National Guard airmen and their families in this role.”

With the selection, Rice will be promoted to brigadier general and will serve as one of two Governor-appointed deputies to Major Gen. Rodney Boyd, the Adjutant General of Illinois and Commander of the Illinois National Guard, according to the release. The other deputy is Brigadier Gen. Lenny Williams, the Assistant Adjutant General – Army.

“Colonel Rice is ready to take the reins of the Illinois Air National Guard as the Assistant Adjutant General,” Boyd said. “He has worked closely with me, Major General McDonough, and Illinois Air National Guard Chief of Staff Brigadier General Kevin Jacobs. We are all confident in Colonel Rice’s ability to help lead the Illinois Air National Guard as the National Guard and the Air Force transforms to meet future challenges.”

“I am honored to be selected as the next Assistant Adjutant General – Air of the Illinois National Guard,” Rice said. “I’m grateful to the Governor, Major General Boyd, Major General McDonough, and Brigadier General Jacobs for their confidence in me. However, I’m most grateful to the fellow airmen I have served with from 1986 on. I have received mentorship from airmen, noncommissioned officers and commissioned officers from the day I first put on the U.S. Air Force uniform. It takes a community to build Air Force leaders.”

As the director of staff of the Illinois Air National Guard, Rice oversaw the daily operations of the headquarters staff and directed activities of his staff members in the areas of strategic planning, policy implementation, personnel services, logistics, recruiting and retention, facilities, security and force protection, along with homeland security and homeland defense.

Before being selected as the Director of Staff, Rice served as the commander of the 182nd Mission Support Group, 182nd Airlift Wing, in Peoria.

As the Assistant Adjutant General – Air, Rice will be responsible for plans and programs affecting nearly 3,000 Illinois Air National Guard personnel at Scott Air Force Base, Peoria, and Springfield, according to the release.

His range of responsibilities will include ensuring combat readiness and mission capability of three major air bases comprised of flying wings, command and control facilities, logistics, and mission support units, while providing combat-trained personnel to meet all the U.S. Air Force mission requirements. He will also supervise a full-time force of over 900 federal and state employees.

Rice enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 1986. Upon completing his initial active duty basic and technical training, he was assigned as a munitions systems specialist at Osan Air Base, Republic of Korea. He was selected for a federal air technician position at the 182nd Fighter Group in 1992 and was assigned as the NCO in charge of missile maintenance. In 1994, he was selected as a flight engineer with the newly assigned C-130E aircraft, where he obtained his instructor and evaluator flight engineer ratings.

Rice obtained a commission in the Air National Guard in 2001, serving as commander of the 182nd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron and the 182nd Communications Flight before becoming the 182nd Maintenance Group commander in 2018.

He earned a Bachelor of Science in Professional Aeronautics from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in 1991. He graduated from the U.S. Air Force’s Air War College in 2018. Rice deployed to Camp Dublin, Iraq, in 2008 in support of the NATO Training Mission – Iraq, where he helped the Italian Carabinieri train more than 2,500 Iraqi National Police.

He is a lifetime member of both the National Guard Association of Illinois and the National Guard Association of the United States and served as the 182nd Airlift Wing director on the NGAI board. He is also a member of Lewistown Lodge 104 of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, the American Legion Post 1 in Lewistown, and the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 5001 in Lewistown.

Rice is married to Jenett Rice, and the couple has four children and four grandchildren.