Winthrop’s Chuck Kubik gets Promoted to Colonel in U.S. Air Force

Special to the Transcript

On Wednesday, July 16th, 2025, Lieutenant Colonel Chuck Kubik was promoted to Colonel in the United States Air Force during a celebratory pinning ceremony held on the USS Constitution.

Surrounded by dozens of his fellow airmen, family, friends and colleagues, Colonel Kubik had the honor of donning the silver eagle insignia pinned on by his wife, Shannon Kubik, and three sons Charlie, Connor and Kip. The emotional ceremony was presided over by Brigadier General Mike McGinley and included a special invocation from St. John the Evangelist’s retired pastor, Father Charles Bourke, who had previously married the couple. Kubik’s eldest son Charlie, a third grader at the ATC, took the podium to thank his dad for “being the best wingman” he knows, and for inspiring him to be in the Air Force when he grows up.

“It was amazing to share this milestone ceremony and celebration with so many of my family, friends and colleagues who have helped shape who I am today and provided invaluable guidance throughout my entire career,” said Chuck Kubik

Kubik is currently an active reservist serving as the reserve advisor to the senior materiel leader at Kessel Run, based at Hanscom AFB. He is also currently activated as the product lead and co-founder of GigEagle, a transformational Department of Defense(DoD)-wide program using artificial intelligence to match reservists and guardsmen to short term, on-demand taskings using their commercial skills and experiences, and providing a new way for these members to serve. When not serving on active duty, Chuck has worked as a management consultant at SEI Boston for over 17 years.

Coming up on 25 years of service, Kubik was a 2002 graduate of the United States Air Force Academy where he played football, was a flight instructor, and graduated with numerous honors. After a change in the Air Force’s vision policy thwarted his dreams of flying professionally, the military sent him to the Naval Postgraduate School where he got a dual degree MBA and MS in Information Systems Management.

Following graduation in 2004, Kubik was stationed at Hanscom AFB, MA as an acquisitions officer where he worked in the AWACS block 40/45 program office, an airborne radar surveillance & command and control aircraft, before moving to a reservist role. In 2018 he was reactivated within the DoD’s new Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), where he met Brig Gen McGinley and they developed GigEagle together. He has completed multiple active duty tours to design, build and launch the platform which will target the unknown talents of over one million reservists and guardsmen.

Kubik’s role in developing this new agile human capital strategy has landed him many accolades and awards including the Defense Superior Service Medal and MeriTalk’s AI Honors Award.

As General McGinley emphasized throughout the night, “Chuck is doing something even harder than flying planes: he’s changing culture. He’s showing the Department of Defense that agility doesn’t have to be a buzzword. That we can match the right person to the right mission at the right time. And in doing so, he’s not just transforming software—he’s transforming how Americans serve their country. That takes leadership. But it also takes heart. Today isn’t just about what he’s done. It’s about who he is. He is a builder. A connector. A pioneer. He is someone who gives people permission to dream big and work hard—and to laugh along the way. And he reminds us that the mission isn’t just about systems or strategy—it’s about service and soul.”