America at a Crossroads: Preserving Faith, Family and Freedom

Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, US Army retired

Lieutenant General, US ARMY (Retired) Michael T. Flynn is a subject matter expert in Diplomacy, Statecraft, Foreign Policy, Strategy Formulation, Defense, Intelligence, and other areas of national and international security. He served more than 33 years in the Army, Joint, and Special Operations Forces, with multiple overseas combat tours. He is the author of 7 books, three of which are bestsellers. He holds three master’s degrees and an honorary doctorate, and currently serves as Chairman of America’s Future, one of the nation’s oldest nonprofits, and as Chairman of the Gold Institute for International Strategy. His military career culminated as the Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency and the nation’s highest serving military intelligence officer. Additionally, he served the 45th President of the United States, President Donald J. Trump, as the nation’s 25th National Security Advisor. General Flynn is the recipient of numerous military awards and decorations as well as law enforcement, intelligence community and several non-profit lifetime achievement awards. Gen. Flynn's website

Lt. Colonel Robert "Buzz" Patterson, US Air Force, retired

Lt Colonel Robert “Buzz” Patterson, USAF (Ret.) served 20 years as a pilot on active duty in the United States Air Force and saw tours of duty world-wide including combat operations in Grenada, Somalia, Rwanda, Haiti, and Bosnia. From 1996 to 1998, Colonel Patterson was the Senior Military Aide to President Bill Clinton. During that time he was responsible for the President’s Emergency Satchel, otherwise known as the “Nuclear Football,” the black bag with the nation’s nuclear capability that accompanies the president at all times. In addition, Colonel Patterson was operational commander for all military units assigned to the White House, which included Air Force One, Marine One, Camp David, White House Transportation Agency and White House Mess. Among his many military commendations, Patterson received the Defense Superior Service Medal for accomplishments while at the White House and was awarded the Air Force Air Medal for flying fifteen combat support missions into then-besieged Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1994. He retired in 2001 to pursue a career as a commercial airline pilot, writer and conservative speaker, and is the author of two New York Times bestselling books. He is a Distinguished Graduate from the Air Command and Staff College; he has his Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from Virginia Tech University and a Master’s in Business Administration from Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri. He is a member of the STARRS Board of Advisors.

Kendall and Sheila Qualls

Kendall Qualls served as a US Army Captain in Field Artillery and is a member of the STARRS Board of Advisors. He earned three graduate degrees including an MBA from the University of Michigan. He worked his way up the ranks at several Fortune 100 healthcare companies before he became Global Vice President of an $850M business unit. Mr. Qualls champions the principles of meritocracy and supports the notion that free enterprise, and the private sector are the fastest and most equitable way to lift people from poverty to prosperity. He is the President of the nonprofit organization TakeCharge which strives to unite Americans regardless of background toward a shared history and common set of beliefs. Mr. Qualls champions the principle of meritocracy and supports the notion that free enterprise, and the private sector are the fastest and most equitable way to lift people from poverty to prosperity including black Americans. He also is a champion of religious freedoms, a core tenant of America’s foundation. Mr. Qualls has been married to his wife, Sheila for 35 years and they have five children together.

Sheila Qualls is the Executive Director of Washington Academy.  Washington Academy, a TakeCharge project, strives to give children from low-income and poor communities access to life-changing Christian education, empowering them to discover their identity in Christ and use their God-given talents to transform lives and American culture. In addition to TakcCharge, Sheila is a national speaker. She speaks on topics of family and identity.  She formally blogged as The Not So Excellent Wife at Patheos.com and worked as a personal coach.  Her published worked has  appeared in the Upper Room, the MOPS Blog, Grown and Flown, and the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Sheila earned dual bachelor’s degrees in English and Journalism from Cameron University and a Master’s of Art in Communication from the University of Oklahoma.

Colonel Rob Maness, US Air Force, retired

Colonel Rob Maness, USAF (Ret.) worked his way up from the enlisted ranks to full Colonel and retired from active duty in 2011, ending a 32-year career in the military. He led numerous combat operations, including as a B-1 bomber squadron commander in Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. He served as the Installation Commander of the 377th Air Base Wing at Kirtland Air Force Base, NM. Maness was serving in the National Military Command Center in the Pentagon during the September 11, 2001 attack. Following that, he was selected for the Joint Chiefs of Staff Future Operations Group, where he advised senior national leaders and helped reorganize global Defense Department commands in 60 days. His staff assignments included Deputy Director at Air Force Global Strike Command, where he produced the first strategic plan for a 28,000-person nuclear force in eight months, and Pentagon roles in which he authored theater nuclear war plans and presidential decision tools that shaped U.S. deterrence and warfighting policy. Following military retirement, Rob worked as an executive in a Fortune 500 energy corporation. Today he leads Iron Liberty Group LLC as CEO and Founder, providing leadership, organizational, and safety consulting, and produces independent media through a streaming television program, social media platforms and his website. He serves on several nonprofit boards including on the STARRS Board of Advisors, chairs a political action committee he founded and a nonprofit, was appointed Senior Advisor to the Department of War for Senior Service Colleges in 2026, and serves as a Commissioner on the Gulfport Redevelopment Commission. He holds a Master of Public Administration from Harvard, a Master of Arts from the Naval War College, a Master of Science from Air Command and Staff College, and a Bachelor of Science, cum laude, from the University of Tampa. Rob is most well-known as the host of The Rob Maness Show.

Major General Bentley Rayburn, US Air Force retired

STARRS Chairman of the Board of Directors Major General Bentley Rayburn, USAF (Ret.) is a 1975 graduate of the US Air Force Academy and was cadet wing commander his senior year. He was a command pilot with over 3,000 hours in aircraft that include the F-4, F-16, and AT-38. General Rayburn commanded at multiple levels and led combat missions over southern Iraq, enforcing U.N. sanctions on the Saddam Hussein regime, and was the senior battle staff director during Operation Allied Force, directing joint operations over Serbia and Kosovo. His distinguished career culminated as the Commander of the Air Force Doctrine Center at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama. 

Major General Joe Arbuckle, US Army retired

STARRS Vice Chairman Emeritus of the Board of Directors Major General Joe Arbuckle, USA (Ret.), still serving on the board, graduated from college in 1968, and entered the Army in 1969 as a private. Following training as a combat engineer, he was later commissioned upon graduating from Engineer Officer Candidate School in 1970. Having volunteered for duty as an Infantry Officer, he served a year in Vietnam on Advisory Team 22, embedded with the South Vietnamese Army. He has commanded at every rank from Lieutenant to Major General, specializing in the missile field. During later years, he served in various capacities as an Army strategist and became an industrial base expert, playing a major role in the DoD “Revolution in Military Logistics” campaign. He was inducted into the Army OCS, Engineer, Ordnance and AMC Halls of Fame.  General Arbuckle retired after 32 years of commissioned and enlisted service.

Kim Miller

Kim Miller is the Founder and President of America’s Women and America’s Women of Action. What started in 2020 with 8 women on a text chain is now 40,000+ active followers making local and national impact. Kim’s team impacted an estimated 50,000 Arizona voters in the 2024 election, helping win by the biggest victory margin of any swing state. Now they are America’s Women: Informed, Engaged and Voting. America’s Women connects women to impact what matters-- Families, Faith & Freedom. Promoting children’s innocence, real education, women’s sports, parents’ rights, civic engagement, and more. Our weekly content tells women: 1) What’s happening, 2) Why it matters, and 3) What to DO about it. “We make it EASY, so YOU can make a difference!” Kim lives in Phoenix with her husband. She’s a mother of five, including a daughter who serves as a Naval Flight Officer, and she’s a grandmother of seven. When time allows, she and her husband enjoy hiking, traveling, working on projects at their family’s cattle ranch in Arizona, and helping manage their pistachio farm in California.

Donald T. Critchlow

Arizona State University (ASU) Katzin Family Professor of History Donald T. Critchlow is founder and director of the Center for American Institutions. An American political and policy expert historian, he is the author of numerous books and was awarded the 2021 Zebulon Pearce Distinguished Teaching Award in the Humanities. Critchlow has appeared on C-SPAN, NPR, BBC World News, Fox News Digital, and many talk radio programs. He has written for The Washington Post, The New York Observer, New York Post, NewsMax and National Review, and has lectured in Europe, China, and Brazil. He also serves as the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Policy History , published by Cambridge University Press.

Colonel Ron Scott, PhD, US Air Force retired

Col. Ron Scott, PhD, USAF (Ret.) is the President and CEO of STARRS, a non-profit organization that works to eliminate anti-American ideologies in the US Military and promote the return to a warfighter ethos of meritocracy, lethality, readiness, standards, accountability and excellence in the military. He is a 1973 graduate of the United States Air Force Academy. He has over 30 years of leadership experience in the Air Force, including command at all levels from flight to wing, senior policy positions at a major command and at the Pentagon, combat as a command pilot with flight time in the OV-10, F-4E, and C-130E/H, and overseas assignments in Europe, Asia, and Southwest Asia. Ron has a master’s in psychology from the University of Northern Colorado and a PhD from Arizona State University.

Emcee: Dr. Martha Ostrom, PhD

Dr. Martha Ostrom, PhD, is President and CEO of Foundation and Fundraising Consultants, LLC and serves on the STARRS Board of Directors and Development Committee. Martha currently serves on The MacArthur Society Board of Advisors and is a member of the Calvert Task Group. She brings over 40 year’s experience as a leader within various organizational sectors, e.g., as a private business owner, Office Chief at The Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS), entrepreneur, justice system court-appointed facilitator, and nonprofit organization (NPO) CEO and consultant. Her doctoral degree is in Public Administration.

David Friend

Reverend David Friend founded and pastored the North Scottsdale Christian Church in Scottsdale, AZ. He was President of the Paradise Valley Chamber of Commerce and Chairman of Grand Canyon University Foundation Board. David spent 14 years in banking, owned a real estate development company for 20 years. He resides in North Scottsdale with his wife Sharon and together they have 2 married children, 6 grandchildren and seven great grandchildren. David is an award-winning author, Veteran, entrepreneur, pastor, banker, graduate of Western Bancor, teacher and served in Vietnam. He leads Dream City Church Vets Helping Vets.