President Barack Obama recently announced his intent to nominate Maj. Gen. John W. Peabody as President of the Mississippi River Commission. Maj. Gen. Peabody assumed command of the Mississippi Valley Division in November 2011, and will lead his first Mississippi River Commission inspection trip along the lower Mississippi River in late March 2012.
President Obama’s nomination announcement yesterday noted that Maj. Gen. Peabody has demonstrated knowledge and dedication throughout his career. The President also noted how grateful he was to Maj. Gen. Peabody for taking on such an important role, and he indicated that he looked forward to working with him in the months and years to come.
As the commander and division engineer for the Mississippi Valley Division, Maj. Gen. Peabody directs all U.S. Army Corps of Engineers water resources development in the Mississippi River basin, an area of more than 370,000 square miles, including all or parts of 12 states.
He entered military service in 1980 upon commissioning as a second lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers, and has spent most of his career as a combat engineer, with operational deployments to Somalia, Kuwait and Iraq. He also served as the division engineer for the Corps’ Great Lakes and Ohio River Division before taking command of the Mississippi Valley Division.
General Peabody is a graduate of the United States Military Academy, the Command and General Staff College and the Army War College with a master's degree in strategic studies. He also received an M.P.A from Harvard University and studied as an Olmsted Scholar at El Colegio de Mexico, Mexico City.
Release no. 12-006