Chief Master Sergeant JoAnne Bass
Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force
JoAnne S. Bass is a native of Hawaii and raised as an Army dependent, living in several overseas and stateside locations. She received an associate degree in Airport Resource Management from the Community College of the Air Force, then earned a B.S. in Professional Aeronautics from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. She has received other educational opportunities through the U.S. military.
Throughout her Air Force career, she has held a variety of leadership positions serving at the squadron, group, wing, and major command levels. She has significant joint service and special operations experience and has participated in several operations and exercises as well as deployments in direct support of Operations Southern Watch, Enduring Freedom, and Iraqi Freedom. Prior to her current assignment, Bass served as the Chief, Air Force Enlisted Developmental Education, Pentagon.
In July 2018, she became Commanding Chief Master Sergeant, Second Air Force, Keeler Air Force Base, Mississippi. In August 2020, she was sworn in as the Air Force’s Chief Master Sergeant.
She is married and is a Christian.
In the News…
Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force JoAnne S. Bass said she has a series of short, medium, and long-term priorities to improve life for enlisted airmen. That includes everything from how airmen are evaluated and promoted, to enlisted training, to the service’s culture, to resiliency and suicide prevention, she said.
Her plans to improve the Air Force’s enlisted ranks dovetails with the priorities of her new boss, Air Force Chief of Staff Charles Brown.
She said the Air Force needs to shift its culture to be ready to make necessary changes in preparation for the future. “We’re looking at the long game,” she said. “How do we maintain our relevancy as a warfighting organization? And we’re balancing that with, how do we take care of that today, so that our airmen have the culture that they need so that they stay in and continue serving.”
