Kris Ackerbauer, Captain, USN (Ret.)

Captain Ackerbauer grew up in Johnstown, NY, attended the University of Colorado, Boulder and was commissioned in the NROTC program. Captain Ackerbauer was a Bombardier/Navigator with over 3000 hours in the venerable A-6 Intruder. On his first deployment on the USS Coral Sea he assisted in the evacuation of Saigon, the final chapter of the Vietnam War. After command of VA-196 (an Intruder squadron at NAS Whidbey Island) he earned a MA at Naval War College in Newport R.I. His last major command in the USN was Commanding Officer of Naval Air Station Kingsville, Texas, an advanced jet training base for Naval Aviators. His final duty station was Commanding Officer and Professor of Naval Science at UW Madison.

Immediately following his retirement from the Navy, he joined the UW Madison Physical Plant and is now the Director of Services. His responsibilities include the supervision and management of about 600 employees in 4 departments; Custodial, Grounds, Waste and Recycle, Campus Services.

Captain Ackerbauer was CO of the NROTC Unit from 1997-2000. Because he saw the importance of the Alumni Association’s work and the benefits of the scholarships the Association granted firsthand, he has attended board meetings ever since and took on the job of maintaining the Alumni Database in 2009!

He is married to Denine and they have two children. Both children are proud UW Madison alums. Brett, a graduate of the NROTC program, is a Major in USMC flying AV-8B Harriers and Kimberly is a Clinical Pharmacist in a Cardiac Critical Care unit in Boston Medical Center.