Lieutenant Colonel Nicole Pearl

Lt Col Nicole D. Pearl is an Innovation Strategist, Chief of Staff of the Air Force (CSAF) Strategic Studies Group, Headquarters Air Force. As a member of the Office of Disruptive Thinking, she is responsible for advising senior leaders and pursuing strategic solutions for nonstandard requirements such as evolving global trends, disruptive technologies, innovation, geopolitics, and advanced technology convergence efforts. The Office of Disruptive Thinking inherited the motto of the innovative warfighting cell from World War II, the Air Corps Tactical School, which is: Proficimus More Irretenti—"We Make Progress Unhindered by Custom."

Lt Col Pearl received her commission through the United States Air Force Academy in May 2008. She earned her pilot wings and became qualified as an MC-130P Pilot in 2010. She was then assigned to the 9th Special Operations Squadron at Hurlburt Field, FL. After retiring the MC-130P in 2015, she was then assigned to the 9th Special Operations Squadron at Cannon AFB, NM where she served as Chief of Current Operations, before moving to the 27th Special Operations Wing where she served as Wing Flight Safety Officer, and upgraded to Instructor and Evaluator Pilot. She graduated from the U.S. Air Force Weapons School in 2018 and returned to the 14th Weapons Squadron as Instructor in 2019. She graduated from the Chief of Staff of the Air Force’s Blue Horizons program in 2022, where she founded a groundbreaking synthetic fuel program. Prior to her current assignment, Lt Col Pearl was the Deputy Branch Chief, Operational Imperatives Integration and the Senior Executive Officer, Headquarters Air Force A5/7.

Lt Col Pearl has more than 2,400 hours in the MC-130P and MC-130J, with over 480 combat hours in support of Operations ENDURING FREEDOM and FREEDOM’S SENTINEL. In 2019, she served as the 9th Expeditionary Special Operations Squadron Commander in Afghanistan.