Lieutenant Colonel Gwen E. Baker

As the 54th Philadelphia District Commander, Lieutenant Colonel Gwen E. Baker commands a 500-person engineering organization that provides national, economic and environmental security in the heart of the Northeast Corridor. Her responsibilities include dredging waterways for navigation, protecting communities from flooding and coastal storms, responding to natural and declared disasters, regulating construction in the nation’s waters and wetlands, remediating environmental hazards, restoring ecosystems, building facilities for the Army and Air Force, and providing engineering, contracting and project management services for other government agencies upon request.
 
Established in 1866, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Philadelphia District encompasses the 13,000-square-mile Delaware River Basin and the Atlantic coast from New Jersey’s Manasquan Inlet to the Delaware-Maryland line. Within its boundaries are more than eight million people in eastern Pennsylvania, western and southern New Jersey, most of Delaware, New York’s Catskills region and part of northeastern Maryland. It also includes two state capitals (Trenton, N.J., and Dover, Del.) and the Delaware River ports complex from Philadelphia and Camden (N.J.) to Wilmington (Del.).

LTC Baker came to Philadelphia from Joint Task Force North in El Paso, Texas, where she served as Chief of Policy, J5 Plans and Policy Directorate.

A native of Chicago, she was commissioned from the United States Military Academy at West Point in May 1988. She began her military career as a Construction Platoon Leader in the 94th Engineer Battalion (Combat) (Heavy) in Darmstadt, Germany and deployed to Turkey as part of Operation Provide Comfort. She then commanded Headquarters Company, 30th Engineer Battalion, 20th Engineer Brigade and Bravo Company, 249th Engineer Battalion (Prime Power) at Fort Bragg, N.C. While with the 249th, she deployed in support of hurricane relief in the U.S. Virgin Islands and as part of initial entry forces for Operation Joint Endeavour in Bosnia.

After earning a Master’s in Civil Engineering (Construction Management) at the University of Florida, she became Deputy Resident Engineer and Project Engineer for the Corps’ New York District and deployed to Kosovo as part of the Basecamp Construction Coordination Agency, responsible for constructing Camps Bondsteel, Monteith and outlaying bases. She subsequently served as Operations Officer and Executive Officer for the 30th Engineer Battalion, Fort Bragg, where she deployed this unit to Kuwait and Iraq as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

She is a graduate of the U.S. Army Engineer Officer Basic and Advance Courses, the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, the Joint Professional Military Education Phase II, and the Jumpmaster Course.

Awards and Decorations include the Army Commendation Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, the Bronze Star, the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the Air Assault Badge and the Senior Parachutist Badge. 

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