This summer, a veteran of the U.S. Army and McDaniel College was chosen to command as the new chair of the College’s Board of Trustees.
Lt. Gen. Otto J. Guenther takes the reins from Martin K. P. Hill, who held the position since 2007 and served on the College’s Board of Trustees since 1993. Hill worked tirelessly for the students at McDaniel and across Carroll County. Additionally, he was integral to the evolution of McDaniel’s landscape, guiding the renovation of every academic building on campus.
Like Hill, Guenther celebrates a long history with McDaniel. He graduated from the College in 1963 with a bachelor’s degree in economics and was commissioned in the Green Terror Battalion Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) program as a Signal Corp Officer in the Army. He continues the tradition as a mentor for students in the College’s ROTC program.
He went on to earn a master’s degree in procurement and contracting form the Florida Institute of Technology. Additionally, he completed all levels of military education and training, graduating from the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, the Army War College, and specialty training at the Defense Systems Management College.
Guenther served in the U.S. Army for 34 years and was recognized for his service with numerous awards and decorations, including the Distinguished Service Medal for exceptionally meritorious service. In just 2019, he was inducted into the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command (CECOM) Hall of Fame to commend his selfless work for the government.
In closing his military career, he served as the Army’s first chief information officer in 1995 and acted as the director of information systems at the Pentagon until he retired in 1997. He transitioned into leadership roles in Computer Associates and Northrop Grumman Mission Systems’ Tactical Systems Division.
Guenther has been commended by the College on multiple occasions, having earned himself the Trustee Service Award in 1996, the Alumni Community Service Award in 2013, and the Alumni College Service Award in 2016. He has served dutifully on the Board of Trustees since 2006, functioning as a member of an abundance of committees, such as the Executive, Buildings and Grounds, Institutional Advancement, Enrollment Management, and Student Affairs committees.
CECOM Commander Maj. Gen. Randy Taylor, amidst Guenther’s induction, thanked those being accepted into the hall of fame for setting an example for all of us to follow. McDaniel hopes to follow Guenther in the prodigious direction he has already pioneered for himself.
