Colonel Trey Meeks (U.S. Air Force Retired) is Managing Principal for Defense Growth & Capabilities at The Asia Group. Trey has a proven track record enabling aerospace and defense clients to capture billions in successful campaigns, mediate delicate international settlements, establish strategically salient relationships, upgrade regional brand profiles and achieve business expansion objectives in numerous Asian markets by designing and implementing strategic campaigns and capturing discrete business opportunities. Additionally, his strategic insights have helped inform risk mitigation approaches for a diverse group of Fortune 100 companies heavily invested in Indo-Pacific markets highly subject to regional volatility.
Prior to joining The Asia Group, Colonel Meeks served as the Chief of the Office of Defense Cooperation at both the U.S. Embassy in Singapore and the U.S. Embassy in Brunei Darussalam to lead all defense sales and cooperation activities. In this role, he oversaw direct support for high-value acquisition, sustainment, and upgrade efforts by U.S. defense firms as well as partner capability development efforts. Trey served as primary liaison between the U.S. Arms Transfer and Technology Release Senior Steering Group and Singapore’s Defense Technology Committee, where he regularly collaborated to solve complex technology transfer and national disclosure policy issues. He simultaneously managed the U.S. government’s largest foreign training and education program with over 1000 students per year, and led U.S. inter-agency support for the Singapore Airshow and the International Maritime Defense Exhibition (IMDEX), the largest aerospace and maritime defense events of their kind in Asia.
During his Air Force career, Colonel Meeks developed a wide breadth of operational expertise and strategic relationships in the Asia-Pacific. As the Deputy Director for Plans, Programs and Policy at Special Operations Command-Pacific (SOCPAC), Trey provided inter-agency and programmatic support for Operation Enduring Freedom-Philippines. Colonel Meeks additionally served in key leadership roles in national-level exercises in Korea, Thailand, and Cambodia. Trey was also a Special Operations Command-Pacific representative to an Ambassador-level Regional Security Initiative summit in Indonesia, and guided SOCPAC’s Strategic Planning Process to prioritize USD 100 million in Service Common and Special Operations funding.
Colonel Meeks was Commander of the 1st Helicopter Squadron at Andrews Air Force Base, where he led the squadron to win the Air Force Association’s prestigious Verne Orr Award, by slashing contingency response times by 40% and increasing manpower by over 100%. Trey also accumulated extensive planning, programming and budgeting success as Training Command Chief for Special Operations and Combat Rescue platforms, as well as advanced jet and helicopter trainers. Over his career, he logged over 3000 hours as both an Air Force and Army helicopter evaluator pilot and was a Source Selection team member for over USD 3.2 billion in services contracts. For his distinguished service, Trey was awarded the Defense Superior Service Medal.
Colonel Meeks is a Senior Adjunct Fellow at the Center for a New American Security. He graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy (B.S.), as well as Auburn University (M.B.A) and completed the National Defense Intelligence College’s Post Graduate Intelligence Program. Trey also accomplished programs at the Joint Warfighting College, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.