Beverly Kelley

In January 1976 she enlisted in the United States Coast Guard and then attended Officer Candidate School in Yorktown, Virginia from February through June 1976.

[3] She earned her master of arts degree in national security and strategic studies from the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island and a master of science degree in national resource management from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces in Washington, D.C.[4] Kelley became the first woman to command an American military vessel of any branch of the service, specifically a Coast Guard cutter, the 95-foot patrol boat USCGC Cape Newagen, on April 12, 1979.

[5][6][7] In 1996, she was also the first woman to command a medium endurance cutter, USCGC Northland.

[8][3] In 2000, she became commander of a high endurance cutter, USCGC Boutwell, and made history as the first woman ever to do so.

[4] Kelley was appointed to an open seat on the Queen Anne's County Board of Education by Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley in 2011.