Lieutenant Colonel Kristin C. Saling

Acting Director, Army People Analytics
Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Manpower & Reserve Affairs)

Lieutenant Colonel Kristin Saling is currently serving as the Acting Director of Army People Analytics in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Manpower & Reserve Affairs). In this office, she is responsible for developing, managing, and synchronizing the Army’s strategy, policy, and research in people analytics and talent management.

Lieutenant Colonel Saling graduated from the United States Military Academy with a bachelor of science degree in operations research. She began her career as an Engineer platoon leader with the 864th Combat Engineer Battalion at Fort Lewis and served again as a platoon leader and executive officer with the 14th Combat Engineer Battalion during the battalion’s deployment to Iraq. She commanded engineer companies with the 29th and 65th Engineer Battalions at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, and deployed again to Iraq as the Division Engineer Plans Officer for the 25th Infantry Division. After twelve years serving as an engineer officer, she voluntarily transferred into FA49 Operations Research and Systems Analysis and returned to Hawaii as a strategic analyst for US Army Pacific Command. Following her tour in Hawaii, she served as the lead for officer strength analysis and forecasting for the HQDA G-1 and the chief analytics officer for the Army Talent Management Task Force.

Lieutenant Colonel Saling has a Master of Science degree in Engineering Management from the Missouri Institute of Science and Technology and a Master of Science in Systems Engineering from the University of Virginia, where she specialized in datamining and complexity science and wrote her thesis, “Integrating Probabilistic Design and Rare Event Simulation to Solve Problems in High Reliability Systems,” which was subsequently published in two prestigious operations research academic journals. Her awards and decorations include the Bronze Star Medal, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Joint Service Achievement Medal, the Parachutist Badge, and the Air Assault Badge.

As an Operations Research and Systems Analyst, Lieutenant Colonel Saling has received multiple academic awards, including the Military Operations Research Society’s Hughes Award, recognizing the top DoD analyst under 40 each year.

Lieutenant Colonel Saling and her husband Scott have been married for 10 years. Scott is a certified landscape architect and former Army engineer officer. They have one son, Marcus, who is 2.