General Lyles is a distinguished retired military officer with 36 years of service in the United States Air Force where he rose to the rank of four-star general. In his last position, he served as Commander, Air Force Materiel Command in the Wright-Patterson Air Force base in Ohio. There, General Lyles was responsible for an 82,000-person organization implementing all U.S. Air Force research, development, acquisition, and logistics/sustainment. This command included the development and implementation of policies and processes to annually acquire $42.6 billion in research and development, production, test, and logistics support for the U.S. Air Force technological systems and infrastructure.
General Lyles has a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Howard University and a Masters in Mechanical (Nuclear) Engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology Program at New Mexico State University. He also attended the National War College at the National Defense University in Fort McNair in Washington, DC, and the National and International Security Program at Harvard University. General Lyles has Honorary Doctorates from New Mexico State University and Urbana University.