The daughter of former Nesquehoning residents has been appointed by President Donald Trump to the rank of brigadier general.

Following confirmation by the U.S. Senate, Maria A. Biank joined the ranks of the general officer corps when she was promoted at a recent ceremony held at Fort Belvoir, Virginia.

Brig. Gen. Biank is the daughter of retired Col. Samuel A. Biank Jr. and Patricia (Sahr) Biank, formerly of Nesquehoning. She is the granddaughter of the late Samuel and Mary Biank and the late William and Suzanne Sahr of Nesquehoning.

In the U.S. Armed Forces, brigadier general is a one-star general officer, ranking above a colonel and below a major general. The position is the equivalent to the rank of rear admiral in the other uniformed services.

An Army brat, Maria was one of 41 colonels, including four females, who were selected for promotion on this year’s list.

Following in her father’s footsteps, she was commissioned in May 1990, as a signal officer through the ROTC program at The College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia. She is currently the Director of Operations of the U.S. Army Cyber Command at Fort Belvoir and has served in various stateside and overseas assignments, including service in Germany, Korea and three combat tours of duty in Iraq.

Her education includes a bachelor’s degree in history from The College of William and Mary and master’s degrees in military history from the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College and in National Resource Strategy from the National Defense University’s Industrial College of the Armed Forces.

Among her military awards and decorations are the Defense Superior Service Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Legion of Merit with two Oak Leaf Clusters, and the Bronze Star with two Oak Leaf Clusters.

She is married to Col. Cameron A. Leiker (Armor). They have a daughter Julia. The family will relocate to Germany this summer, when she will be assigned as the J6 (command, control, communications and cyber) of the U.S. European Command.

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