Lieutenant General Michael S. Cederholm assumed his current position as the Deputy Commandant for Aviation in July 2022.
He is the son of Colonel (USMC) and Mrs. Roger Cederholm. A native of Camp Lejeune, he grew up in New Hartford, Connecticut. After graduating from Wesleyan University, Lieutenant General Cederholm was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in April 1989. He underwent flight training in Pensacola, Florida; Beeville, Texas and El Toro, California.
Lieutenant General Cederholm’s operational assignments include VMFA(AW)-242, 1st Battalion 1st Marines, VMFA-112, Navy Fighter Weapons School (TOPGUN) Instructor Pilot, MAG-11, MAG-12, VMFA-212, MAG-31, US Marine Corps Forces Command (MARFORCOM) - Fleet Marine Force Atlantic (FMFLANT), and 2D Marine Aircraft Wing.
His Staff assignments include Manpower Management Officer Assignments (MMOA); Headquarters Marine Corps Aviation - Aviation Weapons Requirements (APW); Military Aide to the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition, the Honorable Mr. Stackley; and, Military Secretary (MILSEC) to the 36th Commandant of the Marine Corps, General Dunford.
Lieutenant General Cederholm's Joint assignments include: Joint Staff J-8 (Force Application Division), and three General Officer billets inside the Joint Staff J-3 (Deputy Director of Operations; Vice Director J-33 Nuclear-Homeland Defense-Current Operations; and Deputy Director Regional Operations (DDRO) J35). He has deployed twice in a Joint capacity to the Coalition Air Operations Center at Prince Sultan Air Base (PSAB) Saudi Arabia for Operations ENDURING FREEDOM (OEF), Joint Task Force SOUTHERN WATCH (JTF-SWA) and IRAQI FREEDOM (OIF), and once to Eastern Europe in an Allied capacity.
He has served as the Commanding Officer of VMFA-212, Commanding Officer of MAG-31, Commanding General of Task Force BALTIC WATCHTOWER, and Commanding General of 2D Marine Aircraft Wing.
Lieutenant General Cederholm has flown operational tours in all four Marine Aircraft Wings, and has flown every operational type-model aircraft in the Marine Corps inventory, to include the F-35B and the CH-53K. He is a graduate of the Navy Fighter Weapons School (TOPGUN), the National War College, and is a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Seminar XXI Fellow. While at the National War College, Lieutenant General Cederholm earned a Master of Science degree in National Security Strategy, and was the recipient of the 2008 Marine Corps Association Colonel Richard A. Christie Excellence in Writing Award.