General Hankins was hired as the president of AAICU in February 2005 where he leads a non-profit organization representing the interests of fourteen non-profit, SACS accredited, four-year colleges and universities in Alabama. He entered the private sector as a municipal consultant to the Mayor of the city of Montgomery, Alabama and the Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce where he led the efforts to overturn the recommendations of the 2005 BRAC commission and save over 2000+ jobs that were scheduled to be moved out of Alabama. Prior to that, he served over 29 years in the United States Air Force culminating in his final position as the Commander of the Air Force Officer Accession and Training Schools. In that position, General Hankins served as the university president for three separate educational arms of the US Air Force — Air Force ROTC (18,000 students at 144 college and university locations), Air Force Junior ROTC (113,000 students in 744 high schools) and a post-graduate officers training program (3,500 students in resident on-campus programs). Gen Hankins accumulated 25+ years of experience in various leadership positions including over seven years as a direct liaison for the Department of Defense and the Air Force with the U.S. Congress.

Paul currently serves as a Commissioner and Vice Chairman of the Montgomery Housing Authority; Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Montgomery Education Foundation; Vice Chairman for the Alabama Prepaid Affordable College Tuition (PACT) Board; member of the Board of Directors for the Central Alabama Sports Commission; the Board of Directors for the Metro Area YMCA; the Board of Directors for the Alabama Military Stability Foundation; the Board of Directors for the Coalition for College Cost Savings; the Board of Directors for the Montgomery Chamber of Commerce and most recently co-chaired the F-35 Task Force that successfully brought the Air Force’s next F-35 fighter wing to Montgomery’s Air National Guard Unit.

A native of Knoxville, Tennessee, General Hankins holds a BS degree from the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado, and a MS degree from Troy University in Alabama. He completed a yearlong national fellowship with the Broad Foundation’s Urban School Superintendents Academy in 2004 and is a graduate from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business Senior Executive Program. He is married to Donna Hankins and they have two children, Priscilla Hankins Wunderl and Clark Hankins.