Colonel Licklider is a native of Pennsylvania and earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Wilkes University in 1995. After graduation in 1995, he received a commission in the Marine Corps and attended the Officer Candidate School. Upon completing The Basic School, he attended flight school and received his Naval Aviator designation in 1998.
From 1998 to 2002, First Lieutenant Licklider was assigned to HMM-365 as a CH-46E pilot and promoted to Captain in 1999. He held billets as Assistant S-6 officer, Operations Flight Officer, Flight Line OIC for 84 Marines, and participated in combat missions in Kosovo and Afghanistan.
From 2002 to July 2003, Captain Licklider served as both a Forward Air controller and Air Officer with 2d Tank Bn and participated in Regimental Combat Team 5 combat operations in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
From 2003 to 2004, Captain Licklider attended Expeditionary Warfare School (EWS) in Quantico, Va. During the EWS career development period, he completed the Aviation Safety Officer course.
From 2004 to 2007, he was assigned to Marine Air Ground Training Group 21 as a helicopter flight instructor and was promoted to Major in 2005. He served as the Night Vision goggle Standardization Officer, Senior Marine and Operations Officer of Helicopter Training Squadron Eight. He was awarded the 2006 Marine Corps Aviation Association Geiger Award for Instructor of the Year for his leadership, instructional ability, and for identifying and correcting a deficiency in the training curriculum.
From 2007 to 2009, Major Licklider was assigned to Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Ca., where he earned a Master of Electrical Engineering in the Communications curriculum. His thesis, "LOW POWER LOW PROBABILITY OF DETECTION DENIAL OF SERVICE AGAINST IEEE 802.16 COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS", received the SPAWARSYSCOM Electronic Systems Engineering Award.
From 2009 to 2012 Major Licklider was assigned to Marine Corps Systems Command and was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in 2011. His first assignment was Project Officer for the Group Four Unmanned Aerial Systems, followed soon after with his selection to be the Composite Tracking Network Product Manager (PdM) an Acquisition Category Three program. During this period, he led the program through FOT&E, fielding, multiple major system upgrades, Air Command and Control System of Systems integration and testing, as well as joint development of future capabilities with the Army and Navy.
In 2012 Lieutenant Colonel Licklider was assigned to Fourth Marine Infantry Regiment where he served as the Future Operations Officer. He led the Regimental Theater Operational planning as well as the planning of over 30 Theater Support Coordination exercises annually for the regiment and Unit Deployment Battalions.
In February 2015, Lieutenant Colonel Licklider was selected for the 8061 Acquisitions Military Operational Specialty and subsequently board selected as the Radar Systems Product Manager.
In 2017, Lieutenant Colonel Licklider was selected as Program Manager for Command and Control Systems where his focus was delivering command and control capability as a fully integrated system of systems.
In 2018, Lieutenant Colonel Licklider was promoted to Colonel and subsequently selected as Program Manager for the major acquisitions program Global Combat Support Systems Marine Corps (GCSS-MC), now the Logistics Integrated Information Solutions (LI2S-MC) portfolio, where he successfully implemented a holistic capabilities modernization and sustainment approach. The LI2S-MC team was recognized for collaboration, innovation and agile capability delivery.
In 2022, Colonel Licklider assumed the duties of Chief of Staff for Marine Corps Systems Command.
Colonel Licklider’s awards include the Meritorious Service Medal (2nd award), Air Medal (3rd award), Navy Commendation Medal (2nd award, one combat V), and Combat Action (2nd award).