Ray Mabus
75th Secretary of the Navy under the Obama Administration, and former Governor of MississippiRay Mabus served as the 75th United States Secretary of the Navy from 2009 to 2017, the longest tenure as leader of the Navy and Marine Corps since World War I. As Secretary he revolutionized the Navy and Marine Corps, opening all jobs to women, aggressively moving to alternative energy as a warfighting measure, building more than twice as many ships during his term than in the preceding eight years and developing the Gulf Coast Restoration Plan after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. It was during his watch that Navy SEALs killed Osama bin Laden. Among many awards, he received the Martin Luther King, Jr. Social Responsibility Award and was chosen as one of the top fifty CEOs in America by GlassDoor, the only government person picked. From 1988 to 1992, Mabus served as Governor of Mississippi, the youngest elected to that office in more than 150 years. Mississippi experienced record growth in jobs, education, tourism and exports.
Mabus was United States Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from 1994- 1996. Today, Mabus is on the board of two public companies as well as a public benefit education company and is the founder of a consulting organization. He also serves on the boards of the Environmental Defense Fund and Jose Andreas’ World Central Kitchen and the advisory board for the National Medal of Honor Museum. Secretary Mabus is a native of Ackerman, Mississippi, and received a Bachelor’s Degree, summa cum laude, from the University of Mississippi, a Master’s Degree from Johns Hopkins University, and a Law Degree, magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School. Mabus served in the Navy as an officer aboard the cruiser USS Little Rock.