John E. Whitley served as the acting Secretary of the Army. Prior to that, he was the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Financial Management and Comptroller and the acting Director of Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation. In prior government service, John worked in the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security and in the U.S. Senate. Outside of government, he has worked at federally funded research institutions and in academia. He has a PhD and an MA in economics from the University of Chicago and he has undergraduate degrees from Virginia Tech. He lives in Alexandria, Virginia, with his wife and children.