Secretary of the Navy

Hon. John Phelan

Responsibilities

Secretary of the Navy John Phelan manages the readiness, development, and well-being of nearly one million Sailors, Marines, and civilian personnel within the Department of the Navy, including the Reserves.

Quote 

“The US Navy is at a crossroads. Extended deployment, inadequate maintenance, huge cost
overruns, delayed ship building, failed audits, sub-par housing and sadly, record-high suicide
rates, are systemic failures that have gone unaddressed for too long.”

Stated Priorities

• Increase shipbuilding capability. 

• Strengthen the maritime industrial base, calling it a “day one” priority to revisit existing contracts and potentially rework some of them, if necessary.
• Improve the training, health and overall welfare of Navy forces.
• Establish readiness through modernization and training, saying it’s critical to national security.

Business/Philanthropic & Public Service Career 

• Founder and chairman of Rugger Management, LLC, a private investment firm based in Palm Beach, FL. 

• Co-founder and co-managing Partner of MSD Capital, LP, a private investment firm representing Michael Dell, founder and CEO of Dell Technologies, among other clients.
• An acknowledged philanthropist, Phelan served as chairman of the Third Option Foundation, and has sat on the boards of the Spirit of America, Harvard Business School, and the Legal Services Corporation, a non-profit established in 1974 by Congress to provide civil legal aid to those otherwise unable to afford it.

Education

• Southern Methodist University – BS degree in Economics and Political Science in 1986.
• Harvard Business School – MBA in 1990.
• London School of Economics (LSE) – General Course degree in Economics and International Relations in 1985. As an alumnus, Phelan committed $10 million dollars to establish LSE’s US Centre, called “a hub for global expertise, analysis and commentary on America from the perspective of other advanced industrialised democracies.”

Personal

• Born in 1964, John Dennis Phelan is married to Amy, a former management services and systems engineering consultant. A native of Dallas, TX, Amy reportedly fulfilled a childhood dream after becoming a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader for three seasons back in the 1990s. 

• Both Phelans are active fundraisers and avid collectors, considered heavyweights in the art world, specifically in the contemporary art scene. Between them, they’ve sat on the boards/councils of: the Aspen Art Museum; the Tate Museums; the Museum of Modern Art; and also, on the board of the Guggenheim, among others. 
• The couple, married since 2000, have homes in New York, Palm Beach and Colorado. In May 2025, their newly-purchased house in D.C.’s Kalorama Triangle Historic District was damaged by fire. The cause is thought to be electrical. No one was hurt.

• They have a daughter, an artist.