Ray 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 during President Obama’s Administration, 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 was chosen as one of the top 50 CEOs in America by Glassdoor, the only government person selected.

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 also served as United States Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from 1994-1996, before taking on the role of CEO of a public company from 2006-2007.

Today, Mabus is a director of two public companies, an executive fellow at Harvard Business School and an advisor to Google Ventures. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Explorers Club, and has thrown out the first pitch at all 30 major league ballparks.

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.