The United States Senate on Monday afternoon confirmed businessman John Phelan as the 79th Secretary of the United States Navy in a bipartisan 62-30 vote.
All 51 Republican senators voted for Phelan, as well as 11 Democrat senators, including the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. Jack Reed (RI) — a notable feat during a time of heightened political contentiousness between Democrats and the Trump administration.
Phelan is a Harvard Business School graduate and the founder and chairman of the private investment firm Rugger Management LLC, and previously was the co-founding partner and chief investment officer of MSD Capital, a private investment firm managing the capital of Michael Dell, chairman and chief executive officer of Dell Technologies.
Although Phelan did not serve in the military, he is expected to bring his vast business expertise and acumen to help fix the Navy’s most pressing problems in ship building and maintenance, particularly…