Mr. Whitehead was appointed to his resent position in the Senior Executive Service in July 2007. He is responsible for management of the Joint Command and Control Capability Portfolio on behalf of the Commander, Joint Forces Command. He provides oversight of all Department of Defense joint command and control programs. He serves as a senior level representative to a wide variety of defense, external agency, multi-national and industrial forums. He maintains a regular dialogue with each of the Uniformed Services and Combatant Commands, focusing on warfighter needs, systems of systems engineering and providing integrated, enduring and timely solutions to the user. He is also chartered to establish and maintain interoperability standards across the breadth of the portfolio.
Mr. Whitehead served on active duty from 1980 to 2007, in a variety of U.S. Army armor and cavalry command and staff assignments in Germany, Kuwait, Turkey and the United States, including tank company commander; doctrine writer and instructor; division plans officer; cavalry squadron commander; Chief of Contingency Operations, Kosovo Forces, J5, NATO Joint Command Southeast; and Director, US Army TRADOC Program Integration Office for Battle Command.
Additionally, Mr. Whitehead is a graduate of the US Army Command and General Staff College, the School of Advanced Military Science and the US Army War College, Advanced Strategic Studies Program where he earned degrees in operational and strategic planning.
Mr. Whitehead graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York in 1980, receiving a Bachelor of Science Degree. Beyond two master’s degrees from military colleges, he also holds a Masters of Science in Administration from Central Michigan University.
Mr. Whitehead received several military awards for meritorious service, has been published in journals, and provided numerous presentations to scientific, management, and combat and material development forums. He is a recognized innovator and leader in implementing systems of systems engineering practices and bringing warfighter involvement to lifecycle management.