President-elect Donald Trump has selected investment manager John Phelan to be the next Secretary of the Navy, replacing former surface warfare officer and shipbuilding reform advocate Cmdr. Carlos del Toro (USN, ret'd).
"It is my great honor to announce John Phelan as our next United States Secretary of the Navy!" Trump said, in a statement. "John will be a tremendous force for our Naval Servicemembers and a steadfast leader in advancing my America First vision."
According to Politico, other candidates who were considered but not selected included former Navy aviator Rep. Mike Garcia (R-CA) and former Navy doctor Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX), Trump's personal physician during his first term in office.
Phelan is a career-long investment manager who made his fortune running tech executive Michael Dell's personal fund, MSD Capital. In June 2022, during MSD's restructuring, Phelan stepped down from his post as its CEO and chairman "to focus on his personal investment and philanthropic interests." He went on to launch his own investment firm, Florida-based Rugger Management.
Phelan is known as a collector of contemporary art, a conservative political donor and a philanthropist. He and his wife reportedly split their time between homes in Palm Beach and Aspen, and he has been spotted before at Trump's private club in Palm Beach, Mar-a-Lago. Phelan is a Florida native, an avid fisherman, and a member of boards or committees at the Aspen Art Museum, the Whitney Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, the Fish & Wildlife Foundation of Florida and the CIA-focused Third Option Foundation.
Phelan played a widely-reported role in raising financing for the Trump 2024 presidential run. Earlier this year, he hosted Trump for a headline-grabbing campaign fundraiser at his Colorado home, charging entry fees of $25-500,000 per couple.
Phelan has no prior experience in the military, the public sector or the defense industrial base. He will be the only Secretary of the Navy since at least the Second World War to take the role without previous participation in the national defense establishment, whether in uniformed service, congressional oversight, political leadership or private-sector manufacturing.
"It might help that he has a personal relationship with the president. However, his lack of experience in defense and the Pentagon will hurt the Navy," CSIS adviser Mark Cancian told the Washington Post, noting that the Navy is starved of funding and will need politically influential leadership in order to build up its fleet. “It will take him a while to learn the levers of power.”
Phelan's nomination will require approval by the Senate, and he will serve at the pleasure of the president. The first Trump administration had seven Navy secretaries, a record in the history of the post.
