Major General John F. Wharton (U.S. Army Ret.)

John has served the Nation for more than three decades retiring as a Major General in the United States Army. He has extensive experience in leadership, technology, innovation and logistics. He is currently a public and private sector advisor to numerous technology companies and organizations. His focus is on national security and technology acceleration in support of national priorities and homeland security. He is also a Partner, at One Defense, an organization originating out of the Office of the Secretary of the Department of Defense as a next generation national security enterprise to foster an expanded defense technology innovation community of practice that incorporates DOD stakeholders, traditional defense industry, the start-up and venture capital communities, and the academic research community.

He most recently served as Commanding General of the United States Army Research, Development and Engineering Command at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. There he led 13,800 scientists, engineers, and support personnel at more than 100 global locations controlling 75% of the Armys R&D budget. Subordinate organizations included: the Army Research Laboratory (Adelphi, Md.), the five Army research, development, and engineering centers: Armament (Picatinny Arsenal, N.J.); Aviation and Missile (Redstone Arsenal, Ala.); Communication and Electronic (Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md.); Soldier Support (Natick, Mass.); Tank and Automotive (Warren, MI) as well as the Edgewood Chemical and Biological Center (Edgewood, Md.).

While there, he won and led five of the seven President of the United States (POTUS) National Manufacturing Innovative Institutes, a program to stimulate the nations economy by rapid technology development and transfer. He also developed cooperative science and technology strategic roadmaps for numerous countries and ran the Science, Technology, Education Mathematics (STEM) and Educational Outreach Programs (AEOP) for the Army.

Before RDECOM, he served as the Commanding General, U.S. Army Sustainment Command at Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois. Prior to that he was the Chief of Staff at the U.S. Army Materiel Command in Huntsville, Alabama. He also served as Commanding General, AMC-Southwest Asia/U.S. Army Central G-4/Combined Forces Land Component Command C-4.

John has commanded units in Afghanistan, Iraq, Kuwait, Korea, and the Sinai. He has a degree from the United States Military Academy and a masters degree in National Security and Strategic Studies from the Naval War College. He has also served as a Visiting Senior Research Fellow, Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS), National Defense University (NDU) in Washington, D.C. and senior advisor to the National Security Technology Acceleration Program (MD5) providing our nation’s leaders with expertise regarding science and technology, innovation, and engineering affecting national security.

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