Kenneth Braithwaite

Braithwaite is from Livonia, Michigan.[1][2] He attended the United States Naval Academy and graduated with a bachelor's degree in naval engineering and political science in 1984.[3][4] He later earned a master's degree in government administration from the University of Pennsylvania, Fels Institute of Government,[5] in 1995.[6]

Braithwaite obtained additional graduate qualifications from the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, as well as the Air Command and Staff College at the Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama.[7]

From 1993 to 1996, Braithwaite served as town councilman for the borough of Ridley Park, Pennsylvania.[8] He later became a top advisor for former U.S. Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania from 1997 to 2000, serving as his state director.[9]

Official portrait of Rear Admiral Braithwaite, c. 2007

Braithwaite was commissioned as an ensign in 1984,[1] and was initially selected as a special assistant in the Office of Legislative Affairs on Capitol Hill. He became a naval aviator in April 1986 and was assigned to anti-submarine patrol missions with Patrol Squadron 17 out of Naval Air Station Barbers Point, Hawaii.[6] In April 1988 he was reassigned to public affairs duties[6] as director of public affairs aboard the aircraft carrier USS America (CV-66), and in 1990 he became the chief of public affairs to the commander of Philadelphia Naval Shipyard.[10]

Braithwaite's active duty service ended in 1993, but he immediately joined the Navy Reserve.[6] He continued to perform various public affairs assignments until his retirement in 2011.[3][11] From 1993 until 2002, he served in different roles with numerous commands, including the 6th Fleet, 7th Fleet, U.S. Pacific Fleet and Commander Carrier Group Two.

In 2002, he was selected as commanding officer of Navy Combat Camera Atlantic (Reserve) and during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, he was deployed with his command in support of combat operations. In 2004, he was selected as the director of the Joint Public Affairs Support Element-Reserve, part of Joint Enabling Capabilities Command. In this role, he commanded a 50-person joint public affairs expeditionary unit that was forward deployed to support Combatant Commanders in time of conflict. In 2005, he deployed to Islamabad, Pakistan to serve as the director of Strategic Communications, concurrently reporting to the commander for Disaster Response and to the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan.[12][13]

He was nominated to the rank of rear admiral (lower half) in early 2007[14] while serving as director of the Joint Public Affairs Support Element at Norfolk.[15] His promotion was approved by the U.S. Senate that June.[16][17] He served as the Navy's vice chief of Information until his retirement in June 2011.[18]

Braithwaite, then-vice chair of Information, meets with Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick on July 1, 2008

Upon leaving active duty in June 1993 Braithwaite enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania.[19] Shortly thereafter he was hired by Atlantic Richfield (ARCO) as Manager of Operations where he managed a multi-disciplined, union-represented workforce. He was later assigned to ARCO's Washington DC office to work on regulatory affairs.[20] When ARCO was acquired by British Petroleum in 1997,[21] Braithwaite was hired by Pennsylvania's senior US Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) to serve as his State Director leading the senator's offices across the Commonwealth.

In 2000 Braithwaite was asked to join Saint Thomas Health System of Nashville, Tennessee as their Vice President of Public & Government Affairs. The following year Braithwaite was promoted to be the Chief Advocacy Officer of St Thomas's parent company, Ascension Health, the nation's largest not-for-profit faith-based hospital system. In this role he returned to Washington, D.C., to focus on healthcare policy. Returning from active military duty in Pakistan in 2006, Braithwaite was hired to be the Executive Director of the Delaware Valley Hospital Council in Philadelphia where he helped to lead the merger of DVHC into the Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania (HAP) becoming a Senior Vice President of HAP in 2007.

In the fall of 2011, after retiring from military service, Braithwaite joined VHA of Dallas, Texas, where he led the merger of three divisions of the company to become the Executive Officer of VHA MidAtlantic. In this role, he led the struggling divisions to become the most successful in the company within two years. In 2014 and 2015 he also helped lead the mergers of VHA, Inc., UHC, and MedAssets to become Vizient, a hospital group purchasing and strategic improvement company where he served as Group Senior Vice President.

Braithwaite being sworn-in as the 77th U.S. secretary of the Navy, with his wife Melissa holding the Bible, on May 29, 2020

Braithwaite was nominated by President Donald Trump[24] to serve as the U.S. ambassador to Norway. His nomination was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on December 21, 2017, by voice vote.[24]

On November 24, 2019, after the firing of Richard V. Spencer, Trump said he would nominate Braithwaite to become the U.S. secretary of the Navy. He was formally nominated on March 2, 2020,[25] confirmed by voice vote on May 21,[26] and sworn in on May 29, 2020.[27][28][29]

Braithwaite's personal awards include the Legion of Merit, Defense Meritorious Service Medal with Oak leaf cluster, Meritorious Service Medal, Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal with Combat “V”, Navy Achievement Medal, the Combat Action Ribbon and various other awards.[12][30]

Kenneth Braithwaite and his wife Melissa have one daughter, Grace, and one son, Harrison.[11] Outside of his military and political career, Braithwaite is a sailor and amateur historian.[31][32]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kenneth J. Braithwaite II.

• Kenneth Braithwaite (US department of state)
• Kenneth Braithwaite at U.S. Embassy in Norway
• Biography U.S. Secretary of the Navy