Vice Admiral Kevin Donegan, U.S. Navy (Retired), served as commander of the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet and commander of the 32-country Combined Maritime Forces in the Middle East. In those roles, he led teams that planned and executed joint and combined combat, counterterrorism, and anti-piracy operations at sea and in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, and Yemen. In the Pentagon, he served as deputy chief of the Navy for operations, strategy, and planning, leading the development of the U.S. Maritime Strategy, and was the service lead for the guiding strategy for the Department of Defense. Donegan was responsible for international relations and oversaw initiatives for innovation across the Navy with a focus on implementing cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, unmanned systems, and big data management. He led the Navy task force to rapidly assess damage and mitigate risks after a major national cybersecurity breach.  

Donegan was the director of operations for U.S. Central Command, where he managed combat and other operations for all U.S. joint military forces in the Middle East. During his tenure, he implemented the strategic plan to shift joint U.S. and coalition partners’ military operations from Iraq to Afghanistan and introduced innovative national cyber teams to counter terrorist messaging and enhance cyber support for operations. Donegan commanded the U.S. aircraft carrier strike group based in Japan, the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson, an amphibious command ship, and an FA-18 strike fighter squadron. 

Donegan has been a national security lecturer at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, the U.S. Naval War College, and the University of Virginia. He was honored by the governments of Bahrain, France, and Japan for leadership and coalition team building. Donegan attended the University of Virginia, the U.S. Air Force Air Command and Staff College, and the Senior Executives in National and International Security executive education program at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.