Leo Mackay, Jr.

Leo S. Mackay, Jr
4th United States Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs
In office May 24, 2001 – September 30, 2003
President	George W. Bush
Preceded by	Hershel W. Gober
Succeeded by	Gordon H. Mansfield
Personal details
Born	San Antonio, TX
Political party	Republican
Alma mater	US Naval Academy Harvard University
Profession	Business Executive
Religion	Lutheran
Military service
Service/branch	United States Navy
Years of service	1983–1995
Rank	Lieutenant Commander
Unit	VF-11
Battles/wars	Operation Earnest Will

This article is about the American deputy cabinet secretary. For the Canadian writer, see Leo McKay, Jr..

Leo S. Mackay, Jr. is an American businessman, and a former deputy secretary of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs.

He is Corporate Vice President, and an elected officer, of Lockheed Martin Corporation.^[1] Currently, he is Vice President - Ethics and Sustainability leading the Office of Ethics and Business Conduct as well as serving as Chief Sustainability Officer. He reports to the CEO and the Ethics and Sustainability Committee of the board of directors. He is an independent director of Cognizant Technology Solutions.^[2] From 2007 to 2011, he was Lockheed Martin's Vice President, Corporate Business Development. From 2005 to 2007, Mackay was President of ICGS, LLC – a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. He is a member of the Board of Regents of Concordia Theological Seminary.^[3] Mackay chaired the Board of Visitors at the Graduate School of Public Affairs of the University of Maryland (2008–14). He was a board member, and chair of the Audit Committee, of the Center for a New American Security in Washington, DC (2007–15), and continues on its Board of Advisors.^[4] He was Chair of the Lutheran Housing Support Corporation (2006-2011); Chair of the Secretary of Health and Human Services' Advisory Committee on Minority Health (2004–2005); and a board member of Cook’s Children’s Hospital in Fort Worth, Texas (1998–2001). He was U.S. Black Engineer magazine's 2012 Black Engineer of the Year Awardee for Career Achievement, and the 2014 Lincoln-Douglass Award winner from the Republican National Committee.^[5]

Government service

Mackay was Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs from May 2001 to October 2003.^[6] As the department's second in command and designated chief operating officer, he had operational authority over the department's three major agencies: the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), the nation's largest integrated healthcare system; the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA); and the National Cemetery Administration. He concentrated on departmental management initiating a Strategic Management Council, reformulating the departmental budget process, and changing the internal merit system for GS/SES personnel. He was concentrated on the CARES project, a capital asset realignment of VHA; enhanced use leasing; lowering the backlog of pending veterans' claims; achievement and maintenance of a clean audit; the National Shrine Commitment, an effort to raise, and make standard, the condition of the national cemeteries; and VetFran, a program for transitioning veterans to aid them in starting franchise businesses. He was also, with David Chu, a founding co-chair of the VA-DoD Joint Executive Council to increase interdepartmental collaboration and sharing. Upon his departure, then-Secretary Anthony Principi stated, "Dr. Mackay brought to VA the discipline of the business world and the compassion of a man who cares deeply for America's veterans. His legacy is a more-focused VA better able to meet the needs of veterans."^[7]

From 1993-95, Mackay served as military assistant to then-Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy, Ashton Carter.^[8] During this time, the office was re-organized to focus on cooperative de-nuclearization, execution of the Nunn-Lugar threat reduction program, nuclear weapons policy, and counter-proliferation. The office also was the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) lead for the Nuclear Posture Review of 1994-95.^[9]

Personal history

Mackay resides in northern Virginia. He was born into a military family in San Antonio, Texas and grew up on, and around, military installations. He lived in Japan as a child and spent two years of high school in Tehran, Iran. His family was evacuated in December 1978 as the Shah's government disintegrated. He served in the Navy as a naval aviator. He completed pilot training in 1985, graduating at the top of his class. He spent three years in Fighter Squadron Eleven flying the F-14, attended Fighter Weapons School (Topgun), and compiled 235 carrier landings and 1,000 hours in the F-14. He also served as an instructor at the Naval Academy in the history department.

Affiliations

Mackay is a member of the Aspen Strategy Group,^[10] the Council on Foreign Relations,^[11] and the U.S. Naval Institute. He was a Research Fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, and was a Special Guest Fellow at the Brookings Institution. He is a past director of the Henry L. Stimson Center in Washington, DC.

Education

Mackay was a 1983 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, and a recipient of the Secretary of the Navy Distinguished Midshipman Graduate Award. He holds a master's degree in public policy, and Ph.D. in public policy from Harvard University. He was a Kennedy Fellow, Harvard MacArthur Scholar, and Graduate Prize Fellow at Harvard. In 2005, Mackay was awarded a Doctor of Laws, honoris causa from Concordia Seminary, and served as the commencement speaker for its graduation that year.^[12]

External links

• A scholarly paper published by Mackay and Barry Blechman
• Mackay endorsement of LCMS President Harrison
• A Corporate Responsibility Magazine Article on the Lockheed Martin Sustainability Program

References

1. Lockheed Martin, Corporation, retrieved April 15, 2016
2. Cognizant Technology Solutions, retrieved April 15, 2016
3. LCMS Convention, 2010, retrieved April 15, 2016
4. Center for a New American Security, retrieved April 15, 2016
5. Black Engineer of the Year 2012 STEM Global Conference, retrieved April 15, 2016
6. Department of Veterans Affairs, retrieved April 15, 2016
7. Department of Veterans Affairs, retrieved April 15, 2016
8. Belfer Center, Spring 2008, p. 6, retrieved April 15, 2016
9. "An Elusive Consensus" Janne Nolan, Brookings Institution Press, 1999, p. 52-54
10. Aspen Institute, retrieved April 15, 2016
11. Council on Foreign Relations, retrieved April 15, 2016
12. Concordia Seminary - St. Louis, Respublica, retrieved April 15, 2016