President Donald Trump has announced plans to nominate Mark Esper, vice president of government relations at Raytheon, as U.S. Army secretary, Inside Defense reported Wednesday.
Esper is the administration’s third pick for the post following the decision of Vincent Viola, founder of digital stock trading firm Virtu Financial, and Tennessee Sen. Mark Green to withdraw their names from consideration.
The Senate Armed Services Committee held a July 12 hearing to vet Ryan McCarthy, an executive at Lockheed Martin and the White House’s pick for the service branch’s undersecretary post.
Esper joined Raytheon in 2010 after serving as VP of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and executive VP of the Global Intellectual Property Center as well as the Aerospace Industries Association.
He previously served as director for national security affairs for Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist between 2004 and 2006 and policy director within the House Armed Services Committee.
The retired Army officer also worked at the Defense Department as deputy assistant secretary.