James Geurts, who most recently served as the assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition and was a 2020 Wash100 Award recipient, was designated the service's acting undersecretary on Thursday.
Geurts will also concurrently perform duties as chief operations and management officer of the Department of the Navy (DON), the service said the same day. He oversaw the Navy's annual $100 billion budget for naval technologies essential to U.S. maritime defense in his most recent role, which ran from late 2017 to early 2019.
His three-decade career includes technology procurement-related work with U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) and the U.S. Air Force, where he managed programs for missiles, fighter aircraft, avionics systems, unmanned aircraft and other technologies.
“Having supported the military, both in and out of uniform, for the majority of my life, I know that when we are empowered and focused on the mission we can accomplish amazing things,” Geurts said.
