The Department of Defense announced the members of its recently restarted Defense Business Board, one of 16 advisory boards recently restarted after a Feb. 3 pause.
The board will be chaired by Deborah Lee James, former Secretary of the Air Force. James was sworn into the post by Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks on Sept. 14.
The board helps advise the DoD on its business practices and works to “develop recommendations that will assist the DoD realize significant cost savings through efficiencies realized,” according to its mission statement.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin paused all 42 of the DoD’s advisory boards in February and instructed they remain in limbo pause until all of the members of committees and subcommittees had completed their service.
The board’s nominees for membership include James and 16 others. They are:
- Cheryl Eliano, national vice president, District 10, of the American Federation of Government Employees;
- David Walker, former U.S. Comptroller General;
- Air Force Gen. Larry Spencer, president of the Armed Forces Benefit Association;
- Gen. Joseph Votel, president and CEO of the Business Executives for National Security;
- Gen. Johnnie Wilson, former director of Washington First Bank;
- Joseph Anderson, chairman and CEO of TAG Holdings;
- David Beitel, chief technology officer (CTO) of Zillow Group;
- Sally Donnelly, founding partner of Pallas Advisors;
- Christopher Gopal, a global supply chain expert;
- Linnie Haynesworth, former VP at Northrop Grumman;
- Erin Hill, chief administrative officer at BNY Mellon;
- Mellody Hobson, co-CEO and president of Ariel Investments;
- Jennifer McClure, founder and CEO of Unbridled talent;
- Oscar Munoz, retired chairman, president, and CEO of United Airlines;
- David Van Slyke, dean of Syracuse’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs; and
- Saf Yeboah-Amankwah, Chief Strategy Officer at Intel.
Outside of James, the rest of the nominations are pending for fiscal year 2022.
