Greg Slavonic is the former Acting Under Secretary of the Navy and previously served as the 18th Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Manpower and Reserve Affairs. He had a 34-year distinguished career in the Navy/Navy Reserve retired as a Rear Admiral.
He is currently serving as the Interim Executive Director for the Oklahoma Department of Veteran’s Affairs serving over 300,000 Oklahoma veterans, managing a team of 1,400 health care specialists, and manages an annual budget of $160 million dollars.
As the Under, he served as the deputy and principal assistant to the Secretary of the Navy, as well as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Management Officer for the Department of the Navy. He oversaw intelligence activities, intelligence-related activities, special access programs, development of future weapons systems, and a department budget of over $200 billion dollars.
As the Assistant Secretary for Manpower and Reserve Affairs, he was responsible for the overall supervision and oversight of manpower and reserve affairs and for over 800,000 personnel (military & civilian) in the Department of the Navy. Prior to joining the Department of Defense, he served as the first Chief of Staff for U.S. Senator James Lankford (R-OK).
For the past 45 years, he has held various civilian senior level positions in the communications industry and is currently the CEO for Blue-Water Strategies. He has written two books on leadership development and co-authored a book on American Olympian Jim Thorpe.
He served as the Executive Director of the Jim Thorpe Association and Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame. In this role, the Secretary oversaw the annual presentation of the Jim Thorpe Award, presented annually to the “outstanding defensive back” in NCAA (Division I) football.
During his Navy career, he served combat deployments to Vietnam, Operations Desert Shield/Desert Storm, and Operation Iraqi Freedom. His final assignment was the Navy’s Sixth Special Assistant to Chief of Information (CHINFO).
He served as the co-chair for the design and building of the USS Oklahoma Memorial at Pearl Harbor to remember the 429 Sailors and Marines who served aboard the battleship and lost their lives on December 7, 1941.
His service awards include Bronze Star Medal (two awards), Legion of Merit Medal, Presidential Unit Citation, Combat Action Ribbon and many other service and campaign medals. In addition, he received the Secretary of Defense Award for Outstanding Public Service and Distinguished Public Service Award from the Secretary of the Navy.
A graduate of Oklahoma State University, majoring in Journalism and Broadcasting, Greg actively participates on many boards and organizations, such as Vice Chairman of the Board for ChemResearch Corporation, Advisory Board for Next Dynamics, Inc., USS Oklahoma Memorial in Pearl Harbor, and Chick-fil-A College Football Hall of Fame. In addition, he has been selected as a Distinguished Alumni at University of Central Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University College of Arts and Sciences.