James Cartwright
Former Vice Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff
Management and Governance
Contact Information
James Cartwright
Former Vice Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff
Management and Governance
Contact Information
Gen. James Cartwright, USMC (Ret.)
Gen. Cartwright served as Commander, U.S. Strategic Command, before being nominated and appointed as the 8th Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the nation’s second highest military officer. General Cartwright served his four-year tenure as Vice Chairman across two Presidential administrations and constant military operations against diverse and evolving enemies. He became widely recognized for his technical acumen, vision of future national security concepts, and keen ability to integrate systems, organizations and people in ways that encouraged creativity and sparked innovation in the areas of strategic deterrence, nuclear proliferation, missile defense, cyber security, and adaptive acquisition processes.
He attended the University of Iowa and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant of Marines in 1971. He was both a Naval Flight Officer and Naval Aviator who flew the F-4 Phantom, OA-4 Skyhawk, and F/A-18 Hornet. In 1983 he was named Outstanding Carrier Aviator of the Year by the Association of Naval Aviation. General Cartwright graduated with distinction from the Air Command and Staff College, received a Master of Arts in National Security and Strategic Studies from the Naval War College, completed a fellowship with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and was honored with a Naval War College Distinguished Graduate Leadership Award.
Gen. Cartwright currently serves as a member of the Board of Governors for Wesley Theological Seminary and is on the Boards of Directors for IP3 Security Corporation and Beyond Aerospace. General Cartwright has served on the Secretary of Defense’s Defense Policy Board, the Raytheon Company’s board of directors, the Federal Advisory Board for Accenture Federal Services, the Total Administrative Services Corporation’s advisory board, and was a defense consultant for ABC News. In addition, he was the inaugural holder of the Harold Brown Chair in Defense Policy Studies for the Center for Strategic & International Studies and a senior fellow at the Harvard Belfer Center.
Gen. Cartwright is also an adviser for several corporate entities involved in global management consulting; technology services and program solutions; predictive and big data analytics; and advanced systems engineering, integration, and decision-support services. He serves as an adviser to Enlightenment Capital, North Atlantic Industries, and IxReveal. In addition, he was a member of the SpaceX National Security Space Strategic Advisory Committee as well as a consultant for AT&T Government Solutions, Expression Network, and Logos Technologies. General Cartwright is also affiliated with a number of professional organizations including the Aspen Strategy Group, The Atlantic Council, Council on Foreign Relations, National Council on Election Integrity, and the Nuclear Threat Initiative.