July 19, 2017-23 June 2019
Patrick M. Shanahan became the 33rd Deputy Secretary of Defense on July 19, 2017. Born in Palo Alto, California on June 27, 1962, he earned a B.S. from the University of Washington in 1985 and two graduate degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1991, an MS in engineering and an MBA from the Sloan School of Management.
Shanahan joined the Boeing Company as an engineer in 1986. He spent over three decades with the company and held several executive positions, including vice president and general manager of the Boeing Rotocraft System (2002-2004); vice president and general manager of Boeing Missile Defense Systems (2004-2007); vice president and general manager, 787 Dreamliner (2007-2009); senior vice president and general manager of commercial airplane programs (2009-2016); and senior vice president of supply chain and operations (2016-2017). He also held leadership positions on the 757 program, the 767 program, and in the Fabrications Division.
He is a Royal Aeronautical Society fellow, a Society of Manufacturing Engineers fellow, and an American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Association fellow. He also served as a regent at the University of Washington for over five years.
He became Acting Secretary of Defense on 1 January 2019. He was the longest serving Acting Secretary of Defense. He left office on 23 June 2019.