General Wharton has served the Nation for more than three decades and has extensive experience in leadership, technology, acquisition, and logistics. He is currently a public and private sector advisor to numerous industries, universities, and governments. His focus is on technology acceleration in support of national priorities and homeland security. John also serves as Senior Advisor at The Chertoff Group and advises many U.S. Government Departments and Agencies. In his last military assignment, General Wharton served as Commanding General of the United States Army Research, Development and Engineering Command (RDECOM) at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. There he led 13,800 scientists, engineers, and support personnel at more than 100 global locations controlling 75% of the Army’s R&D budget. While there, he won and led 5 of the 7 President of the United States (POTUS) National Manufacturing Innovative Institutes, a program to stimulate the nation’s economy by rapid technology development and transfer. He also ran the Science, Technology, Engineering Mathematics (STEM), the Army’s Educational Outreach Programs (AEOP), HBCU, Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) and Technology Transfer (STTR) programs for the Army and had over 1,500 cooperative research and development agreements with universities and over 1,000 with industry. Before RDECOM, he served as the Commanding General, U.S. Army Sustainment Command at Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois responsible for global sustainment of Army, Joint and Coalition forces and logistics for the Army’s 82 bases and installations. Prior to that he was the Chief of Staff at the U.S. Army Materiel Command in Huntsville, Alabama where he coordinated across the staff and major subordinate commands with an operating budget over $49 billion, contracts more than $96 billion, and foreign military sales more than $133 billion. He also oversaw operations of the Army’s Contracting Commands, Security Assistance, Communications and Electronics, Aviation and Missile and Tank and Automotive Commands, among others. He also served as Commanding General, AMC-Southwest Asia/U.S. Army Central G-4/Combined Forces Land Component Command C-4 for OPERATIONS IRAQI and ENDURING FREEDOM. He remains highly active in national programs, nation building and technologies across all sectors to include infrastructure, energy, transportation, agriculture, healthcare, and telecommunications. Internationally, he advises and develops strategies for countries to position them and assure their economic stability and future. He is widely known in the U.S. Department of State, USAID, and the United Nations for his work in support of humanitarian assistance, sustainable development goals, nation building, peacekeeping, and peacemaking operations. General Wharton has a degree from the United States Military Academy at West Point, NY and a master’s degree in National Security and Strategic Studies from the United States Naval War College at Newport, RI.
