William Owens (Admiral)

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William A. Owens
1940-
Admiral William Owens
Nickname	Bill
Years of service	1962-1996
Rank	Admiral
Commands	Sixth Fleet
Other work	CEO, Nortel CEO, Science Applications International Corporation co-CEO, Teledesic LLC author

William A. "Bill" Owens (May 8, 1940–) was an admiral in the United States Navy and later Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Since leaving the military in 1996, he served as an executive or as a member of the board of directors of various companies.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Military Service 3 Business career 4 References

[edit] Early life

Owens was raised in North Dakota and graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1962 with a bachelors degree in mathematics. He earned bachelors and masters degrees in politics, philosophy and economics from Oxford University, and a masters degree in management from George Washington University.

[edit] Military Service

Owens was appointed to vice chairman of the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff, the second-ranking military office in the United States, by Bill Clinton in March 1994. Previously, Owens has served as Commander of the U.S. Sixth Fleet from 1990 to 1992, which includes Operation Desert Storm. He retired in 1996.

He also served as the deputy chief of Naval Operations for Resources, Warfare Requirements and Assessments, from 1991 to 1993.

Owens was a senior military assistant to Secretaries of Defense Frank Carlucci and Dick Cheney, and director of the Office of Program Appraisal for the Secretary of the Navy.

Owens began his career as a nuclear submariner. He served on four strategic nuclear powered submarines and three nuclear attack submarines, including tours as Commanding Officer aboard the USS Sam Houston and USS City of Corpus Christi. Owens spent a total of 4,000 days (more than 10 years) aboard submarines, including duty in Vietnam.

In April 2000, Owens co-authored Lifting the Fog of War with Edward Offley.

[edit] Business career

After leaving the military, Owens served as president, chief operating officer and vice chairman of Science Applications International Corporation ("SAIC").

In August 1999, Owens served as vice chairman and co-chief executive officer of Teledesic LLC, a satellite communications company. In June 2003, he became the chairman and chief executive officer.

On April 28, 2004, Owens became the chief executive officer of Nortel, where he had previously served on the board of directors since February 2002. Owens stepped in to replace Frank Dunn, who was fired following an investigation into financial reporting. Owens served until November 15, 2005, when he was succeeded by Mike Zafirovski.

[edit] References

Preceded by Adm. David E. Jeremiah	Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff 1994—1996	Succeeded by Gen. Joseph Ralston
Preceded by Frank Dunn	CEO of Nortel Networks 2004—2005	Succeeded by Mike Zafirovski

Vice Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the United States
Herres | Jeremiah | Owens | Ralston | Myers | Pace | Giambastiani