Erin C. Conaton

Erin Cathleen Conaton (born September 26, 1970)^[1] is the current United States Under Secretary of the Air Force, having been sworn in to office on March 15, 2010.

Biography

Conaton was born in Hackensack, New Jersey. After graduating from Immaculate Heart Academy in the Township of Washington, Bergen County, New Jersey, Erin C. Conaton was educated at Georgetown University, receiving a B.S. in foreign service in 1992. She spent 1992-93 as a financial analyst at Salomon Brothers in New York City, and then as a director of client services at Yield Enhancement Strategists, Inc. She then became a graduate student at Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, serving as a graduate fellow at the United States National Security Council in 1994, and receiving her Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy (MALD) from the Fletcher School in 1995. She spent 1995 as an associate at the Overseas Private Investment Corporation. From 1996 to 1997, she completed an International Security Studies Fellowship at Tufts, and then completed a graduate fellowship at the Central Intelligence Agency in 1998.

Conaton worked as research staff director and research associate for the US Commission on National Security/21st Century from 1998 to 2001. From 2001 to 2005, she was a member of the professional staff of the United States House Committee on Armed Services. In 2005, she became the Armed Service Committee's Minority Staff Director, holding that position until 2007, when she became the full committee's staff director.

On November 10, 2009, President of the United States Barack Obama nominated Conaton to be United States Under Secretary of the Air Force, an office that had been vacant since the resignation of Ronald M. Sega on August 31, 2007. Conaton was confirmed by the Senate on March 4, 2010, and sworn into office on March 15.

References

• Profile from the Dept. of the Air Force