Senate Confirms Another Top Trump Nominee

He is the founder and chair of Rugger Management LLC, a Florida-based private investment firm, and previously served as managing partner of MSD Capital, a private equity firm.

During his confirmation hearing, Phelan stated that his outside business experience would aid the Navy in urgent need of reform.

“The U.S. Navy is at a crossroads, extended deployments, inadequate maintenance, huge cost overruns, delayed shipbuilding, failed audits, subpar housing, and sadly, record high suicide rates are systemic failures that have gone unaddressed for far too long, and frankly, this is unacceptable,” he told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Phelan told the panel the Trump administration’s top priority for the Department of the Navy was shipbuilding, which is years behind schedule and experiencing major cost overruns, especially for submarines and large capital warships like aircraft carriers.