Admiral Whalen supports clients in military maritime and aviation operations, maintenance, training, and acquisition programs, leveraging his extensive experience in new ship construction, ship maintenance, program management, and business and manufacturing optimization domains, including EVMS, quality control, and risk analysis.
Prior to joining The SPECTRUM Group, Admiral Whalen served as Director of Shipyard Operations and General Manager (GM) for Lockheed Martin’s Littoral Combat Ship and Multi-Mission Surface Combatant (MMSC, a foreign military sales (FMS) program) construction programs. In these roles, he was responsible for daily oversight of 1,200 shipyard workers, delivering two naval warships per year to the U.S. Navy, and keeping these key large projects tracking on time and budget.
In his 34-year U.S. Navy career, Admiral Whalen commanded at the squadron, ship, aircraft carrier, and carrier strike group levels. As Assistant Chief of Staff for Operations, NATO Joint Force Command, he managed southern NATO force deployments, exercises, training, and equipping, working with NATO member country military leaders and key U.S. Navy and Joint service enablers. His command assignments included Carrier Strike Group 12, the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70), two amphibious ships, and a Hornet squadron. Over his Navy career, he accumulated 3,500 A-7 and F/A-18 flight hours, and served more than nine years at sea. He is a graduate of the Navy Nuclear Power School.