Donna M. Sullivan assumed the responsibilities of Deputy Commander/Comptroller Naval Sea Systems Command in December 2022. She comes from Office of the Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) where she was responsible for the Department of Defense’s investment funded, air, space, and intelligence programs where she ensured programs under her purview were properly priced and financed to support the national security objectives of the United States. She also deployed to Afghanistan, leading a joint team responsible for all resourcing support for the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (GiROA) including the rapid implementation of the US Presidents promises to GiROA, reducing corruption vectors, and rapidly ceasing all support upon the government’s collapse to preserve US assets.
She was appointed to the Senior Executive Service in April 2016 where she served as the Director of Acquisition, Finance, and Logistics and she served as the component acquisition executive (CAE) for the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA). In that role, she established and implemented policy; ensured adherence with applicable laws and regulations; and monitored compliance in the areas of acquisition, contracts, finance, logistics, engineering, and facilities. As the CAE, Ms. Sullivan also guided annual acquisition strategies for the entire acquisition portfolio.
Before that, she served as the Chief of Staff of the Acquisition, Finance and Logistics Directorate and as the DTRA’s Comptroller where she served as the principal advisor to senior leadership on all budgetary and financial matters, including the development and execution of DTRA’s $2.6 billion annual budget. She first came to DTRA to serve as the Senior Business Officer for the Business Enterprise where she served as the principal advisor to multiple directorates on all budgetary, financial, manpower, and human resources management matters.
Ms. Sullivan started her Department of Defense civil service career at the Business Transformation Agency (BTA) where she rose from a program financial manager to the Deputy Comptroller. Before joining the BTA, she was a consultant and Business Unit Manager for a small consulting company where she specialized in acquisition and program documentation as well as financial management for large automated information system programs.
Prior to entering the private sector, Ms. Sullivan served in the U.S. Navy until her retirement after 21 years of enlisted and commissioned service. Her military experience ranges from organizational and intermediate aircraft and simulator repair and maintenance, to managing pay and personnel offices, to transient personnel monitoring, to manpower costing and analysis.
She earned a Bachelor of Science in Applied Mathematics from Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama, and a Master of Science in Operations Research from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. Ms. Sullivan was appointed to the senior executive service in April 2016. She is a member of the acquisition professional community in two fields, financial management and program management, and holds two additional defense financial manager certifications.
Her civilian awards include two OSD Exceptional Civilian Service medals, a Joint Civilian Service Achievement medal, a Joint Meritorious Civilian Service medal, and three DTRA Exceptional Civilian Service medals. She also has a variety of military service and campaign awards.