ADM John M. Richardson (U.S. Navy, Ret.)

31st Chief of Naval Operations

Admiral John Richardson served 37 years in the U.S. Navy, completing his service as the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO), the top officer in the Navy. Since retirement, he has joined the boards of several major corporations and works in leader development.

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While in the Navy, Richardson served in the submarine force. He commanded the attack submarine USS HONOLULU in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, for which he was awarded the Vice Admiral James Bond Stockdale Inspirational Leadership Award. He went on to command at every level of the Navy.

Richardson served as the Director of Naval Reactors from 2012 until 2015. After Naval Reactors, he served as the 31st Chief of Naval Operations, the senior officer in the Navy, from 2015 until

August 2019. Richardson retired from the Navy in August 2019.

Since leaving the Navy, Richardson has joined the Board of Directors for The Boeing Company, Constellation Energy Corporation, and BWX Technologies. He also serves on the Boards of the Center for New American Security, the Navy League of the United States, and is a Senior Advisor to the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.

Richardson graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1982 with a Bachelor of Science in physics. He also holds master’s degrees in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and a master’s degree in national security strategy from the National War College.

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