Shawn Skelly

Shawn Skelly served over twenty years in the U.S. Navy as a Naval Flight Officer flying the S-3 Viking and retired from active duty as a Commander. Her career included multiple carrier deployments, duty as a Fleet Replacement flight instructor, and staff tours attached to the U.S. Second Fleet, United States Pacific Command, and the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory. She worked in industry with ITT Exelis and CACI International supporting Department of Defense offices and programs. Skelly joined the Obama-Biden Administration in 2013 as Special Assistant to the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics, as Coordinator of the Defense Department’s Warfighter Senior Integration Group. She later served as Director, Office of the Executive Secretariat, U.S. Department of Transportation. President Obama appointed her in 2017 to serve as a Commissioner on the National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service, which was established to conduct a review of the military selective service process and consider methods to increase participation in military, national, and public service to address national security and other public service needs of the Nation. The Commission issued its final report to Congress in March 2020. She also served as a member of the Biden-Harris Presidential Transition Defense Agency Review Team. Skelly is Vice President and Co-Founder of Out in National Security, a member of the Atlantic Council’s LGBTI Advisory Council, and a member of the Service Year Alliance Leadership Council. She received a B.A. in History from the University of South Carolina and a M.A. in National Security and Strategic Studies from the College of Naval Command & Staff, U.S. Naval War College.