Dr. Charles McQueary

Dr. Charles E. McQueary has a long and distinguished career spanning nearly 45 years during which time he has become recognized as a senior leader in both the public and private sectors. Most recently, Dr. McQueary served as Director, Operational Test & Evaluation (DOT&E) with the Office of the Secretary of Defense (SecDef) at the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) from July 2006 until his retirement in May 2009. In this capacity, Dr. McQueary was charged with overseeing the development and implementation of DoD policies and procedures for the testing and evaluation of more than 300 systems valued at several hundred billion dollars. As Director, he was a senior advisor to the Secretary of Defense, and was tasked with annually reporting to Congress the test results for all 300 programs and systems, as well providing policy recommendations. During his tenure, Dr. McQueary successfully led efforts to reorganize OT&E and augment its staff in response to the growing challenges of increasingly complex systems and their proliferation. To this end, he also worked to establish new and strengthen existing relationships throughout DoD, the Federal Government and private sector defense industry.

Prior to his service at DoD, Dr. McQueary served as Under Secretary in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) where he was responsible for the Science and Technology Directorate. Dr. McQueary oversaw the stand up of this Directorate in March 2003, and led the effort to launch, build and provide strategic direction for the newly formed Directorate. He worked to build the organization to a 700-person staff with a robust billion dollar R&D program focused on meeting DHS’s extensive operational technology requirements.

Dr. McQueary also has extensive experience as a senior executive in the private sector. Before joining DHS, Dr. McQueary was President of General Dynamics Advanced Technology Systems where he led all aspects of business operations and strategy for a company that designs, manufactures, installs, and supports high-technology systems and products with emphasis on fiber-optic communications. Dr. McQueary began his career and spent over 21 years with AT&T Bell Laboratories / AT&T / Lucent Technologies in a wide variety of roles including President and Vice President of various business divisions.

Dr. McQueary’s professional recognitions include being a recipient of the 2006 National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) Homeland Security Leadership Award as well as being a recipient of the 2008 International Test and Evaluation Association (ITEA) T&E Professional Award (Allen R. Matthews Award). He has served as an active member on numerous public and professional boards, and is also an active member of several charitable causes including United Way where he raised a record $15.2 million as Chairman of the board for United Way of Greensboro, North Carolina in 2000. Dr. McQueary earned his PhD in engineering mechanics from the University of Texas, Austin and is a NASA Scholar. He also earned his M.S. and B.S. in mechanical engineering from the same institution and has been named a distinguished engineering graduate.