Donald C. Winter is the current Secretary of the Navy. He was nominated by George W. Bush and he is a current executive of Northrop Grumman. Flag of the United States Secretary of the Navy. ... George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is the 43rd and current President of the United States. ... The Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) is an aerospace and defense conglomerate that is the result of a 1994 merger between Northrop and Grumman. ...

Don Winter earned a bachelor’s degree (with highest distinction) in physics from the University of Rochester in 1969. He received a master’s degree in 1970 and a doctorate in physics in 1972 from the University of Michigan.

Don joined TRW in 1972, and directed laser physics projects in Redondo Beach, CA. By 1978, he was head of the optics department there.

In 1980, Dr. Winter received a 3 year appointment to DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, where he served under Dr. Bob Cooper during the very early years of SDI, the Strategic Defense Initiative. His main responsibility was for Talon Gold, an advanced acquisition, tracking, and pointing experiment in space. During that period, he was awarded the Secretary of Defense medal for meritorious civilian service.

In 1982, Winter terminated his appointment early and returned to TRW, and held senior systems engineering and program management responsibilities for a variety of space system programs. From 1990 through 1997, as vice president and general manager of the defense systems division of TRW’s Space & Electronics (S&E) business, Winter directed space systems activities that supported the national defense effort.

Winter was president and CEO of TRW Systems from January 2000 until its acquisition by Northrop Grumman in 2002. After the Nothrop acquisition, Winter became head of Northrop Grumman Mission Systems.