He retired as Vice Admiral from the U.S. Navy, where he was Commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command Riyadh during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. Lautenbacher also served as Deputy Chief of Naval Operations in charge of programs and budget. During his 40-year naval career, he won accolades for his performance in a broad range of operational, command and staff positions both ashore and afloat. His military career was marked by skilled fiscal management and significant improvements

in operations through performance-based evaluations of processes.

After leaving the Navy, he served as Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and as the eighth Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 2001-08. As the NOAA administrator, Lautenbacher spearheaded the first-ever Earth Observation Summit, which hosted ministerial-level representation from several dozen of the world’s nations in Washington July 2003.

Through subsequent international summits and working groups, he worked to encourage world scientific and policy leaders to work toward a common goal of building a sustained Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) that would collect
and disseminate data, information and models to stakeholders and decision makers for the benefit of all nations individually and the world community collectively. The effort culminated in an agreement for a 10-year implementation plan for GEOSS reached by the 55 member countries of the Group on Earth Observations at the Third Observation Summit held in Brussels in February 2005. Lautenbacher was selected to serve as co-chair to the Group on Earth Observations at GEO-I in Geneva, Switzerland in May 2005.

Before joining NOAA, Lautenbacher formed his own management consultant business, and worked principally for Technology, Strategies & Alliances Inc. He was president and CEO of the Consortium for Oceanographic Research and Education (CORE), a non-profit organization of institutions of higher learning whose mission is to increase basic knowledge and public support across the spectrum of ocean sciences.

A native of Philadelphia, he is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and holds M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in applied mathematics from Harvard University.