Dr. James I. Finley
Managing Partner and Chief Executive Officer
The Finley Group, LLC
Former Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Technology
Department of Defense
James I. Finley is Managing Partner and CEO of TFG LLC, a consulting firm dedicated to taking organizations in the private-public sector to the next level. The firm specializes in strategic planning, leadership coaching, enterprise innovation and solutions for unsolvable problems. Areas of expertise range from start-ups to turnarounds to M&A's.
Dr. Finley was confirmed by the Senate in February 2006 and served the Country until January 20, 2009, as the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Technology. He provided governance and oversight for Program Management; Systems Engineering; Procurement, Contracting and Strategic Sourcing; Defense Acquisition University; Small Business Programs; Industrial Policy; Defense Contracting Management Agency and Joint Advanced Concepts. Transformation was accelerated with a sense of urgency to reduce cycle time, increase competition and broaden communication. A broad set of strategic and operational initiatives were accomplished, vectors for change were put in the right direction and a highly recognized and respected management team was transitioned to the next Administration.
Prior to joining the Department of Defense, Dr. Finley operated his consulting company, The Finley Group, LLC, which provided business assistance and advice for all facets of the business cycle including start-up, growth, acquisition and divestiture.
Prior to 2002, Dr. Finley spent over 30 years in the Aerospace and Defense industry sector with turnaround and growth assignments. He held a variety of management and operational positions with General Electric, Singer, Lear Siegler, United Technologies and General Dynamics, where he was a Corporate Officer, President of Information Systems and Chair of the Business Development Council. His business experience spans air, land, sea and space programs for the Department of Defense and also includes the Federal Aviation Administration's automatic surface detection radar systems and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Space Shuttle Program. Systems and subsystems experience includes conops, mission analysis, requirements definition, design, development and deployment of weapon delivery, flight control, navigation, information management, C4ISR, battle space management and chemical/biological defense systems. He has over two decades of Joint program experience including: Air/Land Battle demonstrations integrating the Airborne Warning and Control System with 9th ID ground radar systems leading to Joint C4, utilizing the Joint Tactical Information Distribution System; deployment of the Joint Surveillance and Target Attack Radar System to Desert Storm leading to the tracking of critical mobile targets and the "Mother of all Retreats"; the DARPA System-of-Systems Battlefield Awareness and Data Dissemination program leading to information centric warfare demonstrations and doctrine changes for joint operations.
Dr. Finley received his Bachelors of Science in Electrical Engineering from the Milwaukee School of Engineering, Masters of Business Administration from California State University, Fresno, and Honorary Doctorate in Engineering from the Milwaukee School of Engineering. He graduated from Northwestern University, Kellogg School, Advanced Executive Program.
Dr. Finley has received numerous awards including: Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service, Small Business Administration Tibbett's Award for "Outstanding Contributions" to the SBIR Program, DAU David D. Acker "Skills in Communication" Award, Small Business Technology Council "Special Leadership Recognition" Award, NDIA Lt. General Tom Ferguson Award for "Systems Engineering Excellence", Council on Competitiveness "Leadership" Award and Fresno State University California "Top Dog" Alumni Award. Other leadership performance examples include the International Association of Business Communicators "Silver Inkwell" Website Award, Boeing "Gold" Certification Award, Honeywell "Preferred Supplier" Award, Northrop Grumman "Blue Achievement" Award, Lockheed Martin "Best-In-Class" Rating and Defense Security Service "Outstanding Achievement" Award.
Dr. Finley resides in Virginia with his wife, Sharon. They have six children and four grand children. They enjoy hobbies of golf, hiking, reading and cycling.