John F. Lehman

Chair, Program on National Security
Trustee, FPRI

Photo of John F. Lehman

John Lehman is Chairman of J.F. Lehman & Company, a private equity investment firm. He is also Chairman of OAOT Technology Solutions, Director of Ball Corporation, Insurance Services Office, SDI Inc., and Racal Instruments, Inc., and a member of the Advisory Board of Paribas Affaires Industrielles. Dr. Lehman was formerly an investment banker with PaineWebber Inc. Prior to joining PaineWebber, he served for six years as Secretary of the Navy. He was President of Abington Corporation between 1977 and 1981. He served 25 years in the naval reserve.

He has served as staff member to Dr. Henry Kissinger on the National Security Council, as delegate to the Force Reductions Negotiations in Vienna and as Deputy Director of the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency.

Dr. Lehman is a member of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States.

Dr. Lehman holds a B.S. from St. Joseph’s University, a B.A. and M.A. from Cambridge University and a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania where he was a staff member of the Foreign Policy Research Institute. He is currently a Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge University.

Dr. Lehman has written numerous books, including On Seas of Glory, Command of the Seas and Making War.

He serves as Chairman of the Princess Grace Foundation USA, a trustee of the Foreign Policy Research Institute, a Director of OpSail Foundation, and as a member of the Board of Overseers of the School of Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania. He and his family live in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and Manhattan.