ANTHONY J. PRINCIPI Biography - Polititians

 
 

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ANTHONY J. PRINCIPI

Name: Anthony Joseph Principi                                                       
Born: 16 April 1944 New York City                                                   
                                                                                     
Anthony Joseph Principi (born April 16, 1944) was the 4th United States             
Secretary of Veterans Affairs. He was nominated by President George W. Bush on       
December 29, 2000, and was confirmed by the Senate on January 23, 2001. Principi     
submitted his resignation in a letter dated November 16, 2004, saying he would       
leave office once his successor was confirmed by the Senate.                         
                                                                                     
Bush nominated Jim Nicholson to replace Principi. Nicholson was confirmed on         
January 26, 2005. After leaving Veterans Affairs, Principi announced that he         
would take over the Washington, D.C. office of the pharmaceutical company Pfizer.   
                                                                                     
Prior to his nomination, Mr. Principi was president of QTC Medical Services, Inc.,   
a group of professional service companies providing independent medical             
examinations and administration. During the past decade, he was senior vice         
president at Lockheed Martin IMS, and a partner in the San Diego, California law     
firm of Luce, Forward, Hamilton & Scripps.                                           
                                                                                     
A combat-decorated Vietnam veteran, Mr. Principi has worked on national policy       
issues and has held several executive-level positions in federal government         
throughout his career. He chaired the Federal Quality Institute in 1991 and was     
chairman of the Commission on Servicemembers and Veterans Transition Assistance     
established by the United States Congress in 1996.                                   
                                                                                     
Mr. Principi served as Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs, VA's second-highest     
executive position, from March 17, 1989, to September 26, 1992, when he was         
named Acting Secretary of Veterans Affairs by President George H. W. Bush. He       
served in that position until January 1993. Following that appointment, he           
served as Republican chief counsel and staff director of the United States           
Senate Committee on Armed Services.                                                 
                                                                                     
From 1984 to 1988, he served as Republican chief counsel and staff director of       
the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs. He was the Veterans Administration's     
assistant deputy administrator for congressional and public affairs from 1983 to     
1984, following three years as counsel to the chairman of the Senate Armed           
Services Committee.                                                                 
                                                                                     
Mr. Principi is a 1967 graduate of the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis,     
Maryland, and first saw active duty aboard the destroyer USS Joseph P. Kennedy.     
He later commanded a River Patrol Unit in Vietnam's Mekong Delta.                   
                                                                                     
Mr. Principi earned his Juris Doctor degree from Seton Hall in 1975 and was         
assigned to the United States Navy's Judge Advocate General Corps in San Diego,     
California. In 1980, he was transferred to Washington as a legislative counsel       
for the Department of the Navy.