Spencer sworn in as SECNAV

Richard Spencer, a former Marine Corps captain and investment banker, was sworn in today as the 76th Secretary of the Navy. 

Spencer was previously the managing director at the investment company Fall Creek management. He has also served as president of the investment firm Crossroads Investment Management, and chief financial officer of Intercontinental Exchange, an electronic commodity futures exchange.

Prior to his July 11 nomination hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee, he told reporters he is open to reviewing everything that allows for additional capacity of the service's fleet.

"I think studying it is a great idea because there's no bad path on that decision tree," he said. "You learn you might want it, you learn that you might want a derivative of it, you learn that you might not want it, but the fact of the matter is you have to address it, and studying it is the first step." 

A Connecticut native, he graduated from Rollins College in 1976 and served as an H-46 pilot until 1981 before entering the private finance sector.

President Trump originally nominated Philip Bilden for the position, but Bilden withdrew from consideration in February citing financial holdings.