Erik Raven is a leading voice in national security matters, bringing to bear more than two decades of leadership in executive and legislative positions. As a Managing Director at Beacon Global Strategies, he is responsible for leading the firm’s Defense Practice Area.
Mr. Raven most recently served as the Under Secretary of the Navy from April 2022 to August 2024. In this role, he served as the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Management Officer of the Department of the Navy, comprised of more than 800,000 Sailors, Marines, and civilians, and an annual budget exceeding $250 billion.
He led planning, programming, budgeting, and execution processes to align resources to the 2022 National Defense Strategy and the Secretary of the Navy’s strategic guidance; played a critical role in designing and implementing the AUKUS Pillar 1 program to deliver conventionally-armed, nuclear powered submarines to Australia; and oversaw presidential drawdown authorities for fielding naval capabilities to Ukraine and Taiwan. Mr. Raven was designated to be the Department of Defense’s Senior Defense Official for Guam, leading the coordination of infrastructure activities among numerous DoD components and liaising with the Government of Guam.
Prior to his service in the executive branch, Mr. Raven served over 20 years in the United States Senate in a variety of positions. From 2014 to 2022, he was clerk for the Senate Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on Defense, serving as principal advisor to successive Democratic Subcommittee Chairmen, Senator Richard J. Durbin and Senator Jon Tester. In this position, he had overall responsibility for managing a team of analysts to produce the annual funding bills for nearly all of the Department of Defense and the intelligence community, exceeding $750 billion per year.
From 2007 to 2014, Mr. Raven was a professional staff member for the Subcommittee on Defense, responsible for oversight of numerous defense and intelligence programs. Mr. Raven also served in a variety of positions in the personal offices of three U.S. Senators, from staff assistant, to national security advisor, to legislative director.
Mr. Raven graduated from Connecticut College with a Bachelor of Arts with honors and distinction in international relations, and from the London School of Economics with a master of science in the history of international relations. His work in government has been recognized with the Navy Distinguished Public Service Award, the Army Distinguished Public Service Award, and the Navy Superior Public Service Award.
