Frank Caldwell

Frank Caldwell completed a nearly 43-year career in the U.S. Navy. In his last assignment, he was the seventh Director of the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program, a program started by Admiral Hyman G. Rickover, the Father of the Nuclear Navy. As the Director for over eight years, he was responsible for the safe, reliable, global operations of 97 nuclear reactors and led a world-wide team of 85,000 Department of the Navy/Department of Energy personnel in all aspects of the Program including design, construction, certification, and oversight of all U.S. Navy warship reactor plants.

Throughout his career he served in a variety of operational submarine assignments and senior leadership positions including command of the attack submarine USS Jacksonville (SSN-699) and the U.S. Pacific Submarine Fleet headquartered in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

An expert in U.S. Navy submarine operations and naval nuclear power plants, his career experiences include shipbuilding, ship repair, the naval shipbuilding industrial base; construction and decommissioning of naval nuclear facilities; European, NATO and Pacific ally and partner relations; and Department of Energy and Department of Navy activities. In his last assignment he played a key role in the President’s AUKUS Program (Australia, United Kingdom, and the United States) working with U.S, Australian and UK military and civilian senior leaders to tackle the generational challenge of developing a nuclear powered submarine capability for Australia.

Frank is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy, the Naval Post Graduate School, and numerous Navy sponsored executive courses. He is the founder and owner of Caldwell Group LLC.