Mr. Robert Sweeney was named Chief Operating Officer of the Naval Postgraduate School effective July 11, 2022. Prior to his appointment as acting COO, Robert served NPS as the Deputy Command Information Officer, leading resource management and an annual $22M budget for the university’s Information Technology and Communications Services (ITACS) organization. Robert’s past experience at NPS also includes service as NPS Chief Information Security Officer/Director of Cybersecurity where he managed the university’s 24/7 cybersecurity operations, and as Director, Program Management Office. 

Prior to joining NPS, Robert served as the lead mission systems architect for the Block 4 Modernization Program at the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) Program Office. Before joining the JSF program, Mr. Sweeney was dual-hatted as the lead avionics architect for Naval Air Systems Command’s Air Combat Electronics Program Office (PMA-209) and the Open Architecture subject matter expert for the Integrated Warfighting Capabilities organization where he served as the Future Airborne Capability Environment Consortium Technical Working Group Chairman providing an open architecture strategy for naval aviation. 

Mr. Sweeney has been a member of the Acquisition Professional Community since 2010. He holds Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act Level III certifications in Program Management and Systems Engineering. Prior to entering government service in 2009, Mr. Sweeney was employed by Rockwell Collins as a software engineer for integrated avionics systems. 

Mr. Sweeney is a native of Salisbury, Maryland. He graduated from Austin Peay State University with a BS in Computer Science and holds master’s degrees in Computer Science from Walden University and Business Administration from NPS, as well as a Graduate Certificate in Chief Information Officer Management from NPS. He is also a graduate of the NAVAIR Leadership Development Program. 

Robert’s professional honors include the 2012 Defense Standardization Program Achievement Award; 2012 Individual NAWCAD Commander’s Award; 2012 Team NAWCAD Commander’s Award; 2012 Team NAWCAD Innovation Award; 2013 NAVAIR Commander's Award for program management as a member of PMA-209; and the 2022 Department of the Navy IT Excellence “Defend” Award.

Robert has been married for 10 years to Amber Rittenhouse, who is a nurse at the Community Hospital of Monterey Peninsula.