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Detailed Background Information On The Honorable Rear Admiral[Ret.] James J. Carey

Chairman Carey was born in Berlin, Wisconsin, USA on April 9, 1939, the son of Robert E. and Ruth M. Carey. His formative years were spent on a farm along the banks of the Fox River in Central Wisconsin. He attended St. Josephs Church and Berlin Public Schools through high school, graduating as President of his high school senior class and lettering in three major sports. Youth activities included the rank of Eagle Scout, Silver Award Explorer, and President of 4-H. In 1956, he was named an Outstanding Junior Citizen of the State.

He attended Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, majoring in Marketing and Business Administration. He received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and later studied for an M.B.A. at Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management, since selected several times as the top ranked MBA Business School in the United States. While a University undergraduate, he was selected as “Outstanding Student” in May Week ceremonies in both his Freshman and Junior years. He also served as President of his Fraternity [Zeta Psi] and Chairman of the Interfraternity Judicial Council. Following graduation, he joined one of the largest graphic arts firms in the nation as a Management and Marketing trainee. His business career was interrupted by active duty military service as a Naval Officer in the United States Navy where he was assigned to the U. S. S. TOPEKA [CLG-8] home ported in Long Beach, CA. During his three years at sea, he served on two deployments to the Western Pacific, including service in the Vietnam War. In 1964, he was selected from among forty-four ships in the Pacific Fleet as Junior Officer of the Year. He returned to his business career in Chicago in early 1966.

Following his early and highly successful management and marketing assignments, Mr. Carey became President and Chief Operating Officer of the Chicago Offset Printing Corporation in 1972. In 1975, he founded Coordinated Graphics, Inc., where he served as President and Chief Executive Officer. On a parallel course, he began a consulting practice in international marketing and technology transfer with several business colleagues, focusing on high technology systems and training for the Middle East and Europe. In 1978, Mr. Carey sold his graphic arts business to concentrate on his growing involvement in American politics and the international business and defense community. In 1979, he affiliated with the Chicago firm of Telemedia, Inc., a major international military training and technology transfer corporation, as an International Business Manager. The next two years were spent in highly successful large scale international military and petrochemical programs in the Middle East, concentrating on Iran [then a U. S. Ally], Saudi Arabia, and Indonesia.

In June of 1981, based on his reputation in international business and extensive Navy involvement in maritime matters, Mr. Carey was asked by newly elected President Ronald Reagan to join his Administration as a Commissioner of the U. S. Federal Maritime Commission. He was confirmed for that position by the United States Senate on October 8, 1981 and was sworn into office the following day. In 1983, he was elected Vice Chairman of the Commission, a position he held for the next six year.

In that same year, then Commissioner Carey was asked by the White House Office of Presidential Personnel to establish a professional forum for the Senate Confirmed Presidential Appointees, wherein they would meet regularly, socialize, network, and communicate with each other in the interests of better and more effective government. Mr. Carey was elected President of that organization and remained in that position for six years, during which time he regularly interfaced with Members of the President’s Cabinet, all other federal government agency heads, and various Under Secretaries, Assistant Secretaries, and Commissioners of the U. S. Government. In 1985, President Reagan asked Vice Chairman Carey to serve a second Federal Maritime Commission term, whereupon he was again confirmed by the United States Senate and sworn into office in December of that year. In early 1989, Vice Chairman Carey was asked by newly elected President George H. W. Bush to serve as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Commission, a position he held for the next two years. During his nine year tenure at the Commission, Chairman Carey dealt regularly with most nations of the world and became a highly respected “voice of reason” in the international maritime community. Upon his return to the international business world in 1991, Chairman Carey’s tenure at the Commission was cited by President Bush as “one of the most successful in the agencies history”, with the agency operating at a 170% annual surplus, an almost unheard of level of performance for a federal government agency.

In 1991, Chairman Carey became Chairman of the Board of Chicago-based International Financial Resources, Ltd. [IFR], an international financial banking and joint venture firm with associate offices in several nations around the world. Operations included projects and programs in several European nations. He has also continued to serve on the Boards of Directors of numerous political, military, and corporate entities.

Parallel to his international business and government careers, Chairman Carey spent thirty-three years serving in the United States Navy and Naval Reserve. He began his military service as an enlisted Seaman Recruit, was selected for commissioning as an ENSIGN, and went on to hold seven separate commands in various amphibious, surface warfare, and Pentagon assignments and retired at the rank of Rear Admiral. From 1989 to 1992, he commanded Readiness Command Region SIX headquartered in the Washington Navy Yard, the largest Navy Readiness Command in the nation, involving over 10,000 naval personnel throughout the states of Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia. During the 1991 war with Iraq [DESERT SHIELD / DESERT STORM], Admiral Carey’s Readiness Command had the largest number of naval reservists called to active duty for the war [approximately 2,500] of all the U. S. Navy Readiness Commands and was selected as THE TOP READINESS COMMAND IN THE NATION. His final military assignment was in the Pentagon on the staff of the Chief of Naval Operations as the Division Director, Logistics Plans and Policy [N40], the only Naval Reserve Flag Officer to ever hold a Division Directors position on the Staff of the Chief of Naval Operations. Admiral Carey retired in October 1994 in ceremonies held at the Washington Navy Yard. Officiating was Admiral Carey’s classmate from Officers Candidate School, Admiral Jeremy “Mike” Boorda, the U. S. Navy’s most senior Admiral and its Chief of Naval Operations.

Admiral Carey’s personal decorations include four awards of the Legion of Merit, the Meritorious Service Medal, three awards of the Navy Commendation Medal, and numerous other decorations representing service from the Vietnam War through DESERT SHIELD / DESERT STORM and Iraq. Admiral Carey has also been formally invested into The Sovereign Military Order of the Temple of Jerusalem [The Knights Templar] in ceremonies held in 1985 in Oslo, Norway, the Military and Hospitaller Order of St. Lazarus, the Military and Hospitaller Order of St. John, and the “House Order of the O’Conner Don”, one of the oldest chivalric Orders in Ireland. He has also been recognized by what was then “the government of Poland in exile” with the Order of Polanska Restituta, First Class with Star, and is a Member of the Masonic Order with the rank of Master Mason. Admiral Carey has served as the International President of the 156 year old, 40,000 member Zeta Psi Fraternity, as National President of the 25,000 Naval Officer-member Naval Reserve Association, and as Grand Prior [National President] of the prestigious 900 year old military Order, the Knights Templar, here in the United States of America. In July, 1998, in ceremonies conducted in Turku, Finland, Admiral Carey was elected the International Grand Commander [Chief Executive Officer]of the Knights Templar World Body [Ordo Supremus Militaris Templi Hierosolymatani--- recognized in special consultative status by the United Nations], the first American to serve in that position in the 900 year history of the Order. And most recently, upon serving six years as Grand Commander of the Order, he was elected to serve as Grand Master [Chairman], once again the first American to ever hold that position. Further details at www.osmth.org and www.smotj.org

Chairman Carey’s academic endeavors include over twenty years of service on the International Board of Directors of his college fraternity, Zeta Psi Fraternity of North America. He has also been inducted into four separate High I.Q. Societies; The American Mensa Society, the Intertel Society, The Cincinnatus Society, and the International Society for Philosophical Enquiry. He also served for two years as President of the National Capitol Interfraternity Forum, the Washington, DC based confederation representing 5,000,000 men’s fraternity members to the U. S. Congress and governmental agencies in Washington, DC. He continues to be involved in numerous leadership roles in the Republican Party, has served in four American Presidential Election Campaigns and numerous Senatorial and Congressional Campaigns, is the founder and serves on the Board of Directors of the Reagan Administration Presidential Appointees Alumni Association, and is regularly called upon to serve in the role of advisor to elected Members of Congress.

Mr. Carey is also the Founder and Chairman of THE CONSERVATIVE NETWORK, a cooperative coalition of conservative organizations and their members in the greater Washington, DC area. In addition, he is the Founder and National Co-Chairman of “THE FLAG & GENERAL OFFICERS’ NETWORK”, a “networking and professional contact” organization of active duty and retired military Admirals and Generals in the Washington, DC area, and served for 3 years as an elected member of the Board of Directors of the $900,000,000 portfolio Navy Mutual Aid Association [NMAA] and the Board of Governors of the National Association of Uniformed Services [NAUS]. Mr. Carey also serves as a National Co-Chairman of The National Assembly of Irish-American Republicans, one of the largest affiliated organizations within the Republican National Committee. Additional and more recent business activities include service on the Board of Directors of FEDNET, a Washington, DC based firm specializing in Internet coverage and broadcast of U. S. Congress hearings and press conferences.

In the 2000 Congressional election cycle, Admiral Carey founded the bi-partisan NATIONAL DEFENSE PAC, with the mission to endorse U. S. military veteran candidates for the U. S. Congress and to aggressively support their election. In the 2000 elections, the organization, founded in May of that year, endorsed 11 candidates and elected 10. In 2002, NDP endorsed 65 candidates and elected 57. Further details at www.nationaldefensepac.org In 2002, he also founded the NATIONAL DEFENSE COMMITTEE, a public policy grassroots membership organization for the purpose of addressing policy issues impacting on U. S. national defense, intelligence, homeland security, and the veterans who served in each of these national missions. Further details at www.nationaldefensecommittee.org That same year, he also began the National Defense Foundation Project, devoted to research on military and national defense issues, and including the sponsorship of internships for young Americans to come to the nation’s capitol and learn firsthand about the defense and security of their country. Further details at www.washingtonscholars.org He currently serves as Chairman of all three of these organizations.

During the 2003 Iraq War, Admiral Carey appeared numerous times on national television as a defense expert, with appearances on CNN, Fox News, CNBC, MSNBC, and CNNFN, as well as some 50 radio talk shows. He currently writes a bi-monthly column and commentary on military, defense, and homeland security matters for the largest military & veterans internet site, www.military.com and has had numerous OP-ED’s published in various military, defense, and political publications and THE WASHINGTON TIMES NEWSPAPER in Washington, DC.

The Admiral has a long and distinguished career in the field of humanitarian aid and charitable good works. He was involved in focusing the initial Knight Templar financial support to the Franciscans in Jerusalem while he served as Grand Prior of the USA. He was also involved in raising funds for a broad range of Christian religious, charitable, and humanitarian aid efforts in The Holy Land and all around the world, involving Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Episcopal, Russian Orthodox, and other Christian Churches in the Philippines, Iraq, Afghanistan, Russia, and a broad range of other nations in need and Christians at Risk.

Admiral Carey is married to Dame Arlene Patricia Brooks, DCTJ, and has two adult daughters, a granddaughter and grandson, and resides in Alexandria, VA.

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Links

U.S. Navy

National Defense Committee

National Defense Political Action Committee

Growing Up in Berlin, WI

Northwestern University

High IQ Membership Organizations

The Reagan Administration

The George H. W. Bush Administration

IRAQ: Operation DESERT STORM

IRAQ: Cardinal Bidawid

The Flag & General Officers' Network

Admiral James J Carey Foundation

U. S. Federal Maritime Commission

Zeta Psi Fraternity

Zeta Psi Fraternity - DC Elders

Washington Scholars Fellowship Program

Future Leaders for America Foundation

Knights Templar-USA

Knights Templar-International

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