Jan E. Tighe
Former Head of Naval Intelligence, Decorated Officer
"Developing better decision-making skills in our students is a matter of national security. We have too much at stake to not give our students the critical thinking skills they need to step into leadership tomorrow—whether that is as parents or as presidents."
Jan Elizabeth Tighe is a groundbreaking, highly decorated U.S. Naval commander whose career spanned more than 34 years and included some of the Navy’s most senior-level positions.
Jan retired in 2018 as a Vice Admiral, one of the two highest ranks offered by the Navy. She served as Director of Naval Intelligence, Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Information Warfare and as the Commander of Fleet Cyber Command and the U.S. Tenth Fleet.
Jan also served as President of the Naval Postgraduate School, in Monterey, California and as Deputy Director of Operations for the U.S. Cyber Command.
As a career cryptologist, she served around the globe in leadership positions for both the Navy and the National Security Agency, specializing in Signals Intelligence and Cyber Operations. She earned Naval Aviation Observer Wings and supported Operation Desert Storm as a special evaluator in EP-3E reconnaissance aircraft. As a Captain, she commanded more than 2,800 multi-service and multi-agency personnel at the National Security Agency/Central Security Service Hawaii and went on to serve as Executive Assistant to the Director of the National Security Agency and the Commander of U.S. Cyber Command.
Jan, the daughter of two teachers, was born in Kentucky and raised in Florida. She serves on several boards, including Goldman Sachs, the Huntsman Corporation, Progressive Insurance, IronNet Cybersecurity, and The MITRE Corporation.
Jan earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Mathematics from the U.S. Naval Academy and studied Russian at the Defense Language Institute. She graduated from the Naval Postgraduate School with a Master’s Degree in Applied Mathematics and a Doctorate in Electrical Engineering.
