John Kroger is the Navy’s first chief learning officer.  He comes to the Navy after spending six years as president of Reed College, a small liberal arts college in Portland, Ore.  Kroger served as an enlisted Marine between 1983 and 1986.  He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Yale University and a law degree from Harvard University.  After college, he spent a significant part of his career in the public sector, as a U.S. Department of Justice prosecutor and then Attorney General of Oregon from 2009 to 2012.

Kroger also worked in academia, as a visiting professor at Harvard Law School and Leader in Residence at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

As the chief learning officer (CLO), Kroger is expected to align the department’s academic institutions. Included are the United States Naval Academy, the Naval War College, Naval Postgraduate School, Marine Corps University and the soon-to-be established Naval Community College.