Kendell, 71, was the last head of U.S. undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics in the Obama administration before the position was reformed.
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio’s largest single-site employer, is heavily involved in procurement and research and development.
Kendall is an Army veteran who is a lawyer and engineer by training.
He has been an outspoken critic of the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC), the DOD’s new requirements for contractors to verify their cybersecurity compliance with third-party assessments, according to FedScoop.
“If they keep charging on ahead, it will blow up,” Kendall told FedScoop about the program last summer.
Kendall was director of tactical warfare programs in the Office of the Secretary of Defense and was assistant deputy undersecretary for Strategic Defense Systems. He served 10 years on Active duty with the Army, during which he taught engineering at West Point, according to his bio.
Biden also nominated Gina Ortiz Jones as under secretary of the Air Force.
Commissioned through the Air Force ROTC program at Boston University, Jones served as an Air Force intelligence officer and deployed to Iraq with the 18th Air Support Operations Group supporting close air support operations, according to the White House.
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