Rheinmetall Hires Former US DoD Official as Senior Vice President for American Operations

Rheinmetall has hired a former senior US department of defense official, Stephen C Hedger as its Senior Vice President Corporate Development USA.

Hedger last served as Chief of Staff to former US Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work, who oversaw the annual development of the more than $600 billion US defense budget, and as Deputy Chief of Staff to then US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter. Hedger also served under current US Secretary of Defense James Mattis to assist with the transition of the new Trump Administration team at the Pentagon, the company said in a statement Friday.

Prior to this tenure, Hedger was nominated by President Barack Obama to serve as Assistant Secretary of Defense for Legislative Affairs and confirmed into that role by the US Senate in 2015. He previously served as an assistant to President Obama in the White House and for nearly ten years as an aide in the US Congress. He spent five years on active duty in the US Army including a peacekeeping tour in Kosovo and combat tour in Iraq. He holds a degree in International Relations from the United States Military Academy at West Point and a Juris Doctorate degree from the Georgetown University Law Center. He is a Non-Resident Fellow with the German Marshall Fund of the United States.

This is a new position established by Rheinmetall which signals a commitment to continued growth in the US defense market for Rheinmetall Group. Hedger will be based at Rheinmetall Group’s headquarters in Düsseldorf, Germany.