About The Punaro Group

The Punaro Group is your trusted guide to the federal market place, offering advice, analysis and strategy backed by 40 years of unparalleled experience and proven performance, enabling you to seize opportunities and accelerate growth.

We are committed to your success by ensuring you have clarity on federal trends and decisions, that you receive timely analysis on markets and events that affect business, and that you have confidence to move forward with an informed strategy that influences the outcome and wins business.

Arnold L. Punaro is the chief executive of TPG. His 40 years of unparalleled experience provides a competitive advantage in the Washington landscape. With TPG, the client receives:

• The sense of urgency of an Executive Vice President for Business Development, Government Relations, Communications and Washington operations, from his 14 years in corporate America for a top-ten government contractor.
• The experience of a Senate staff member repeatedly rated among the most influential by Roll Call during 24 years of service on the Hill, 14 as Staff Director of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
• The insight of a figure of influence in national security who has been called to chair and serve time and again on various presidential and Defense Department boards and commissions.
• An insider’s view of the military and modern warfare drawn from a 35-year career in uniform culminating in service as a U.S. Marine Corps Major General.
• The experience drawn from leadership in crisis and risk management for a Fortune 250 company.
• The entrepreneurial spirit of a current small business owner.
• A deep understanding of national security decision making drawn from an illustrious  career spanning legislative and executive branches and the defense industry.
• The ability to convey to others the essence of decision making as illustrated by 10 years as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University teaching a graduate course on national-security decision making during which he was ranked by students in the top 1% of all Georgetown professors.

Arnold L. Punaro Biography

Arnold Punaro is chief executive officer of The Punaro Group, LLC, a Washington-based firm he founded in 2010 specializing in federal budget and market analysis, business strategy and capture, acquisition due diligence, government relations, communications, sensitive operations, business risk analysis and compliance, and crisis management. He consults for a broad array of Fortune 100 companies and was recognized by Defense News as one of the 100 most influential individuals in U.S. Defense.

In October 2020, Mr. Punaro started a two-year term as the Chairman of the National Defense Industrial Association.  From 2011 to 2023, he served as Chairman of the Reserve Forces Policy Board, which serves as an independent advisor to the Secretary of Defense on Reserve and National Guard matters. He’s a member of the Defense Business Board.

He is a retired Marine Corps Major General who has also served as the executive vice president of an $11 billion technology and professional services firm, and as the staff director of the Senate Armed Services Committee, among other positions.

Mr. Punaro is the author of three books:  On War and Politics: The Battlefield Inside Washington’s Beltway (published in 2016), The Ever-Shrinking Fighting Force (published in 2021), and If Confirmed: An Insider’s View of the National Security Confirmation Process (published in 2024). 

Corporate Leadership

As an executive vice president at Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) from 1997 to 2010, Mr. Punaro served as a sector manager, deputy president of the Federal Business Segment, and led SAIC’s Corporate Business Development organization. He was the senior corporate official responsible for SAIC’s government affairs, worldwide communications and support operations, to include crisis and risk management, as well as general manager of their Washington operations and supervisor of SAIC’s corporate Small and Disadvantaged Business office.

U.S. Senate Leadership

From 1973 to 1997, Mr. Punaro worked for Senator Sam Nunn in national security matters. He served as his director of National Security Affairs, and then as Staff Director of the Senate Armed Services Committee (eight years), and Staff Director for the Minority (five years). In his work with Senator Nunn and the Senate Armed Services Committee, he was involved in the formulation of all major defense and intelligence legislation and the oversight and review of all major defense and intelligence activities, civilian and military nominations.

U.S. Marine Corps Leadership

A retired U.S. Marine Corps Major General, Mr. Punaro served as the Director of the Marine Corps Reserve, Deputy Commanding General, Marine Corps Combat Development Command (Mobilization), and for three years as the Commanding General of the 4th Marine Division. Other assignments were Commanding General, Marine Corps Mobilization Command, and Deputy Commander, Marine Forces Reserve. In December 1990, he was mobilized for Operation Desert Shield. In December 1993, he completed a tour of active duty as Commander of Joint Task Force Provide Promise (Forward) in the former Yugoslavia. He was mobilized for a third time in May 2003 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. He served on active duty as an Infantry Platoon Commander in Vietnam where he was awarded the Bronze Star for valor and the Purple Heart.

Policy Organization and Board Leadership

Mr. Punaro is on the Board of Advisors for the Center for a New American Security, Senior Adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and a visiting scholar at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington, D.C. He serves on the non-profit boards of the Atlantic Council,  the University of Georgia’s School of Public and International Affairs Board of Visitors, Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, the Georgia Institute of Technology Sam Nunn School of International Affairs.   Mr. Punaro is also Chair Emeritus of the Board of Directors for the National Defense Industrial Association.

Personal Awards

Mr. Punaro is the recipient of numerous recognitions including the Secretary of Defense “Medal for Distinguished Public Service” and two awards of the Secretary of Defense “Medal for Exceptional Public Service.” He received the Marine Corps League’s “Iron Mike Award” in 1993 for “exceptionally outstanding service” and “unwavering commitment” for over 20 years to “ensuring a strong national defense.” He has received the Air Force Association’s “Exceptional Service Award,” the National Guard “Minuteman Award,” the

Army’s “Meritorious Public Service Medal,” and the Secretary of the Army “Public Service Award”, the Reserve Officers Association’s “Minuteman of the Year Award”, and was the recipient of the SAIC’s “Founders Award” and two special CEO awards. In 2018, Mr. Punaro received the Forrestal Industry Leadership Award from the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA).  He has over 20 military awards and decorations to include the Distinguished Service Medal as well as numerous civic awards.

In October 2020 Loren Thompson, chief operating officer of The Lexington Institute, said: “Arnold Punaro is a Washington institution. Someday he will have a statue on the Mall. A truly unique individual.”

Education and Early Life

Mr. Punaro has a Masters of Arts degree from the University of Georgia and a Masters of Arts degree from Georgetown University, the latter in national security studies. He was on the Adjunct Faculty of the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University for ten years where he taught an annual graduate level course entitled “National Security Decision Making.”

He was born and raised in Macon, Georgia where he graduated from Mount de Sales Academy (Georgia). He is the son of the late Angelo J. Punaro, a civil engineer, and Annina Benedetto Punaro, a teacher. His father and mother were 2nd generation Americans whose parents immigrated from Italy.

Boards and Commissions

Current Boards

 

Board	Dates
Chair Emeritus, National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA)	October 2022 – Current
Board of Visitors, Member, UGA School of Public and International Affairs	August 2010 – Current
Member, Georgia Institute of Technology Sam Nunn School of International Affairs	January 2013 – Current
Member, Syracuse University Maxwell Advisory Board	April 2012 – Current
Member, Board of Directors, The Atlantic Council	August 2007 – Current
Member, Defense Business Board	July 2015-Current
Senior Adviser, Center for Strategic and International Studies	February 1997 – Current
Visiting Scholar, Bipartisan Policy Center	September 2011 – Current

Previous Boards and Commissions

Board	Dates
Chairman, Board of Directors, National Defense Industrial AssociationVice Chairman, Board of Directors, National Defense Industrial AssociationChairman, Reserve Forces Policy Board Member, Defense Business Board (Appointed by Secretary Rumsfeld, re-appointed by Secretary Gates, re-appointed by Secretary Panetta)	2013-2015 and 2020 – 2022October 2011-October 2013 2011-2023 February 2002 – January 2014
Chairman of the Board, and Board Member, Tragedy Assistance Programs for Survivors (TAPS)	October 2, 2009 – December 31, 2011
Independent Commission on the Security Forces of Iraq	May 2007 – September 2007
Report to Congress, September 6, 2007, Commissioner
Chairman, Commission on the National Guard and Reserve	March 1, 2005 – April 30, 2008
90-Day report, June 5, 2006
Second report to Congress, March 1, 2007
Final report to Congress, January 31, 2008
Appointed Chairman by Secretary Rumsfeld
Senior Review Panel for the National Defense University’s Quadrennial Defense Review Project	2000
Deputy Executive Director, The United States Commission on National Security/21st Century	July 1998 – March 2001
Phase I: New World Coming, American Security in the 21st Century, September 15, 1999
Phase II: Seeking A National Security Strategy, April 15, 2000
Phase III: Building for Peace
Chairman, 1997 Defense Reform Task Force	1997-1998
Appointed by Secretary William Cohen
Senior Officers Advisory Panel, Defense Intelligence College	1997-2003
Reserve Forces Policy Board, Member	July 1, 1997 – September 30, 2003
Board of Governors, Marine Corps Association	1994-1998
Member, Commandant, U.S. Marine Corps’ Vision Group	1994-1995
Member Marine Corps Reserve Policy Board	1993-1996