John F. Lehman

Chairman, Founding Partner

Dr. Lehman co-founded JFLCO in 1992 and has been involved in all aspects of the firm’s private equity investment and management activities. Immediately prior to forming JFLCO, he spent three years as a Managing Director in Corporate Finance at PaineWebber, Inc., where he led the Aerospace and Defense Group.

From 1981 to 1987, Dr. Lehman served as Secretary of the U.S. Navy. As the chief executive of the Navy, he was responsible for the management of 1.2 million people, an annual budget of $95 billion and total assets equivalent to those of the seven largest Fortune 500 corporations combined. Prior to being appointed Secretary of the Navy, Dr. Lehman served as President of the aerospace consulting firm Abington Corporation, a delegate to the Mutual Balanced Force Reductions negotiations, Deputy Director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency and a senior staff member to Dr. Henry Kissinger at the White House.  For more than two decades, Dr. Lehman flew various tactical aircraft for the Naval Reserve.      

Previously, he has served on the boards of Ball Corporation, TI Group plc, Westland Helicopter plc, Sedgwick plc and many of JFLCO’s investments. He is also Chairman of the Princess Grace Foundation and an Overseer of the School of Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania. Previously, he was also a member of the 9/11 Commission and the National Defense Commission. 

A native of Pennsylvania, Dr. Lehman earned a B.S. from St. Joseph’s University, a B.A. and M.A. from Cambridge University and a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania.