Robert J. Henke was nominated by President George W. Bush to serve as Assistant Secretary for Management in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and was sworn into office on November 3, 2005. In this position, he is responsible for the Department’s budget (in excess of $87 billion requested for fiscal year 2008), financial policy and operations, acquisition and materiel management, real property asset management, and business oversight. He serves as VA’s Chief Financial Officer, Chief Acquisitions Officer, and Senior Real Property Officer. Prior to his appointment, Mr. Henke served as the Principal Deputy under the Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) at the Department of Defense (DoD). In that capacity, he was the principal advisor to the DoD Comptroller/Chief Financial Officer, and his duties involved a broad range of financial management responsibilities, including development, justification, and execution of DoD’s budget, and the formulation of DoD-wide financial and accounting policy. Mr. Henke served as a professional staff member with the U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Defense from 1999 to 2004, and as a Presidential Management Intern with the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Financial Management and Comptroller) from 1997 to 1999. From 1993 to 1996, he was with General Electric Company, where he completed GE's Financial Management Program. A Navy officer, Mr. Henke graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a B.A. in government and international relations, and earned a Master’s of Public Administration from Syracuse University's Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.