Assistant Secretary of the Army for Manpower & Reserve Affairs

Dr. E. Casey Wardynski was confirmed by the United States Senate on 2 January, 2019. He assumed duties as the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Manpower and Reserve Affairs (ASA (M&RA)) on 16 January 2019. As Assistant Secretary, he is responsible for the supervision of manpower, personnel and Reserve Component affairs for the Department of the Army and is the principal advisor to the Secretary of the Army for policy and performance oversight of human resources, training, readiness, mobilization, military health affairs, force structure, manpower management, equal opportunity, equal employment opportunity, marketing and other critical matters.   
 
Prior to assuming duties as the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Manpower and Reserve Affairs, Wardynski served as the CFO and then CEO of FISH Technologies, an industry leader in the marketing event technology field.  
 
Between 2010 and 2016 Wardynski worked as the CFO of Aurora Colorado Public Schools and Superintendent of Huntsville Alabama City Schools.  During his five years with Huntsville City Schools, he transformed a $19M deficit into a more than $30M operating surplus and raised graduation rates from 66 to 88 percent. During his tenure the school system partnered with Army Cyber Command to further cyber education and implemented a cyber-security curriculum. In 2015 Huntsville City Schools became one of seven National Cyber Security Centers of Excellence.
 
During his thirty-year Army career, Wardynski served as a Special Weapons Officer in Germany, the United States and Korea. He served for ten years as an Associate Professor of Economics in the Department of Social Sciences at the United States Military Academy and as the Director of the U.S. Army’s Office of Economic and Manpower Analysis (OEMA). As OEMA Director, Wardynski provided policy analysis and led policy execution for senior Army leaders in areas ranging from marketing to officer retention to talent management.  He created the award-winning America’s Army game, through which millions of young adults virtually explore Soldiering in the U.S. Army, and the Virtual Army Experience which became the foundation for Army engagement at live events. Wardynski developed the pre-commissioning Career Satisfaction Program (branch, post and graduate school for service), and co-authored the Strategic Studies Institute series Towards an Officer Corps Strategy for Success which serves as a starting point for Army talent management.  
 
Wardynski is a 1980 graduate of the United States Military Academy. He holds a Master of Public Policy degree from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and a Ph.D. in Policy Analysis from the Frederick S. Pardee Rand Graduate School.  
 
Known as a tech-savvy thought leader and change manager as a Superintendent, Wardynski is a recipient of the National Award for Merit from the Boy’s and Girl’s Club of America and was selected by the Alabama Council of PTAs as the 2012 Outstanding Superintendent. Under his leadership, the Virtual Army Experience won the Gold and Silver Effie in 2009 and the Bronze Jay Chiat Award for Strategic Experience from the American Association of Advertising Agencies.  Among his military awards and decorations are the Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit and four Meritorious Service Medals.
 
Wardynski and Susan, his wife of thirty-four years, raised three children, two who now serve in the Army and one in the Coast Guard.  Following the loss of Susan, Wardynski married Karen Lee, a leader in the treatment of adolescent behavioral health issues.  Together Wardynski and Karen have six adult children.