Douglas A. Beck

Doug Beck is the Director of the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), reporting directly to the Secretary of Defense. In this role, Doug oversees efforts to accelerate the Department's adoption of commercial technology throughout the military and also serves as a senior advisor to the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense on technology innovation, competition, and strategic impact. In his previous experience with DIU, Doug founded and led its joint reserve component from the inception in 2015 through 2019.

Prior to joining DIU, Doug was Vice President at Apple, reporting directly to its CEO, Tim Cook from 2009-2023, At Apple, Doug co-led the worldwide business development and sales functions, led the company’s businesses across Northeast Asia and the Americas, including five years resident in Tokyo, and, most recently, led several of Apple’s purpose-driven businesses worldwide, including in health, education, and other institutions of public impact.

Before joining Apple, Doug served as Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer at Charles Schwab. Prior to Schwab, he was a partner at McKinsey & Company, co-leader of McKinsey's global strategy practice, and a leader of other industry and functional practices in the United States and Asia. In 2000, he was elected as one of the youngest partners in McKinsey history, while resident in Shanghai. He has lived and worked for many years in Asia, including in Japan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong, and across China.

Currently a Captain in the U.S. Navy Reserve, Doug served in Iraq and Afghanistan from 2006-2007 with a joint special operations task force. He has also served extensively throughout the Asia Pacific region during his 26 years of service, including command of a large joint reserve unit supporting U.S. Indo-Pacific Command in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, His personal and unit awards include the Defense Superior Service Medal (two awards), the Bronze Star Medal, the Combat Action Ribbon, and the Presidential Unit Citation.

As a civilian, Doug has served as a member of the Secretary of State’s Foreign Affairs Policy Board, an executive advisor to three Chiefs of Naval Operations and to Special Operations Community leadership, and, for over fifteen years, as a formal and informal advisor to senior civilian and uniformed Defense Department leaders. He also served from 2015-2023 as a member of the Board of Directors of the Center for a New American Security. He is a Trustee of the Rhodes Trust, which oversees the Rhodes Scholarships worldwide, and a member of the Advisory Board of Yale’s Jackson School of Global Affairs.

Doug holds a bachelor's degree summa cum laude from Yale and an M.Phil in International Relations from Oxford, where he was a Rhodes Scholar.