John M. Molino has served as the acting Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Equal Opportunity since June 2002. In this role, he directs the development and coordination of equal opportunity policies and programs that affect all military and civilian personnel worldwide. He also directs the development and coordination of nondiscrimination policies in DoD federally assisted and conducted programs, and he has programmatic and management oversight responsibility for the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute, the nation's largest equal opportunity training program.
Mr. Molino became the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Military Community and Family Policy (MC&FP) on June 11, 2001, and then the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (MC&FP) on November 15, 2002. Included within the purview of this office is defense-wide policy responsibility for the Department of Defense Education Activity that serves 74,000 students in 155 schools in 14 countries as well as 33,000 students in 69 schools located in seven states, Guam, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. He is also responsible for Quality of Life policy issues, Morale, Welfare, and Recreation; Defense resale policy for commissaries and exchanges; the Transition Assistance Program for separating service members; family violence prevention and intervention; education advocacy for dependent children moving between schools; the Off-duty, Voluntary Education Program for military personnel; tuition assistance policy; and family programs that include the operation of 800 Child Development Centers, 476 Youth Centers, and 262 Family Centers. His responsibilities also include casualty and mortuary affairs and military funeral honors.
Before joining the Department of Defense, Mr. Molino served as the Director of Government Affairs for the Association of the United States Army, the principal advisor to the association's president on congressional issues and initiatives. Prior to that, he served as a Legislative Assistant to Senator Dan Coats of Indiana.
Mr. Molino's 20-year active duty Army career included duty on the staffs of the Secretary of the Army, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Secretary of Defense. His earlier uniformed service included tours of duty in the 25th Infantry Division and at the US Army Armor Center, Fort Knox, Kentucky.
Mr. Molino holds a master's degree in Human Relations from Webster University in St. Louis and a bachelor's degree in History from Saint Peter's College in New Jersey.
