Larry Blumberg, the founding executive director of the influential San Diego Military Advisory Council, is retiring after more than 50 years of military and public service.
SDMAC, as the council is known, encourages a partnership among San Diego’s military, business and public leaders to promote the region’s $40 billion defense sector.
“It has been a tremendous honor serving as SDMAC’s founding executive director for the past decade. We have grown so much as an organization in just a short amount of time—and it has been a privilege working with so many others who enthusiastically support and promote our region’s military and defense communities,” said Blumberg, who began as executive director in 2006.
Prior to joining SDMAC as its founding executive director, Blumberg served in the private defense sector and in the U.S. Navy, retiring at the rank of captain. He was the first commanding officer of a Spruance-class destroyer.
“San Diego has no greater champion of its military and defense economy than Larry Blumberg,” said Mark Cafferty, president and CEO of San Diego Regional Economic Development Corp. “Over the last few years in particular, Larry and the leadership of SDMAC have built a broad, collaborative strategy for supporting our region’s military and defense assets.”
SDMAC was instrumental in defeating an effort to move San Diego International Airport to Miramar, protected the port’s status as a strategic national port, and helped establish a treatment center for veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and brain injuries.
The organization said its board of directors expects to choose a successor by the fall.