Admiral Winnefeld graduated from Georgia Tech with a degree in Aerospace Engineering and served for 37 years in the United States Navy. He flew the F-14 Tomcat, instructed at the Navy Fighter Weapons School, also known as Topgun, and served as senior aide-de-camp to General Colin L. Powell. He subsequently commanded a fighter squadron, the amphibious ship USS CLEVELAND, the aircraft carrier USS ENTERPRISE, and the THEODORE ROOSEVELT Carrier Strike Group. As a flag officer, he commanded NATO Joint Command Lisbon, Striking and Support Forces NATO, the United States SIXTH Fleet, United States NORTHERN Command, and the North American Aerospace Defense Command, also known as NORAD. He retired in 2015 after serving four years as the ninth Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the United States’ number two ranking military officer.

Admiral Winnefeld is a frequently published author and a director or advisory board member for several companies, including Enterprise Holdings, operating in a broad spectrum of business sectors. He currently serves as Distinguished Professor at the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at Georgia Tech, where he is also a member of the Engineering Hall of Fame. He is on the Board of Visitors of the United States Naval Academy, and a senior non-resident fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Admiral Winnefeld and his wife, Mary, are Co-Chairs of S.A.F.E. Project US (Stop the Addiction Fatality Epidemic), a national nonprofit committed to contributing in a tangible way to overcoming the epidemic of opioid addiction in the United States.