On this month’s episode of The Business of Defense, Rich Brady speaks to Russ Rumbaugh, the former Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Financial Management and Comptroller about how financial management can successfully impact decision-making.

Russ Rumbaugh was at the helm of the Navy’s financial management during a remarkably busy couple of years. As the assistant secretary for financial management and comptroller throughout 2023 and 2024, Rumbaugh led during a period when the Department of the Navy undertook major finance systems modernization efforts and when the Marine Corps notched a clean audit opinion, the first for any military service in the Defense Department. He was quick to demure about overreaching when it came to that clean audit during an interview for the Society of Defense Financial Management’s The Business of Defense podcast on Federal News Network. “The Marine Corps’ opinion, more than any other, made me very aware of how much work it takes to get there, how much the Marines themselves did, how much the Department of Navy supported and how much we got support up at the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and from Congress, to clear roadblocks,” Rumbaugh said.

Continue reading for more on the conversation and/or to watch the video podcast.