William Toti brings a lifetime of exceptional education, depth of professional and personal experience, and hard-earned knowledge to the table. With 26 years of active military service and over 40 years of defense experience and leadership, the exceptional journey of William Toti has taken him from a 17-year-old Navy enlistee to high-level positions in both the Pentagon and multi-billion-dollar defense businesses.

Graduating in 1979 from the prestigious United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD, Mr. Toti holds a bachelor’s degree in physics from the U.S. Naval Academy, a master’s degree in spacecraft systems engineering, the pre-doctoral Electrical Engineer degree from the Naval Postgraduate School, and has done executive coursework at the Harvard Business School.

In his 26 years of Navy service, William Toti was commander of Fleet Antisubmarine Warfare Command Norfolk, commodore of Submarine Squadron 3, and commanding officer of the nuclear fast attack submarine USS Indianapolis (SSN-697).

Following the decommissioning of his final submarine command, Captain Toti served for more than nine years in the Pentagon, including tours as special assistant to the Vice Chief of Naval Operations, as Navy representative to the Joint Requirements Oversight Council, and as deputy director of the Navy War Plans Cell, Deep Blue.

He also served as a Federal Executive Fellow at the Brookings Institution and as a Massachusetts Institute of Technology Seminar XXI Fellow in International Affairs.

A seven-time recipient of the Legion of Merit and a recipient of the “Wash 100” list of most influential leaders in the government contractor sector (2016), William Toti transitioned to industry upon retirement from the United States Navy. He has authored books on full antisubmarine warfare as well as how to transition successfully from military to industry.

In two years as CEO of Sparton, he was able to restructure and double the company’s value, taking it through the sale of Sparton by Cerberus Capital Management to Elbit Systems of America. Prior to joining Sparton he spent more than a decade running multi-billion-dollar global defense businesses, for both products and services, including time as president of the Integrated Maritime Systems sector at L3, as vice president of the defense segment of Hewlett Packard, HPE, and DXC, as president of Cubic Global Defense, and as vice president of Raytheon’s Mission Support Operations. He has served on Boards of Directors of ERAPSCO, JT3, and the Italian defense company Calzoni.

Further awards include HP Executive of the Year (2013), the FedScoop 50 Industry Leadership Award (2012), and the Rear Admiral John J. Bergen Industry Award from the Navy League of the United States (2010). He is a lifetime member of the U.S. Naval Institute, the U.S. Naval Academy Alumni Association.

William Toti’s lived experience through the attack on the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, and his close relationship to the story and survivors of the USS Indianapolis (CA-35) World War II heavy cruiser bring to light historic details and narrative about these two impactful events in US history.