Mark Montgomery graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1985 with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in History and Political Science, and was commissioned through the Navy Reserve Officers Training Corps program. He subsequently attended Oxford University where he earned a master’s degree in History. He has also completed the Navy’s nuclear power training program. Montgomery’s shipboard assignments include tours as an engineering division officer on USS Bainbridge (CGN 25); operations officer on USS Leftwich (DD 984); reactor electrical assistant on USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71); and Executive Officer of USS Elliot (DD 967). From 2001 to 2003, he was the first commanding officer of USS McCampbell (DDG 85), during which time the ship was delivered to the Navy and completed two counter-narcotics deployments.
Ashore, he was selected as a White House fellow in 1998 and assigned to the National Security Council from 1998 to 2000, serving as a director for Transnational Threats, coordinating national security policy in the areas of counter-terrorism and information protection. He later served as the head of the Strategy Security and Critical Infrastructure Branch in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, developing and implementing Navy strategic and operational planning initiatives. In January 2013, he assumed command of Battle Force Seventh Fleet/Task Force Seven Zero/Carrier Strike Group Five permanently.