RDML Lake currently serves as the Assistant Commandant for Resources (CG-8) and the Chief Financial Officer for the U.S. Coast Guard. In this capacity, he is responsible for all budgetary, financial and resource management activities relating to the programs and operations of the Coast Guard. As a component of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Coast Guard is comprised of a nearly 60,000-member active duty, reserve and civil service workforce with an annual budget of $13 billion.
RDML Lake has had a mix of Coast Guard operational and field support assignments. These included service in Coast Guard Cutters MIDGETT and NORTHLAND, as the Engineer Officer, duty at Maintenance & Logistics Command Atlantic; service as the first Sector St. Petersburg Logistics Department Head, and as the Surface Forces Logistics Center’s first Product Line Engineering Chief, implementing the Coast Guard’s present-day mission support business framework. RDML Lake also served as the Coast Guard Yard's Industrial Manager, where he was responsible for shipyard operations, and later as the Commanding Officer. The Coast Guard Yard is the largest industrial facility in DHS, and the Coast Guard’s only public shipyard.
In addition to operational and field support assignments, RDML Lake served as Deputy of the Coast Guard’s Office of Budget and Programs where he oversaw formulation and defense of the Coast Guard’s annual budget with DHS, the Administration, and Congress. He later served under the DHS Chief Financial Officer, coordinating formulation and justification of DHS’ $65 billion President’s Budget Request to Congress. RDML Lake also served as the Assistant Program Executive Officer for Surface Acquisitions, where he led the Service’s cutter and boat construction and renovation programs at shipyards throughout the United States, valued at over $30 billion. Most recently, he served as Executive Assistant to the Deputy Commandant for Mission Support. The 17,000-person Mission Support organization delivers the systems and people in support of the Coast Guard’s diverse mission sets through oversight of all human capital, naval, aeronautical and civil engineering and logistics, acquisitions, information technology, and security.
RDML Lake earned a Bachelor of Science in Naval Architecture & Marine Engineering from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in 1995. He earned Master of Science degrees in both Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture & Marine Engineering in 1999 from the University of Michigan. He was selected as a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Sloan Fellow, and earned a Master of Business Administration from MIT in 2016. RDML Lake is a Certified Government Financial Manager and Senior Acquisition Program Manager.
RDML Lake has been awarded three Legions of Merit, five Meritorious Service Medals, and several other personal and unit awards. He is a recipient of the 2018 General Tuttle Award for Business Acumen in Defense and Government, the 2010 American Society of Naval Engineers Perry Award, the 2007 Coast Guard Chief Financial Officer Award, and was awarded by the Secretary of Homeland Security in 2013 for outstanding performance of duty.