Joseph Petro (born 1944) is the

executive vice president A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on ...

and

managing director A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of Citigroup Security and Investigative Services. He is also co-chairman of the

United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government responsible for the country's fore ...

Overseas Security Advisory Council The Bureau of Diplomatic Security, commonly known as Diplomatic Security (DS), is the security branch of the United States Department of State. It conducts international investigations, threat analysis, cyber security, counterterrorism, and p ...

. He also served for 23 years as a special agent in the

United States Secret Service The United States Secret Service (USSS or Secret Service) is a federal law enforcement agency under the Department of Homeland Security charged with conducting criminal investigations and protecting U.S. political leaders, their families, and ...

; eleven of them with presidents and vice presidents. For four of those years he stood by the side of Ronald Reagan.

Biography

Following his career as a

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

lieutenant, during which he patrolled the rivers and canals along the

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

ese-

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailan ...

n border, he worked his way up through the Secret Service to become one of the key men in charge of protecting the president. In 1993, Petro joined

Travelers Group The Travelers Companies, Inc., commonly known as Travelers, is an American insurance company. It is the second-largest writer of U.S. commercial property casualty insurance, and the sixth-largest writer of U.S. personal insurance through indepen ...

, Citigroup’s legacy company, as director of corporate security. From 1971 to 1993, Petro was a special agent and senior executive with the United States Secret Service, where he served in numerous operational and management positions. He supervised the presidential and vice presidential protective divisions and the Washington Field Office. Earlier in his career, Petro had been assigned to investigations, intelligence, training, internal affairs and public affairs. He also was selected as special assistant to the

Secretary of the Treasury The United States secretary of the treasury is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, and is the chief financial officer of the federal government of the United States. The secretary of the treasury serves as the principal a ...

, where he advised and assisted department officials on financial crime enforcement policy and worked with the Justice Department, Congressional committees and other federal agencies on law enforcement issues. Prior to his career in the Secret Service, Petro was a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy's River Patrol Forces. He is member of the board of directors of the International Security Management Association (ISMA) and vice-chairman and member of the board of the New York City Law Enforcement Explorers Council. Petro is a graduate of

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then calle ...

and was a Fellow at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. Petro is the author of ''Standing Next to History: An Agent's Life Inside the Secret Service'' with Jeffrey Robinson.

References

1944 births Living people United States Navy officers United States Secret Service agents United States Navy personnel of the Vietnam War {{business-bio-stub