Phillip McGaughey '81 had a behind the scenes role in the January inauguration of President Bill Clinton. McGaughey, a lieutenant commander in the United States Coast Guard, is a comptroller for the U.S. Coast Guard Air Station in Miami.
He was recently attached for a temporary assignment on the Armed Forces Inaugural Committee for the inauguration.
His assignment on the Armed Forces Inaugural Committee didn't directly involve him participating in the festivities. "I was the United States Coast Guard Representative on the Operations, Plans and Security Directorate," he says. "Our job was to pick officers for protocol. We needed to create escorts for the First Family and the Second Family, and the various Cabinet members. We had a 12-day period to pick the escorts and we also trained them. It was too bad though that I didn't actually participate in the actual inauguration."
McGaughey was in the U. S. Navy prior to enrolling in college. While at Clarion, he majored in finance and graduated with a bachelors' degree. He attended California State University in Long Beach, CA, where he received his MBA in business administration.
As a comptroller at the Coast Guard Air Station in Miami, McGaughey is in charge of appropriations and logistics issues. "I ship parts for aircraft and am in charge of the aviation inventory for 18 aircraft," he says. "I also have a direct role in exchanges."
McGaughey is a member of the American Society of Military Comptrollers.
Looking back at his Clarion experience, McGaughey says, "It gave me a foundation for what I am doing today. After my college studies, I worked for two years in a savings and loan in Houston, and then I entered the Coast Guard. Clarion gave me a general education background to allow me to study business."
In an extended way, Clarion also helped McGaughey meet his wife, Trisha. "I met Trisha through a blind date," he explains. "While I was in Texas, I knew a Clarion graduate there who was a school teacher. Trisha was also a school teacher. We met, went out, and then we eventually got married."
The McGaughey's currently live in Sunrise, FL, with their two daughters, Rachel and Katie.