He’ll chair the U.S. Naval Institute, the private Annapolis institution that provides the Navy with much of its farsighted thinking about seapower. Stavridis should know, since he’s already written much of it.

The U.S. Naval Institute announced this afternoon that Stavridis, the outgoing NATO commander and former Southern Command chief, will chair its board of directors as soon as his replacement, Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove, gets confirmed by the Senate. (Breedlove had his confirmation hearing this morning.) “We are delighted and honored by Admiral Stavridis’ acceptance,” retired Vice Adm. Nancy Brown, the acting board chairwoman, said in a statement. “He is a distinguished officer and an individual of the very greatest accomplishments whose contributions epitomize the mission of the U.S. Naval Institute.”