Hepburn and Sons Adds Senior Naval Talent

The Hepburn and Sons LLC team welcomed David Rice, CAPT David Bauer, USN (Ret), and Gary Loberg as their newest members. David Rice serves as Senior Consultant, Material Science. David Bauer will serve as the Senior Manager, Material Science. Gary Loberg serves as Senior Manager, Advisory Services.

David Rice comes to Hepburn and Sons, LLC after a career spanning 45 years at Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS). During his time at NNS he served as the Manager of Contracted Research & Development and was responsible for Research & Development Programs funded by ONR/ManTech, the National Shipbuilding Research Program (NSRP), ONR, DARPA, SBIRs or other funding organizations. He has been involved in various research & development programs for more than 30 years. He is currently a member of the Advisory Board for the Materials Science and Engineering Department at Virginia Tech. David is a past chairman of the Executive Steering Committee for the Navy's ManTech Composite Center, The Composite Consortium, and also served as the Co-Chairmen for Virginia's Advanced Materials Sector Steering Committee. David served as the Ship Design & Materials Technology Major Initiative Team Leader for the NSRP. He also served on the ASM International Advisory Technical Awareness Committee and was a member of the Advisory Boards at Thomas Jefferson National Laboratory and the Navy’s Metalworking Center. David is a graduate of the Newport News Shipbuilding Apprentice School (Machinist) and a Materials Engineering graduate of Virginia Tech. He has the unique combination of practical “hands-on” shipbuilding experience and the technical knowledge of an engineer/scientist. In 2019, David was named a Fellow of ASM International.

CAPT Dave Bauer, USN (Ret) joins Hepburn and Sons from the Navy as he transitions from Active Duty. He first enlisted in the Navy as a submarine nuclear electrician and then later commissioned as a Surface Warfare Officer. During his career, he served on two submarines, two fast frigates, two Aegis destroyers, several staffs, and commanded the amphibious assault ship USS OAK HILL. Following his command tour, David developed the maintenance strategy for the LCS class ships and put LCS 1 and 3 on their maiden deployments to Singapore. He then worked as an understudy to our very own Tim Crone in the Mine, Amphibious, Auxiliary, Command and Patrol Craft Program Office (PMS 470) at SEA 21 before moving on to take command of the Surface Engineering Maintenance Planning Program (SURFMEPP), where he was responsible for the lifecycle maintenance planning, strategies, and requirements for all non-nuclear warships. He is the Navy’s director of Rapid Prototyping, Experimentation and Development at his current position with the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Research, Development, Test and Evaluation). David brings a wealth of ship maintenance experience and looks forward to joining the team when he completes over 34 years of active duty on June 1st this year.

Gary Loberg joins Hepburn and Sons Advisory Services Division from Mameluke Ventures, where he was a risk management consultant and business advisor focused on evaluating businesses for acquisition. Prior to joining the private sector, Gary spent 23 years as a Marine Corps aviator and strategic planner, retiring as a lieutenant colonel in 2017. Over his military career, Gary served in a wide variety of operational and senior staff billets. He served in the Assessments Division (N81), on the Chief of Naval Operations headquarters staff, where his portfolio encompassed amphibious shipping, military sealift, all naval aviation, and all Marine Corps programs. He served as the Acting Director of Operations for NATO Training Mission – Afghanistan, responsible supporting man, train, and equip functions for all Afghan National Security Forces. He also served on the Naval Forces, Europe / Naval Forces, Africa / 6th Fleet Staff as the Chief of Crisis Response and Future Operations Planning in Future Operations (N35). His final assignment in uniform was as Aviation Section Head, and Communications and Information Systems Branch Chief, for the Marine Air Ground Task Force Staff Training Program where he taught integrated aviation planning and trained operational warfighting staffs in the Joint and Marine Corps planning processes. Gary holds advanced degrees in Systems Analysis (Naval Postgraduate School), International Public Policy (Johns Hopkins University – School of Advanced International Studies), and Business Administration (Columbia Business School and London Business School).