Top Brass Due at Upcoming SNA Symposium

The first big naval professional development event of the year, the Surface Navy Association’s 2014 Symposium,  kicks off in Crystal City, Virginia, with the theme, “Surface Warfare…Warfighting First.”  Leaders in the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard will speak at the symposium and associated events starting Tuesday, January 14, 2014.

The symposium kicks off with the SNA annual meeting and, focusing on the warfighters of today and the future, there will be a series of roundtables for junior officers, enlisted surface warriors and midshipmen from NROTC units and the Naval Academy.

Tuesday speakers include Secretary of the Navy Raymond E. Mabus, Jr.; Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert, USN; Commander, Naval Surface Forces/Commander, Naval Surface Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet Vice Adm. Tom Copeman; Director, Surface Warfare Division, N96, OPNAV Rear Adm. Thomas S. Rowden, USN and Director, Expeditionary Warfare Division, N95, OPNAV Maj. Gen. Robert S. Walsh, USMC. 

Wednesday's program is similarly interesting and several panels will follow remarks by U.S. Coast Guard Atlantic Area Commander Vice Adm. Robert C. Parker, USCG, including discussions on naval ship programs; Pacific refocus, remarks from the Navy and Coast Guard top enlisted personnel, and a panel of journalists, commentators and analysts who follow surface programs closely. 

Thursday also will feature the annual awards luncheon as well as the banquet where the new members of the Surface Warfare hall of Fame will be named.  ADM James G. Stavridis, USN (Ret.), dean of the Fletcher School of law and Diplomacy at Tufts University will be the guest speaker at the banquet.

Full information on the 2014 National Symposium is available at: http://www.navysna.org/2014Symposium/Index.htm