Vice Adm. Brown Confirmed as NOAA Deputy Administrator

 

Retired Coast Guard Vice Adm. Manson Brown was appointed by President Obama and confirmed by a voice vote of the U.S. Senate to serve as assistant secretary of commerce for environmental observation and prediction and deputy administrator for NOAA. Brown joins NOAA after 36 years of service in the U.S. Coast Guard.

 

As deputy administrator, Brown will play a major role driving the Obama administration and NOAA priorities for weather and water services, climate science, plus the agency’s integrated mapping and Earth-observing capabilities. His portfolio will also include agency-wide direction for satellites, space weather, water, and ocean observations and forecasts to best serve American communities and businesses.

 

“I am thrilled to have Manson joining my leadership team,” said Kathryn D. Sullivan, Ph.D., undersecretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. “NOAA’s global observing systems are the foundation of the environmental intelligence we provide every day. Manson’s years of experience in the Coast Guard make him uniquely qualified to ensure our investment in those systems keep pace with the growing demand for accurate, timely and actionable information.”

 

Prior to joining NOAA, Brown served as deputy commandant for Mission Support for the U.S. Coast Guard from 2012 to 2014.  He served as commander of Coast Guard Pacific Area in California from 2010 to 2012 and as commander of Coast Guard District 14 in Hawaii from 2008 to 2010.  His previous tours of duty include assistant engineering officer aboard the icebreaker Glacier, command of Coast Guard Sector Honolulu, and Group Charleston, South Carolina.  In 2006, he assumed command of the Maintenance & Logistics Command Pacific of the Coast Guard, where he had previously served as assistant chief of the Civil Engineering Division.

 

In 2004, Brown served as senior advisor for Transportation to Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad, Iraq. In 2003, he served as the chief of Officer Personnel Management at the Coast Guard Personnel Command.  From 1999 to 2002, he was the military assistant to the Secretary of Transportation.

 

Brown received a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, a Master of Science degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a Master of Science in National Resource Strategy from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces. He is a native of Washington, D.C.