Mr. Penn was appointed Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Installations and Environment) on 1 March 2005. In his position Mr. Penn is responsible for formulating policy and procedures for the effective management of Navy and Marine Corps real property, housing, and other facilities; environmental protection ashore and afloat; occupational health for both military and civilian personnel; and timely completion of closures and realignments of installations under base closure laws. Mr. Penn is responsible for 81 Navy and Marine Corps installations around the world, which are the workplace for 773,686 people, and include 86,000 buildings, 4.5 million acres, with a plant value of $212 billion.
Mr. Penn began his career as a Naval Aviator. He amassed over 6500 flight hours in sixteen different types of aircrafts. His significant leadership assignments include: Commanding Officer, VAQ 33, Battalion Officer at the U.S. Naval Academy, Air officer in USS America, CO NAS North Island, and Deputy Director of the Navy Office of Technology Transfer & Security Assistance.
Mr. Penn was born and raised in Peru, IN. He received his BS from Purdue University and his MS from The George Washington University. He has received certificates and honors such as EA 6B Pilot of the Year in 1972, certificate in Aerospace Safety from the University of Southern California and in National Security for Senior Officials from the Kennedy School, Harvard University.
David Welch is the president of Kintama Research Corporation and chief architect of the Pacific Ocean Shelf Tracking project (POST), which has formed the basis for the global Ocean Tracking Network. He is also an adjunct professor at the University of Victoria and the University of British Columbia.
David received a B.Sc. in Biology and Economics from the University of Toronto in 1977 and a Ph.D. in Oceanography from Dalhousie University (Halifax, Nova Scotia) in 1985. He also spent two years as a Research Associate at the Ocean Research Institute (University of Tokyo). After joining the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans' Pacific Biological Station in 1985 as a post-doctoral fellow, he was appointed head of the High Seas Salmon Program in 1990. During the next decade he was responsible for studying the ocean biology of Pacific salmon, and provided some of the first compelling evidence for a potentially profound impact of global warming on Pacific salmon in the ocean. He was the Chief Scientist for the Census of Marine Life's project POST from 2000-2005.
David's company is currently prime contractor to the west coast POST array consortium. David was responsible for developing the original concept of building large scale marine tracking arrays to resolve long-standing problems in marine fish population management, particularly as applied to Pacific salmon. He founded Kintama in 2000 to begin evaluating sensor technology for this purpose and to develop the technical strategy needed for building large-scale seabed arrays. Through the construction of POST many of the technical and scientific concepts underlying continental-scale marine tracking arrays have been proven feasible and important. The POST array has been demonstrated to allow the direct and nearly flawless measurement of movements and survival of individual fish greater than about 12 cm in length over vast stretches of the continental shelves. In a follow-on phase, it is intended for this architecture to also host a wide range of physical oceanographic instrumentation, leading to an integrated ocean observing system that includes the fish tracking sensors. As a result, the marine science community is now on the brink of being able to conduct direct quantitative experimental studies in the ocean on fish of the kind that transformed chemistry and physics one and two centuries ago and should radically change the way scientific research in coastal seas is conducted.
Dr Welch is the author of over 150 primary scientific papers and technical reports. He has previously acted as scientific spokesman for the World Wildlife Fund on the issue of global warming, and has been invited to testify on the results of his research on the ocean biology of Pacific salmon at the U.S. Senate. Dr Welch speaks fluent Japanese and lives on Vancouver Island in Nanaimo, British Columbia.
Dr. Richard Spinrad is the Assistant Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR). He is a native of New York City, and a graduate of the Johns Hopkins University (B.A.), Dr. Spinrad has broad experience in marine science, technology, operations and policy. During his career he has worked in a wide range of positions in government, academia, industry and non-governmental organizations.
Spinrad earned an M.S. in physical oceanography and a Ph.D. in marine geology from Oregon State University. As a research scientist at Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences he developed and published concepts critical to our understanding of the relationship between water clarity and marine biological productivity. Spinrad served as President of Sea Tech, Incorporated during that company's development of several now-standard oceanographic sensors. He went on to manage oceanographic research at the Office of Naval Research (including serving as the Navy's first manager of its ocean optics program), eventually becoming the Division Director for all of the Navy's basic and applied research in ocean, atmosphere and space modeling and prediction. In 1994 Dr. Spinrad became the Executive Director of the Consortium for Oceanographic Research and Education (CORE) where he led the development of the National Ocean Sciences Bowl for High School Students, and he co-authored, with Admiral James D. Watkins, "Oceans 2000: Bridging the Millennia", which served as the guiding document for the establishment of the National Oceanographic Partnership Program (NOPP). In 1999 Spinrad became the Technical Director to the Oceanographer of the Navy. In this position he provided leadership and guidance for the development of the U.S. Navy's oceanographic and meteorological operational support to Naval forces. Currently, Spinrad serves as the United States permanent representative to the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO, and co-chairs the White House Joint Subcommittee on Ocean Science and Technology.
Rick Spinrad is the President of The Oceanography Society, and served as Editor in Chief of Oceanography magazine; he has served on numerous professional committees of organizations including the National Academy of Sciences and the American Meteorological Society. Spinrad also served on the faculties of the U.S. Naval Academy and George Mason University. He has spent over 300 days at sea conducting research, and has published more than 50 scientific articles. Spinrad is the editor of a textbook on ocean optics and several special issues of marine science journals.
In 2003 Spinrad was awarded the Department of Navy Distinguished Civilian Service Award, the highest civilian award that can be given by the Navy Department, and he has received a Presidential Rank Award. Dr. Spinrad lives in Falls Church, Virginia with his wife Alanna and two beagles.
Chris Barnes represents the University of Victoria on the NEPTUNE Executive Team. He was Director of the School of Earth and Ocean Sciences at the University of Victoria for the past decade and is also a Professor in that School.
After being awarded his Bachelor of Science from the University of Birmingham (1961) and his Ph.D. from the University of Ottawa (1964), he received an academic appointment at the University of Waterloo in 1965. He served as Chair of Earth Sciences at Waterloo from 1975 to 1981.
In a similar position at Memorial University (1981-87), he established the Centre of Earth Resources Research. From 1987-1989, as Director General, Sedimentary and Marine Branch, Geological Survey of Canada, he was responsible for the offshore Frontier Geoscience Program.
Chris has been a member of the Science Council of British Columbia and its Ocean Sector Committee, and a member of Ocean Drilling Program committees. He has been President of the Pacific Marine Technology Centre Society and Vice President of the Canadian Ocean Frontiers Research Initiative and has served as a Board member of the Institute for Pacific Ocean Science and Technology. He is currently co-leader of the West Coast team in SSHRC/NSERC's Coasts Under Stress Project.
Other organizations in which Chris has served as president are the Geological Association of Canada, the Canadian Geoscience Council, and the Academy of Science of the Royal Society of Canada. He was Group Chair of both Earth Sciences and Interdisciplinary Committees for the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), and is a member of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. He served three terms as Chair of the Council of Chairs of Canadian Earth Science Departments.
His research focuses on understanding the Early Paleozoic world using the principal tools of conodont micropaleontology, stratigraphy, and some geochemistry. He has published over 100 refereed papers on sedimentary geology and paleobiology.
Chris is an Associate Member of the Earth System Evolution Program of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (RSC), and was appointed to the Order of Canada. He has received the J. Willis Ambrose Medal and the Past Presidents Medal of the Geological Association of Canada (GAC), and the Bancroft Award (RSC).
Captain (Navy) Williams was born on 20 September 1956, in the city of Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada.
Captain (Navy) Williams graduated from the Canadian Forces Officer Candidate School in August 1976. Since joining the navy he has served on three ships on the Atlantic coast HMCS OTTAWA, HMCS PRESERVER, HMCS ATHABASKAN and in HMCS SASKATCHEWAN, and HMCS ALGONQUIN on the Pacific coast as well as the Operations Officer Fourth Destroyer Squadron and Executive Officer Sea Training Pacific. He was appointed to command of HMCS WINNIPEG in January 2001 and led the ship through two extended Persian Gulf deployments.
He has completed five staff tours in National Defence Headquarters (NDHQ) Ottawa. In 1989 Captain (Navy) Williams was assigned to NDHQ as the Operational Requirements Manager for the NATO Frigate Replacement Project (NFR 90). Upon termination of the project he was appointed to the staff of Chief of Maritime Operations and Doctrine, as the Fleet Operations and Readiness Officer. In May 91, he was selected for exchange duties with the United States Navy and served on the Staff of Commander, U.S. Second Fleet/NATO's Striking Fleet Atlantic as the Fleet Anti-Submarine Warfare Operations Officer. In 1993 Captain (Navy) Williams returned to NDHQ to the Directorate of Naval Requirements as the Navy's Command, Control Communications and Information (C3I) and Space Surveillance Requirements Officer. In 1998 he was assigned as a Section Head to the Directorate of Maritime Strategy and on completion of his command tour in 2003 he returned to Ottawa as the Director of Maritime Strategy where he was responsible for future Maritime force development, as well as principle contributor to development of the Maritime Security elements of Canada's National Security Policy. In Jan 2005 he was seconded to Chief of the Defence Staff to assist in the development of the new Defence Policy Statement. In July 2005 he was appointed as Director of Defence Analysis follow by appointment to Director General Strategy, July 2006. Where he is now charged with the strategic guidance and coordination for the Canadian Forces.
On 1 June 07 he was promoted to Commodore and assumed duties of Assistant Chief of the Maritime Staff 21 June 07.
