Stuart Williams: Director of Engineering, Ocean Observing

Tel: (202) 787-1620
Email: swilliams@oceanleadership.org

Stu ventured forth from the Naval Architecture program at University of Michigan to design a wide range of ships for the Navy. He was responsible for developing a number of special mission and research ships designs and then moved into the acquisition part of the process of acquiring ships. During this time he received a Masters in Ship Production Technology from the University of Newcastle, thoroughly enjoying the time spent overseas. At midpoint in his federal career he left the government and managed a number of projects for a small company in Annapolis. This included development of a full fidelity trainer for the Navy and a ground power cart for the Air Force. He returned to the government as the Deputy Program Manager for the modernization of NOAA’s 20+ research ships. When Congressional funding waned, he became the Acquisition Manager for the $550 million modernization of the National Weather Service’s entire Information Technology system. This included installing a wide area network linking all 152 weather offices nationwide and establishing a dedicated satellite broadcast system for large metrological data sets. While still at NOAA he started the Fisheries Research Vessel program to procure four new ships for the National Marine Fisheries Service. After leaving the government he worked as a consultant to the Coast Guard helping them implement earned value and risk management on the $17B Deepwater Program. This Program is responsible for modernizing all the ships, boats, aircraft and computer systems used by the Coast Guard. He joined JOI in the Fall of 2004 to manage the Scientific Ocean Drilling Program and now manages the Ocean Observatories Program. With four children (two in college and two in high school) and a new puppy free time for boating and restoring antique cars is hard to come by.