Brigadier
General (ret) John (Jack) J. Kelly, Jr.
Assistant Administrator for Weather Services
and Director of the National Weather Service
Brigadier General John J. Kelly, Jr. was appointed as Assistant Administrator for Weather Services and Director of the National Weather Service for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in February 1998.
General Kelly came into this position with 33 years of experience in all facets of the weather field, including 15 years at the senior-executive level in both government and private industry. He has broad experience in leading scientific organizations, introducing change, working in the Washington and international environments, and using and implementing technology.
Immediately prior to his current appointment, he was a senior advisor on weather services for the Department of Commerce, where he conducted a bottom-up review of the total National Weather Service operation, plus NOAA and NWS management, planning, and budget policies and processes. He also determined the resources required to operate the NWS in fiscal years 1998 and 1999 and complete its modernization and restructuring activities.
In the private sector, General Kelly was Director of Weather Systems for GTE Information Systems from 1994 to 1996. There he directed GTE's $30 million/year weather and aviation services business line, and was responsible for client satisfaction and interface, strategic planning, business development and sales, profit and loss, and program management.
General Kelly retired from the Air Force in 1994 after serving for 31 years. He began his military career with world-wide assignments, with duties covering the entire spectrum of the weather field, from operational forecaster to chief scientist, to staff officer. He retired from the military as Director, Weather and Commander, Air Weather Service (1988-1994). As Director, he was chief operations officer of a 5,000-person global weather and space support organization with an annual operating budget in excess of $500 million. He was responsible for strategic planning, policy, resource allocation, requirements (material, personnel, training and technology) development, fiscal control, logistics, acquisition and operations management, and meeting client needs. One of his most notable accomplishments was restructuring the organization, thereby reducing overhead by 52 percent, decentralizing control and improving efficiency, overhauling and modernizing business practices, and reducing operating costs by 30 percent.
General Kelly holds a bachelor's degree in chemistry from Seton Hall University. He has done graduate studies in meteorology at Pennsylvania State University, and holds a master's degree in public administration from Auburn University. He also completed leadership programs at the Air Force Command and Staff College and the Industrial College of Armed Forces. General Kelly is an American Meteorological Society Fellow, and has been listed in Who's Who in America.
This page updated on: Monday, 07-Jan-2002 21:41:56 GMT
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