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Dr. Frank P. Kelly assumed responsibilities as Regional Director for the Alaska Region at the National Weather Service (NWS) on October 27, 2008. In this position, Dr. Kelly oversees the management of all operational and scientific meteorological, hydrologic, and oceanographic programs of the region including observing networks, weather services, forecasting, climatology, and hydrology.
The Alaska Region covers three Weather Forecast Offices (WFO), 12 Weather Service Offices (WSO), and a River Forecast Center (RFC). In addition, the Region has unique NOAA/NWS responsibilities including the operation the West Coast and Alaska Warning Center (WC/ATWC), responsible for the U.S. Tsunami Warning System (except Hawaii). The Alaska Aviation Weather Unit, which manages the Anchorage Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC) is one of only nine such centers worldwide. Alaska Region also includes a major marine forecast and warning program, with expansive responsibility from the Canadian Border to the Russian Border, including the Gulf of Alaska, the Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands, and the Arctic Coast.
Prior to assuming this position, Dr. Kelly served as the head of the Programs and Plans Division of the Office of Science and Technology at NWS since 2002. In that position he was responsible for science and technology infusion for the AWIPS, NEXRAD, ASOS and several other observing, dissemination and remote sensing systems. He also led the NWS effort in formulating and executing a Science and Technology Infusion Plan covering the full range of NWS activities in monitoring and observing, assessing and predicting, and understanding and describing the atmosphere.
Before joining the NWS, Dr. Kelly served as Vice President for Business Development for Atmospheric and Environmental Research (AER), Inc, where he directed business development activities for the NPOESS business unit. During this tenure he was responsible for establishing AER as the premier private business science and environmental algorithm provider to the program. He was also responsible for the commercial data services and value added satellite data exploitation business areas. He retired from the Air Force in 1994 as the Acquisition Manager for the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP). He began his military career as a weather officer with duties covering operational support at both local weather forecast units and the Air Force Global Weather Central in Omaha, Nebraska. He specialized in the practical implementation of information technology into the exploitation of meteorological satellite data. Later in his career, Dr. Kelly was Chief of the System Engineering Division for DMSP.
Dr. Kelly was born in Butte, Montana. His education includes both Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in Atmospheric Science from Colorado State University and a B.S. in Earth Science from Montana State University. He is a long time member of the American Meteorological Society where he has served on the AMS Private Sector Board and the Board on Probability and Statistics. He is also a member of the American Geophysical Union. |