Arlington, Va.-based naval architecture and marine
engineering firm
Gibbs & Cox, has unanimously elected retired
U.S. Navy Vice Adm. Paul Sullivan, to the firm’s board of directors.
The company says the board believes Sullivan’s extensive
naval command, marine engineering and government services experience will prove
invaluable toward Gibbs & Cox’s goal of expanding its role as a maritime
thought leader, meeting the increasingly complex demands in naval architecture,
ship design, systems integration and program management.
“Vice Admiral Sullivan’s presence on our board is a
continuation of our strategy to help the U.S. Navy meet pressing defense
priorities with solutions that balance capability and cost,” says Gibbs &
Cox CEO Rick Biben in a company press release. “Vice Admiral Sullivan is
uniquely qualified to help us usher in a new era of growth focused on our
engineering and design services for our Navy and industry partners — we are
excited and feel very fortunate to have him aboard. We have invested a great
deal in new and forward looking concepts for our customers, Vice Admiral
Sullivan’s ideas and insights will further assist in this investment arena.”
Sullivan had extensive operational, naval engineering and
design, and command experience before being promoted in July 2005 to vice
admiral and 41st Commander of Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA).
Prior to that, he served as the NAVSEA’s deputy ship design
manager for the Sea Wolf attack submarine and as NAVSEA’s deputy commander
(chief engineer) for ship design, integration and engineering. Sullivan’s vast
naval experience and leadership led to the successful delivery of 22 new ships,
63 major ship overhauls and more than 140 private sector overhauls.
“I am honored to join the Board of a company that has served
the Navy well for so many years,” Sullivan says. “I have been watching Gibbs &
Cox set the standard of excellence in ship design and engineering since I first
became interested as a teenager. The company was superb then, it is superb now,
and it will continue to be in the future. I hope to help us stay ahead of the
‘power curve’ as we provide solid work for the Navy and private industry today,
and as we sharpen our tools to explore the next generation of ships tomorrow.”
Sullivan graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1974 and
became an engineering duty officer via the Naval Construction and Engineering
Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with degrees in ocean
engineering and master of science degree in naval architecture and marine
engineering.
He is currently the vice president of the American
Centrifuge Project and chief engineer at USEC Inc., a global energy
corporation, building the only American-based centrifuge uranium enrichment
technology.