Rear Admiral (Select) Alma M. Grocki

Rear Adm. (select) Grocki was raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. She was the first woman from Hawaii appointed to the United States Naval Academy where she graduated in 1981 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Engineering. Her first assignment was at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard as a non-nuclear ship superintendent for USS Tullibee (SSN 597) and Submarine NR-1. During this time, she also completed her Master of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering at the University of New Hampshire.

She returned to Hawaii as the billeting officer, Pearl Harbor Naval Station, then transferred to Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard, and was accepted into the engineering duty community in 1985. While stationed at the Shipyard, she was the ship superintendent for several surface ships, and senior ship superintendent for numerous submarine availabilities, and became the first woman officer to accompany her boat on post-availability Sea Trials. Following Nuclear Ship Superintendent School, she was designated as the NSS for the decommissioning of USS Skate (SSN 578) and USS Sargo (SSN 583), and served as the shipyard docking officer.

Grocki transferred to the Navy Reserve in 1988. Her assignments include commanding Officer, Naval Reserve (NR) Shore Intermediate Maintenance Activity (SIMA) Portsmouth, Va.; NR SIMA Everett, Wash., (formerly SIMA Bremerton); NR USS Frank Cable (AS 40), San Diego; NR Naval Submarine Support Command, Honolulu, Hawaii; NR Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Wash; NR Naval Undersea Warfare Command, Keyport, Wash.; and, NR Naval Seas Systems Command (NAVSEA) 102, Bremerton, Wash., before becoming the first National Director for the SurgeMain program.

Grocki currently serves as the NAVSEA NR chief of staff. Previously, she held the position of key leadership position at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility; the Reserve engineering duty community training director; and, the Reserve engineering duty community lead for the Industrial Maintenance Group, comprising approximately 40 percent of all the engineering duty officers. In the past four years, she has served on active duty for extensive periods of time as the fleet maintenance officer and director of Submarine Maintenance, Commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet.

In her civilian career, she has worked for CACI Dynamic Systems, Inc. (formerly DSR, Inc.) since 1992 as a member of the NAVSEA Dry Dock Audit team and as a senior engineer in the Information Technology Department, Ship Maintenance, at U.S. Pacific Fleet. Since 1998, she has been a volunteer blue and gold officer (BGO) for the U.S. Naval Academy, and the BGO area coordinator (AC) for Hawaii and the Western Pacific since 2000, assisting high school students, Fleet Marines, and Sailors applying for admission, and currently serves on the AC Steering Committee.

Grocki’s awards and decorations include the Legion of Merit, the Meritorious Service Medal (three awards), Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal (four awards) and Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal.