Commander, Navy Regional Maintenance Center Rear Adm. Bill Galinis hosted a promotion ceremony for the command's new Executive Director, Stephanie Douglas, April 25 in Norfolk.

Mark Honecker, U.S. Fleet Forces Command (USFF) chief of staff and most senior member of the Senior Executive Service, and USFF Director of Fleet Maintenance, Rear Adm. Rick Berkey, attended the event as guests of honor and to promote Douglas as CNRMC's first SES member. Her husband, Keith Douglas, presented her SES lapel pin as a part of the ceremony.

Honecker spoke about the role of the Senior Executive Service and explained how the SES insignia represents a keystone -- the center stone that holds all the stones of an arch in place. He stated an "SES must not only bridge the government's political leadership and line workers and translate that political agenda into reality, but also bridge military and civilian efforts in support of the national mission."

In her new role as CNRMC's new executive director, Douglas' duties include oversight of the operations and management of the regional maintenance centers in the execution of private-sector, depot-level maintenance and modernization, surface ship intermediate-level maintenance, and fleet technical and engineering support worldwide.

Of the Navy's RMCs, CNRMC is responsible for the direct management and oversight of four RMCs, including Mid-Atlantic Regional Maintenance Center in Norfolk; Southeast Regional Maintenance Center in Mayport, Florida; Southwest Regional Maintenance Center in San Diego; and Forward Deployed Regional Maintenance Center in Naples, Italy -- along with its two detachments in Manama, Bahrain, and Rota, Spain.

Partnering with Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) 04, CNRMC also provides indirect management and oversight of the RMCs within Puget Sound Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility and Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility.

Douglas was selected for appointment to the SES in April. She has six years experience as a civil servant while serving as deputy director for Fleet Maintenance at USFF. She was responsible for fleet maintenance policy and a $3.5 billion fleet maintenance budget supporting two naval shipyards; three regional maintenance centers; Trident Refit Facility, Kings Bay; and Readiness Support Group, New London to deliver mission ready ships to combatant commanders and achieve expected service life.

Douglas previously served as a naval officer from 1981-2010, retiring at the rank of captain after 29 years of service. During her active duty career as an engineering duty officer, she served aboard USS Emory S. Land (AS 39) as electrical repair officer and at numerous maintenance activities.

Her tours also included Charleston Naval Shipyard as nuclear and non-nuclear ship superintendent for submarines; Portsmouth Naval Shipyard as Baseline Advanced Industrial Management Implementation manager and operations planning manager; supervisor of Shipbuilding Conversion and Repair, Portsmouth -- now a portion Of Mid-Atlantic Regional Maintenance Center -- as planning officer; and Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility as production resources officer. During this tour, she led the damage removal efforts in Guam for USS San Francisco (SSN 711) following the ship's collision.

She served two tours at Ship Repair Facility and Japan Regional Maintenance Center, first as production officer and executive officer and, finally, as commanding officer -- where she made all preparations for the arrival of USS George Washington (CVN 73), the first nuclear-powered warship homeported overseas and successfully completed George Washington's first Forward Deployed Naval Forces availability.

Her staff assignments included commander, Navy Surface Forces, Atlantic as the Surface Type Desk coordinator for amphibious, auxiliary, mine warfare and command ships, NAVSEA 04 as deputy director of the Shipyard Management Group where she developed corporate policy and oversaw business operations for four naval shipyards.

Her final active duty tour was as Surface Ship Program director in the Fleet Maintenance Directorate on the staff of U.S. Fleet Forces Command.

Douglas graduated from Auburn University where she earned a Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering and her commission from the NROTC program in 1981. She earned a Naval Engineers degree, a Master of Science in mechanical engineering and a Master of Science in ocean systems management from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1992.

Douglas' military decorations include the Legion of Merit, Meritorious Service Medal with Silver Star, Navy Commendation Medal and two Meritorious Unit Commendations. Douglas has been an active member of the American Society of Naval Engineers since 1987, and has served as secretary, vice chair and chairperson of the Tidewater ASNE Section and as national councilor.

For more news from Commander, Navy Regional Maintenance Centers, visit http://www.navy.mil/.