RADM Samuel P. De Bow, Jr., has been a member of the Marine Board since 2015. We was previously the Director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Commissioned Corps and NOAA’s Office of Marine and Aviation Operations. RADM De Bow was Chief of the Hydrographic Services Division, where his primary responsibility was to provide overall guidance and leadership for NOAA’s national hydrographic survey program. RADM De Bow’s active duty career focused on NOAA’s mission to ensure safe navigation. He served aboard three NOAA hydrographic survey and ocean mapping ships that acquired data to update the nation’s nautical charts. During his career, RADM De Bow conducted hydrographic surveys throughout the coastal waters of the United States, and in Norway as an exchange hydrographer. RADM De Bow is a former member of the Mississippi River Commission.

RADM De Bow retired from active duty in 2007 after close to 30 years of service and in 2008 became the Director of the Center of Excellence for Research on Offshore Renewable Energy at the University of Rhode Island, Graduate School of Oceanography. There he was the Co-Principal Investigator for a comprehensive state funded $10 M Marine Spatial Planning effort to site offshore renewable energy in Rhode Island waters (Ocean SAMP) which led to the full installation and operation of the first offshore wind farm in the USA off Block Island.
He simultaneously managed the National Science Foundation owned oceanographic Research Vessel Endeavor until August 2011. He is presently Vice President of Lynker Technologies, a fast growing water-focused small business delivering innovative high-value scientific, engineering and managment solutions with offices in Leesburg, VA, Boulder, CO, and Honolulu, HI.