National Hurricane Center New Director=Bill Proenza

[HurricaneJoe22]

Miami Herald story in today's paper about the gov't planning to name the next director on Wednesday.....


Hiring of hurricane center director in the wind

BY MARTIN MERZER
mmerzer@MiamiHerald.com

Federal officials plan to name Max Mayfield's successor as director of the National Hurricane Center on Wednesday and Bill Proenza, a veteran forecaster and weather service administrator, is the leading contender.

Proenza serves as director of the Southern region of the National Weather Service, based in Fort Worth, Texas. In that role, he manages nearly 1,000 forecasters and other employees in 32 offices in Florida and nine other states.

According to three sources in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, other applicants to succeed Mayfield when he retires next month include Steve Letro, who runs the weather service's Jacksonville office; Bill Reed, who runs the Houston weather office; and Richard Knabb, a relatively new but highly respected forecaster at the hurricane center.

Proenza was traveling and could not be reached for comment Monday night.

Letro confirmed that he had applied for the position and did not know who had been selected, but ''I know it's not me.'' Reed and Knabb could not be reached Monday.

A spokesman for NOAA, which manages the hurricane center in West Miami-Dade County and the entire National Weather Service, said he could not confirm or deny that Proenza was a leading contender.

Mayfield, 58, announced in August that he would retire on Jan. 3, after serving more than six years in the highly visible, extremely challenging post.

His deputy director, Ed Rappaport, 48, was seen as a likely candidate to succeed Mayfield, but Rappaport declined to apply for the job, citing personal reasons.

Rappaport is expected to remain as deputy director, handling many behind-the-scenes administrative duties and substituting as necessary for the new director as the primary public face of the forecasting center.

Shortly before Mayfield accepted the job in May 2000, he said it was the only one he ever wanted.

''I'm not going anywhere,'' Mayfield said then. ``I'll never leave the hurricane center.''

But the workload eventually wore him out. After 34 years of public service as a government forecaster, he had enough.

'As Forrest Gump said in the movie, `I'm tired, and I want to go home,' '' Mayfield said on Aug. 25, when he announced his retirement.

The hurricane season runs from June 1 to Nov. 30, and those of 2004 and 2005 were excessively active and destructive.

The director's job pays $109,808 to $165,200 per year, according to NOAA's employment website.

[Matt-hurricanewatcher]

Stacy Steward should be it...

[jeff]

I doubt Bill Read would take the job, although he would be great at it.

[hurricanetrack]

I know two of the three fairly well and either Bills would be just fine. Who knows, it could also be Knabb but it sounds like it's Proenza.

[Derek Ortt]

I would perfer Rick Knabb... but then again, that is not exactly an objective viewpoint of mine

[hurricanetrack]

Rick would be great. He could be in that position for a long time and really take it somewhere as Max did.

Also- what do you all think about having a director that focuses on the science and forecasting and not so much the PR and preparedness stuff. That is to say, why not have someone else handle the PR and public talks about preparedness and let the director handle working on things like better forecasts and better understanding of intensity changes. Ed Rappaport passed on the job mainly because it required him to be away from family for long periods of time. So, why not let the director stay in Miami and have someone else handle the public side of the position? Any smart, well spoken person with a basic understanding of hurricane preparedness could do that....especially some of the more well-versed TV personalities. This would allow the director more time to concentrate on better hurricane forecasts. Max had to fill both roles and did so quite well but he always told me he wished he could visit with every family that lived along the coast and do what he could to convince them to have a hurricane plan. A dedicated hurricane PR person could attack that problem- kind of like the job I have working for Lowe's. I reach a lot of people each year, in person, through our massive outreach program. That is most of my work. Anyhow, getting of topic here, but just a thought.

[brunota2003]

hey Mark, why dont you offer that up and help the NHC take care of it? Hurricane Fairs are getting to be pretty popular now adays...

[Frank2]

I'll guess someone from the NHC or HRD, since that's been the tradition...

Frank

[hurricanetrack]

Any word yet?

[cycloneye]

Any word yet?

At 2:30 PM EST.

http://www.publicaffairs.noaa.gov/advis ... dv136.html

[Regit]

I find it interesting that today was picked for the announcement. Today is the release of the Baker report and anything else will be buried in the news.

They had to know that. I wonder why they'd want it released on a day that not many people will notice.

[Frank2]

Some here might want to tune into CNN, FOX News or one of the C-SPAN's at 2:30 this afternoon - one of them is sure to have live coverage of the NHC appointment...

Frank

[Derek Ortt]

most people really do not care who the NHC director is (in regards to the general public, not weather enthusiasts). All they want is accurate forecasts

[Frank2]

True enough, though on-air personality is also important, as we found with people such as John Hope, Bob Sheets, etc.

Frank

[JonathanBelles]

anything yet?

[Evil Jeremy]

still waiting!

[Evil Jeremy]

their late

[JonathanBelles]

148 people are waiting lol

[MWatkins]

My opinion on the Director role is pretty simple, if not realistic.

Get some one in there who knows the science inside and out. Forget the PR job, I think the Neil Frank model has to be a thing of the past, there is simply so much more information available now than there was back then. I think the Director should spend 99.9% of his or her time driving and improving forecasts. They should know research, operational meteorology, modeling, the whole deal, and apply it all of the time, instead of spending so much time at schools and preparedness meetings with local officals etc.

Hire somebody else who is an expert in public relations and communications and make them the voice of the center, and let the director do the dirty work behind the scenes, and maybe wheel him or her out when a threat exists.

MW

[Coredesat]

I'm hearing that Bill Proenza was named the new director, but the link to the report doesn't work:

EDIT: http://www.noaa.gov/