Deputy Director of NOAA’s National Weather Service

Mary C. Erickson is the deputy director of the National Weather Service, a role she has filled
since January 2017. Her primary responsibilities include leading the agency’s major change
initiatives, ensuring accurate and timely service delivery to key stakeholders, supporting
management-labor relations, and building important relationships with America’s Weather
Enterprise. She also champions water and inundation programs and directs efforts to improve
employee engagement throughout the organization that supports a culture where belonging,
inclusion and diversity can thrive.

Ms. Erickson has served in various roles across NOAA for more than 30 years. In her most
recent position as the director of the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science -- an office in
NOAA’s National Ocean Service -- she ensured the timely and effective transition of ecosystem
science solutions from research and development to operations and applications. Prior to that,
she served as chief of NOAA’s Coast Survey Development Laboratory, where she and her team
developed ocean technology to support safe and efficient navigation and sustainable, healthy
coasts.

Ms. Erickson began her federal career at the National Weather Service, having worked as a
research meteorologist for more than 20 years in the Office of Science and Technology. Her
early work and publications centered on statistical techniques and model post processing within
the Meteorological Development Laboratory. Later, she managed a wide portfolio of science
projects, serving as deputy of the cross-NOAA strategic goal team for weather and water.
Ms. Erickson earned a B.S. degree in Meteorology from Pennsylvania State University (1983)
and an M.S. degree in Operations Research and Statistics from George Mason University
(1990). An avid reader and continual learner, she enjoys serving as a professional mentor to
benefit future science leaders. Ms. Erickson is a native of Whitesboro, NY, but she has called
Brandywine, MD home for the last 30 years.