Rear Admiral Joanna Nunan assumed the duties as the Deputy Commandant for Mission Support organization’s Deputy for Personnel Readiness (DCMS-DPR) at Coast Guard Headquarters, Washington, DC in June 2021. In this capacity, she is responsible for optimizing the contributions of Human Resources, force readiness training, and the U. S. Coast Guard Academy in providing a mission ready workforce. She also chairs the Academy’s Board of Trustees and is the Commanding Officer of Coast Guard Headquarters.
A Bridgeport, Connecticut native, Rear Admiral Nunan graduated from the Coast Guard Academy in 1987. Her early sea duty was in the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and the Western Pacific before she became the last commanding officer of the WWII era USCGC IRONWOOD in Kodiak, Alaska, and subsequently the first commanding officer of its state of the art replacement, the 225-foot SPAR.
Ashore, she has held senior positions in two different Cabinet offices: Military Advisor to the Secretary of Homeland Security and Military Assistant to the Secretary of Transportation. She commanded the Coast Guard’s Ninth District, which encompasses the Great Lakes and Saint Lawrence Seaways Region and has been Chief of Staff at the Force Readiness Command, Sector Commander in Honolulu, Hawaii, and Deputy Sector Commander in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
During her recent tenure as Assistant Commandant for Human Resources, RADM Nunan presided over the most far reaching Diversity and Inclusion initiatives in the Service’s history, as well as the enormous policy overhaul necessary to face the COVID-19 crisis.
Her professional studies range from a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute to a Master Merchant Mariner license and fellowship at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a non-partisan think tank in Washington, DC. She has attended a number of courses on national and international security at Harvard University and the Naval Post Graduate School.
Rear Admiral Nunan’s personal awards include the Secretary of Transportation Gold Medal for Outstanding Achievement, DOT Outstanding Public Service Award, four Legion of Merits, three CG Meritorious Service Medals, and selection as the CG’s First Female Elite Athlete of the Year.