Craig McLean

Craig McLean served in NOAA for over 40 years as a uniformed commissioned officer and as a member of the Senior Executive Service. Craig retired at the grade of Captain, having commanded research ships of the NOAA Fleet, dived on Titanic in deep sea submersibles, and served as the first director of the NOAA Ocean Exploration program. He served in assignments to NOAA’s Fleet, General Counsel, National Marine Fisheries Service, and National Ocean Service in operational, legal, and policy positions. Upon retirement he was hired as the civilian Deputy Assistant Administrator and later Assistant Administrator of NOAA for Research. There he transformed the research arm of NOAA into a mission serving science enterprise and built strong links to the mission side of the agency. \

He served for 11 years as the U.S. Head of Delegation to the UN’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) and was a leader in creating the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, expanding ocean observations for Deep Argo and Biogeochemical Argo, and motivating the IOC to restore efforts in scientific ocean mapping which led to a renewed partnership with the International Hydrographic Organization and today’s Seabed 2030 project.

Craig also served as acting Chief Scientist of NOAA for five years with a brief break at the close of the Trump Administration, and was restored to the position by the Biden Administration up until his retirement in April 2022.

McLean holds a BA in Zoology (’79) from Rutgers College, and a JD Magna Cum Laude from Quinnipiac University (’93). He was formally recognized by Members of Congress and President Biden for dedication to scientific integrity and for creating and leading ocean programs.