Mary S. Wohlgemuth
During her 28-year civilian career, Mary S. Wohlgemuth has held challenging leadership positions of increasing executive responsibility in engineering and management. Her duties have steadily expanded in scope from a single Naval Warfare Center, to a systems command, to the Department of the Navy (DoN). Ms. Wohlgemuth was appointed a member of the federal government's Senior Executive Service (SES) in December 2004.
As Technical Director, her responsibilities include stewarding the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Division Newport's technical capabilities to nurture science, technology, and innovation; executing human capital strategies and the business operations of the Division; and providing oversight and liaison to optimize national work alignment decisions. One of Ms. Wohlgemuth’s primary responsibilities is ensuring the long-term technical health and stability of the organization and defining the Division’s current and future role to most effectively fulfill the Navy’s needs through its technical capabilities.
Prior to assuming her current position in January 2012, Ms. Wohlgemuth held the position of the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) Warfare Centers’ (WFC) Corporate Business Executive. Her responsibilities included development and maintenance of standard business systems, processes, strategies, and policies across the WFCs; development and maintenance of workforce policy that maximizes employee potential and values cultural diversity; and oversight of Lean/Six Sigma deployment and implementation. She led major transformational initiatives and exerted a strong national influence over two WFCs, nine Divisions, 18,000 government employees, and an $8 billion annual budget. From May 2008 to August 2009, Ms. Wohlgemuth was also assigned additional duties as the Command Task Force Lean Executive, where she led Continuous Process Improvement efforts across the entire NAVSEA Enterprise, consisting of 18 command activities and 53,000 people, with direct reports to the Secretary of the Navy.
Concurrently, Ms. Wohlgemuth successfully executed additional duties in several challenging areas. In July 2010, she was selected as Director, Executive Management Program Office, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Civilian Human Resources. In this one-year developmental assignment, she was responsible for DoN agency-wide leadership in executive resource management for all 440 Senior Executives, Senior Professionals, and Highly Qualified Experts, developing policy, planning, and technical standards. She is an active member of the Department of Defense (DoD) Civilian Senior Executive Efficiencies Study Group and led the DoN Senior Executive and Senior Professional Performance Management Process, 2010 Closeout Guidance, and the Annual Talent Management Panel Process.
From August 2009 to July 2010, Ms. Wohlgemuth assumed temporary additional duties in the NAVSEA, Assistant Deputy Commander, Fleet Logistics Support, where she had a significant and positive impact through her oversight of policy development, program management, and implementation of logistics for ships and weapons systems in support of Fleet readiness and mission requirements (475 personnel, across 8 dispersed locations, $740 million). Ms. Wohlgemuth also directed the annual logistics intern recruitment program to ensure diversity across 110 students.
Ms. Wohlgemuth previously served as Head, Torpedo Systems Department at NUWC Division Newport from December 2001 to May 2007 and was responsible for full-spectrum life cycle system support for the development, acquisition, modernization, and maintenance of all Navy heavyweight and lightweight torpedoes. She led 265 government and 110 contractor personnel and managed an annual budget of $80 million. Ms. Wohlgemuth was also the first U.S. Navy Technical Authority Warrant Holder for torpedoes, responsible for the technical leadership of the Torpedo Enterprise with a combined acquisition and maintenance value exceeding $8 billion. Ms. Wohlgemuth’s reputation for excellence was cemented during the challenging period that the MK48 Advanced Capability (ADCAP) torpedo underwent during Technical Evaluation, Operational Evaluation, and Operational Software Block Upgrade, earlier in her career.
Ms. Wohlgemuth’s prior assignments at NUWC Division Newport include Acting Director, Weapons Systems Directorate; Acting Product Area Director for Weapons and Vehicle Systems; and Head of the Torpedo Systems Division, as well as three different technical branches. These assignments crossed multiple product line directorates and involved all elements of the torpedo system, including countermeasures, counter weapons, unmanned undersea vehicles, mobile targets, combat systems, launcher systems, system analysis, torpedo technology initiatives, and submarine sonar operability, trainer, and simulation / stimulation efforts.
Ms. Wohlgemuth’s education and management experience make her uniquely suited to lead a technical organization in the 21st century. In 1995, she was nominated, selected, and sponsored by NAVSEA to participate in the Executive Education Program. Through this program, she earned a Public Management Certificate in 1996, followed by a Master of Science degree in Public Affairs from Indiana University at Bloomington in May 2000. She received a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from Providence College in May 1983. As an SES, Ms. Wohlgemuth has completed APEX Training, New Flag Officer Training Symposium, Executive Business Course I and II, and the NAVSEA Value Stream Champion and Green Belt training.
Throughout her career, Ms. Wohlgemuth has been recognized for her technical and management expertise, success at taking on multiple new and challenging roles, and ability to build cohesive and productive teams. Her initiative, focus, and commitment have influenced an expanding scope of Navy activities, with excellent results. As a reflection of her success, Ms. Wohlgemuth has received numerous performance-related awards, letters of appreciation, special act award, a Secretary of the Navy citation, and a DoN Meritorious Civilian Service award.