National Commodore of the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary | |
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Incumbent since September 2024Mary L. Kirkwood | |
Formation | 1951 |
First holder | Bert C. Pouncey, Jr. |
Website | http://www.cgaux.org/leadership/ |
The National Commodore (NACO) of the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary is its most senior and principal officer. The national commodore represents the Auxiliary and reports to the commandant of the Coast Guard through the vice commandant of the Coast Guard. Additionally, the national commodore represents the Auxiliary with all Coast Guard flag officers and flag officer equivalent civilians at Coast Guard headquarters on Auxiliary matters. The national commodore functions to support the commandant's strategic goals and objectives and serve auxiliarists.
The title of national commodore dates to 1951, when Bert C. Pouncey, Jr. was elected as the first NACO at the first National Conference.
There have been 36 national commodores of the Coast Guard Auxiliary since the office was enacted in 1951. Gus Formato is the current National Commodore. [1]
No. | NACO | Photo | Tenure |
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1 | NACO Bert C. Pouncey, Jr. | 1951–1952 | |
2 | NACO Alexander S. Bauer | 1953–1954 | |
3 | NACO J. Webb L. Sheehy | 1955 | |
4 | NACO John Brent Tanner | 1956–1957 | |
5 | NACO Charles S. Greanoff | 1958–1959 | |
6 | NACO Bliss Woodward | 1960–1961 | |
7 | NACO Homer L. Byers | 1962–1963 | |
8 | NACO Elsworth A. Weinberg | 1964–1965 | |
9 | NACO Grover A. Miller, Jr. | 1967–1968 | |
10 | NACO John B. Stone | 1969–1970 | |
11 | NACO Harry S. Osbourn | 1971–1972 | |
12 | NACO Harold B. Haney | 1973–1974 | |
13 | NACO Anderson A. Cordill | 1975–1976 | |
14 | NACO J. Kevin Mitchell | 1977–1978 | |
15 | NACO Dr. Robert L. Horton | 1979–1980 | |
16 | NACO Aime R. Bernard | 1981–1982 | |
17 | NACO Martin S. Herz | 1983–1984 | |
18 | NACO Christopher G. Lagen | 1985–1986 | |
19 | NACO Will C. "Papa" Harr | 1987–1988 | |
20 | NACO Henry G. Pratt, III | 1989–1990 | |
21 | NACO Stanley Y. Kennedy | 1991–1992 | |
22 | NACO Joseph J. Lanz, Jr. | 1993–1994 | |
23 | NACO Peter W. Melera | 1995–1996 | |
24 | NACO Everette L. Tucker, Jr. | 1997–2000 | |
25 | NACO Viggo C. Bartelsen | 2001–2002 | |
26 | NACO E.W. Edgerton | 2003–2004 | |
27 | NACO Gene M. Seibert | 2005–2006 | |
28 | NACO Steven M. Budar | 2007–2008 | |
29 | NACO Nicholas Kerigan | ![]() | 2009–2010 |
30 | NACO Jim Vass | ![]() | 2010–2012 |
31 | NACO Thomas C. Mallison | ![]() | 2012–2014 |
32 | NACO Mark Simoni | ![]() | 2014–2016 |
33 | NACO Richard A. Washburn | ![]() | 2016–2018 |
34 | NACO Larry L. King | ![]() | 2018–2020 |
35 | NACO Alex Malewski | ![]() | 2020-2022 |
36 | NACO Agostino (Gus) Formato | 2022-2024 | |
37 | NACO Mary L. Kirkwood [2] | 2024-Present |
Commodore is a senior naval rank used in many navies which is equivalent to brigadier or brigadier general and air commodore. It is superior to a navy captain, but below a rear admiral. It is either regarded as the most junior of the flag officers rank or may not hold the jurisdiction of a flag officer at all depending on the officer's appointment. Non-English-speaking nations commonly use the rank of flotilla admiral, counter admiral, or senior captain as an equivalent, although counter admiral may also correspond to rear admiral lower half abbreviated as RDML.
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