Hon. Nickolas H. Guertin, PE performs consulting and is also part-time faculty at Virginia Tech’s National Security Institute as a Senior Research Fellow. He is on the board of Southern New England Defense Industrial Association.
He most recently served as an Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition (RDA), to include sustainment and oversight of the contracting community for total of $130 billion.
Prior to that role, Mr. Guertin served as the Director, Operational Test and Evaluation, a senior advisor to the Secretary of Defense, reporting independently to Congress on Department of Defense weapon systems.
Mr. Guertin has an extensive four-decade combined military and civilian career in submarine operations; ship construction and maintenance; development and testing of weapons, sensors, combat management products including the improvement of systems engineering; and defense acquisition. Prior to his confirmation positions, he was performing applied research for government and academia at Carnegie Mellon University’s Software Engineering Institute.
He received a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Washington and an MBA from Bryant University. He is a retired Navy Reserve Engineering Duty Officer and is a licensed Professional Engineer (Mechanical).