Mr. William A. Kerr, III earned a bachelor of science degree in physics at San Diego State University in 1989. With coinventors, he was awarded US Patent 5,440,660; "Fiber optic microcable produced with fiber reinforced ultraviolet light cured resin and method for manufacturing same" on Aug. 8, 1995. He earned his Project Management Professional certificate from the Project Management Institute on Oct. 13, 2008. He completed the Stanford Advanced Project Management program on Sept. 17, 2011.
From 1981 through 1993, Mr. Kerr worked his way from secretary to electronics technician to physical scientist in support of the Advanced Concepts Branch of the Ocean Engineering Department at the Naval Ocean Systems Center. During this time he participated in multiple optical-fiber related invention and engineering teams and projects.
In 1993 Mr. Kerr transferred to the Systems Integration Division, supporting C4I systems. Mr. Kerr performed C4I system installations aboard fifteen ships and shore commands and provided CM, software and system integration, integration and functional testing, and training in support of several C4I systems.
Mr. Kerr began working with the Navy METOC community during development of requirements for NITES. Mr. Kerr was eventually assigned to the NITES program, serving as lead integrator, later Test Director, and finally as chief engineer.
In 2000, Mr. Kerr accepted a position with FNMOC's systems division. In 2002, Mr. Kerr transferred to the Technology Advancement Group, working as department deputy and project manager on a variety of IT, METOC, information assurance, and web service projects.
In 2008, Mr. Kerr transferred into the newly-established FNMOC N9 (set up as a Project Management Support Office) as deputy and project manager. In 2008, Mr. Kerr was selected to be the head of the newly-established IT services department, the first Navy IT MEO under OMB Circular A-76. Mr. Kerr successfully closed out the A-76 study period in September of 2013 and was placed at the head of a reorganized core-IT department in March of 2014.
In June 2015 Mr. Kerr was promoted to FNMOC technical director, honored and humbled to represent an outstanding workforce in Navy METOC and Navy IDFOR.
Mr. Kerr's honors include an Exemplary Achievement Award, a Sustained Superior Performance Award, a team award for the microcable invention team, and a Team Leader of the Year award.
He has worked for the Navy for 34 years, 15 of them at FNMOC. Not unrelated, he completed the University of California at Davis Winemaking Certificate program on 18 March 2013 and favors red Bordeaux blends.