Mr. Ernest A. Marvin, III, retired in January 2016 after over 35 years working with the US government. He began working for the federal government during the summers of 1979 thru 1981 at the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, NY for the US Army Corps of Engineers. His full-time career began in 1982 at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) in New London Connecticut working in Software and Algorithm Development, Beam forming Applications, Sonobuoy Detection and Localization Systems, Torpedo Classification and Countermeasure Performance, Artificial Intelligence, and Sea Test Reconstruction. In 1985, he worked as Lead Software Engineer installing the first Active Emissions Detection System on surface ships and expanded the effort to include a classification module for classifying active emissions by type.
Mr. Marvin served as the Chief Engineer and Program Manager for the US and UK Torpedo Defense Programs. In 1990 as the Surface Ship Torpedo Defense (SSTD) Chief Engineer, he technically led the Joint US/UK SSTD Risk Mitigation Summer Studies Program and in 1991 directed the US/UK Risk Mitigation Phase (RMP) Sea Trials Program, where 58 weapons were fired during 5 different sea trials collecting significant amounts of acoustic and non-acoustic data for use in the SSTD programs as well as Science & Technology (S&T) and Research & Development (R&D). Mr. Marvin Chaired the NUWC Division Newport Training Integrated Project Team (IPT) from 1990 to 1992. He also participated in the Center’s Virtual Platform Initiative and led the Battle Space Engineering efforts for the Undersea Warfare (USW) Department. In 1994, he successfully led two phases of the Foreign Comparative Test (FCT) Program for the Bearing Ambiguity Resolution Sensor (BARS) Array with the British Navy. In 1995 his position transferred to Newport Rhode Island and effectively managed the MSTRAP Program from Concept to Fleet Introduction in a 12-month period and as a result, received U.S. House of Representative recognition from Rep. Duncan Hunter (CA), Chairman of the Military Readiness and Military Procurement subcommittees. The MSTRAP system in 1995, was the first SSTD system installed on an operational Navy ship. The system was later installed as the first torpedo detection system installed on a UK Surface ship in 1997.
Mr. Marvin served as the US Navy Program Manager for Defensive Systems from 1995 thru 1999. He was responsible for all US Navy defensive and self-protection systems, and effectively met all milestones and deliverables in this program with a budget in excess of over $60M.
From 1999 to 2001, Mr. Marvin’s efforts in strategic planning and business development for the Undersea Warfare and Sonar Systems Department resulted in capturing and defining unique work opportunities resulting in partnerships with industry, foreign governments, other Services, and the Naval War College. In 2002, he was awarded the NAVSEA Excellence in Innovation Award for his development of a risk/reward businesses development process. Mr. Marvin led a team developing and performing the at-sea demonstration of the initial soft-tow towed array concept with Raytheon and the Italian Navy. For these achievements, Mr. Marvin received a Raytheon Naval and Maritime Integrated Systems “Awesome” Award. In 2003, Mr. Marvin led a team of engineers that successfully developed, tested and operationally deployed the first Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV) to the Persian Gulf aboard USS Gettysburg with the USS Enterprise Carrier Strike Group.
Mr. Marvin Chaired an Organizational Architecture Working Group (OAWG) in 2004 which merged two of NUWC Division Newport’s technical departments, Submarine Sonar Systems Code 21 and Surface Ship Sonar Systems Code 31, into one department of more than 600 engineering, technician, and administrative personnel. This merge resulted in a reduction in total ownership costs to the Navy and improved end-to-end integrated systems engineering.
In 2005 and 2006, Mr. Marvin managed and led teams that successfully completed Military Utility Assessments (MUAs) for the Spartan Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV) with Mine Warfare (MIW) and Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) mission modules. Under Mr. Marvin’s leadership in 2005, successful in-water demonstrations were accomplished for multi-USV control with remote site control pass-off, a torpedo launch from a USV and Anti-Terrorism /Force Protection (AT/FP) USV Submarine escort. In 2007, he managed a team that developed and deployed 2 Spartan USVs equipped with non-lethal mission modules for operation deployment with Southern Command (SOUTHCOM).
Mr. Marvin served as the Head of the Operational Systems Division in the Sensors and SONAR Systems Department from 2001 thru 2009 leading 5 Branch managers and over 500 government and contractor personnel. He was responsible for the technical execution of more than 30 U.S. Navy programs, including Operational Systems Engineering, Logistics, Training, In-Service Engineering (ISE), Operational Software, and Test & Evaluation (T&E) activities that involved In-lab Software Assessment and at-sea evolutions for submarines, surface ships, surveillance, and unmanned systems.
From 2010 until his retirement in January 2016, Mr. Marvin served as the Director of Strategy and Special Projects. He was responsible for strategic planning efforts, business development and provided leadership to special projects. He was the primary interface for business growth, including the investment program. He led and facilitated the strategy execution process that included aligning strategy to internal/external landscape, conducting and analyzing Department-wide SWOT assessments; and developing and updating strategic plans. Mr. Marvin fostered a culture of business growth and internal investment in the Department resulting in more than $100M in 3 years. He developed a Knowledge Management Plan to reinforce technical/business domains and succession planning. Mr. Marvin oversaw the publication of a comprehensive “Inside Knowledge Guide” that provided survival information for new personnel. He kicked-off and steered a series of Department Senior Leadership Briefings to assist the workforce in identifying opportunities and enhancing career thinking. In 2013, Mr. Marvin Chaired a NUWC Division Newport Full Spectrum Technical and Business Strategies Cross-Department Team to develop and implement strategies to strengthen NUWC Division Newport and US Navy for future tasking associated with the future USW battle space. Following this effort, Mr. Marvin developed a new Education, Training, and Development Execution Plan to address critical skills requirements for NUWC Division Newport. Mr. Marvin has mentored and trained many other current and future leaders throughout his career.
Mr. Marvin has delivered numerous papers to prestigious technical and engineering conferences and has authored over 70 publications in the areas of business development, strategy, strategic planning, platform self-defense, training, war fighter performance, test and evaluation, torpedo defense, signal processing, post processing, and computer related topics. He has received numerous presentation and publication awards, letters of appreciation, special achievement awards, and performance awards. In 2003, he received the Business Innovation Award for the development of his best practice business development process. Mr. Marvin has also served as a session chair for the National Global War on Terror (GWOT) conference and several Undersea Warfare (USW) Conferences. He held many poster sessions at national and international conferences.
In April 2016, Mr. Marvin was awarded the Superior Civilian Service award, the second highest civilian award in the US, for the work during his career. He was awarded the US Navy Bow Dome Award In January 2016 for his extensive work in Surface Undersea Warfare.
Mr. Marvin received a Bachelor of Science degree in Computational Mathematics, dual degrees in Computer Science and Applied Mathematics, in 1982 from the Rochester Institute of Technology. He earned a Master’s degree in Computer and Information Science from the University of New Haven in 1992. He received an Executive MBA Certificate from The Freeman School of Business at Tulane University in 2008. In 2010 he received an executive certificate in executive Leadership and Teams from the Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame. Mr. Marvin has also received formal strategy, strategic planning, negotiation, leadership and executive business training from Harvard, MIT and the Kellogg Business School at Northwestern University.
Mr. Marvin is certified as a Lean Sigma Six Champion and Green Belt, and is also certified as a Lean A3 process facilitator.
Mr. Marvin currently works part time as a Senior Engineer and consultant for KMS Solutions.