Photo By David Stoehr | Josh Hammond was recently appointed as activity chief information officer and head of...... read more read more
NEWPORT, R.I. – When he first enrolled at Rhode Island College, Josh Hammond had visions of becoming a math teacher and took accounting courses, but a summertime job at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Division Newport between his junior and senior years set him on a different career path — one in information technology (IT).
In January, Hammond, a resident of Tiverton, Rhode Island, was named the command’s activity chief information officer (ACIO) and head of the Information Technology Division in the Corporate Operations Department. He previously served as the deputy division head and replaces Steven Masterson, who had held the job since 2021 and is now a senior scientific technical manager as director of cybersecurity for combat systems.
In his new role, Hammond is responsible for the operation, maintenance, compliance, strategic planning and leadership of the command’s IT infrastructure and systems. This includes safeguarding Division Newport’s computer networks from ever-evolving cyber threats.
“The ACIO role is a big hat that is spread across the entire command,” Hammond said. “You have to deal with every department and what their needs are. There’s a lot more to what we do that supports this entire command daily than people know. We don’t keep the lights on, but we keep the networks running, keep people communicating and keep people working.”
In announcing the appointment, Vicki Comeau, head of the Corporate Operations Department, said Hammond has been instrumental in securing multi-million-dollar investments to modernize the IT infrastructure at the command.
“His efforts have ensured that Division Newport employees have the necessary tools and resources to support the fleet,” Comeau said.
As a college student in the summer of 2008, Hammond took a position at Division Newport where he helped members of the workforce get connected to the Naval Marine Corps Intranet (NMCI) network. Upon graduation the following year, he used that experience to gain a full-time role in the division as a contract manager.
Hammond was elevated to financial manager in 2015 before becoming a special projects manager in 2017. Already with a keen financial background, he assumed the role of deputy division head in 2019. Hammond said this is when he started to truly hone his technical acumen.
“I was dealing with the business side, but I was also dealing with the day-to-day operations and all of the projects across the division,” said Hammond, who earned a Master of Business Administration from Western Governors University in 2019. “I was able to really understand a lot of the new technologies and what we need to do. It was a good mixture of the business and technical sides.”
Now Hammond will lead a division that has no shortage of current projects or ones in the pipeline. As the workforce gets more digitized, Hammond and his team play a bigger role in keeping everyone connected.
As he steps into this new role, Hammond said he has plenty of support from personnel within the Information Technology Division.
“I couldn’t ask for a better group to be under me at this point,” he said. “I know every single person comes in and has pride in their work and wants to do their job and wants to see the command succeed. So it makes it very easy. Whenever there’s a problem, I know I can get a solution.”
As ACIO and head of the division, Hammond said he simply wants to make an impact.
“I love what I do, and I love the workforce that works here,” he said. “I want to be in this position to make an impact for the good, whatever I can do. I want to be here to support the command and the end-users.”
NUWC Newport is the oldest warfare center in the country, tracing its heritage to the Naval Torpedo Station established on Goat Island in Newport Harbor in 1869. Commanded by Capt. Chad Hennings, NUWC Newport maintains major detachments in West Palm Beach, Florida, and Andros Island in the Bahamas, as well as test facilities at Seneca Lake and Fisher's Island, New York, Leesburg, Florida, and Dodge Pond, Connecticut.
Join our team! NUWC Division Newport, one of the 20 largest employers in Rhode Island, employs a diverse, highly trained, educated, and skilled workforce. We are continuously looking for engineers, scientists, and other STEM professionals, as well as talented business, finance, logistics and other support experts who wish to be at the forefront of undersea research and development. Please connect with NUWC Division Newport Recruiting at this site- https://www.navsea.navy.mil/Home/Warfare-Centers/NUWC-Newport/Career-Opportunities/ and follow us on LinkedIn @NUWC-Newport and on Facebook @NUWCNewport.
| Date Taken: | 01.23.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 01.23.2025 09:56 |
| Story ID: | 489518 |
| Location: | NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND, US |
| Hometown: | TIVERTON, RHODE ISLAND, US |
| Web Views: | 114 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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