Greene’s honorable profession of service to the nation, to the Navy, and to the Naval Postgraduate Faculty (NPS), has cast an impactful, lasting legacy that continues to be as sturdy as ever in the present day on the college’s Monterey campus, and properly past.
“Rear Adm. Jim Greene was actually one in every of a form,” stated NPS President retired Vice Adm. Ann E. Rondeau in a message to the campus neighborhood. “He was a patriot, a warrior, a hero, a pacesetter, a mentor, a colleague, and a buddy to so many at NPS, and lots of extra past the campus gates. He will likely be missed.”
Greene served the U.S. Navy for greater than 50 years … 31 years on energetic obligation with an extra 20 years as a member of the college at NPS. Greene excelled at being a Sailor and Naval chief all through his three-plus many years of active-duty service. He started his profession as a Floor Warfare Officer, with quite a few wartime deployments to Vietnam, the Indian Ocean, and the Persian Gulf. Along with his graduate research at NPS, different assignments of notice embrace venture supervisor for the AEGIS venture, the DOD’s largest acquisition venture, from 1984-1987; Senior Army Assistant to the Underneath Secretary of Protection for Acquisition from 1987-1990; and, Assistant Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Logistics from 1991-1995.
To not be neglected, Greene’s affect on the AEGIS program, and specifically on the DDG-51 Arleigh Burke-class destroyer program – the longest, and a few think about probably the most profitable shipbuilding program in U.S. Navy historical past – led to his standing as “a legend in PMS-400.”
All through his profession, Greene skilled first-hand the affect of acquisition on his fellow Sailors, and on the nation. His deep dedication to making sure Sailors had probably the most technologically-advanced methods defending their lives and enabling their struggle, developed by means of probably the most accountable and respectful means doable, led Greene to proceed his profession centered on protection acquisition. And it was in acquisition that he would quickly forge a legacy that may affect all Sailors, and in a way, each service-member throughout the DOD.
Upon his retirement from energetic obligation, Greene returned to NPS because the college’s Chair of Acquisition in 2002, and launched the Acquisition Analysis Program (ARP) the next yr. He envisioned a world-class useful resource the place the nation’s main specialists may discover all aspects of the advanced realm of protection acquisition.
As this system grew and advanced over time, Greene watched the group grow to be what he had envisioned. Acquisition specialists throughout the nation making use of sound analysis to the career’s key challenges and points, advancing acquisition practices throughout all the Division of Protection, and in flip, impacting each warfighter all through the service, in addition to the general safety of the nation he beloved.
“Jim Greene was a one-of-a-kind warrior in growing the Acquisition Analysis Program,” stated Professor of Apply Raymond Jones, chair of the NPS Division of Protection Administration. “His efforts led to the most important repository of defense-focused acquisition analysis within the DOD in addition to throughout academia.
“The affect of this work has led to important price and efficiency enhancements throughout many protection acquisition packages over time,” Jones continued. “Jim’s work, and the crew that he led, have been famous by senior DOD and authorities officers as being a nationwide useful resource second to none.”
Dr. Keith Snider, who served with Greene because the ARP’s principal investigator for 15 years, noticed this system’s growth and affect first-hand.
“By means of ARP, Jim made protection acquisition analysis compelling and rewarding,” Snider stated. “His engagements with DOD sponsors made it doable for educational researchers, who in any other case would have little or no real interest in protection acquisition, to obtain monetary grants and knowledge for work on sponsors’ difficult acquisition issues. As a consequence, a major variety of civilian college school members now specialise in acquisition-related research.”
Greene took the development of the ARP, and the work that bore its title, very significantly. Through the years, NPS’ acquisition program generated, actually, hundreds of analysis papers, theses, technical stories and the like, and Greene learn each single one in every of them. And it must be famous that producing this stage of output took herculean efforts in securing assets … Throughout his tenure at NPS, Greene introduced in over $60 million in reimbursable funding to assist the analysis efforts of over 700 NPS graduate college students, 40 NPS school and dozens of educational companions.
“Jim was a person of service … His mission at NPS was to mentor and get assets for NPS school and warrior-scholars to offer them the information and demanding considering expertise wanted in in the present day’s ever shifting surroundings,” stated ARP founding program supervisor, Karey Shaffer.
“In acquisition, the ‘valley of dying’ is usually an unintended byproduct of an growing old acquisition system that wasn’t constructed for the velocity of contemporary innovation,” she added. “Jim’s distinctive skillset and perspective gave him the uncanny potential to navigate that valley.”
“Jim was a devoted skilled that ensured solely the very best high quality merchandise have been launched into the ARP repository,” stated Jones. “He personally learn each line of each paper and report that was submitted for acceptance into this system. His information of the topics and his private consideration to every writer, resulted in distinctive work that was learn on the highest ranges of our authorities.”
Greene held a real fondness for college students and would use each relationship and connection he had cultivated all through his profession to assist and advance their work.
“Jim was extraordinarily beneficiant of his time with college students and really pleased with the coed element of ARP—not solely NPS college students but in addition college students of these civilian college school with ARP grants,” stated Snider. “He learn every ARP scholar capstone report and despatched notably noteworthy stories to DOD/DON leaders together with private commendations for the coed authors.”
However his advocacy for college students didn’t cease there, Snider stated.
“At every annual symposium, he frolicked with each scholar represented within the ‘poster present’ and made positive to attach them with influential attendees,” he added. “And in his briefings to and discussions with exterior stakeholders, he all the time praised the extent of scholar contributions to ARP and the important thing position that their analysis performed of their graduate schooling.”
As Greene’s legacy, the Naval Postgraduate Faculty Acquisition Analysis Program, approaches its 20th yr in service, these on campus who’ve been intently concerned in this system can present testomony to his affect … And they’re highly effective certainly.
“Primarily, Jim elevated acquisition analysis to prominence each inside and outdoors of DOD,” claimed Snider.
“The weapon methods we now have in the present day have Greene’s DNA by means of his persistent quest for excellence in analysis and research produced by means of the ARP,” added Jones.
“He usually stated, ‘Should you don’t thoughts who will get the credit score, you’ll be able to accomplish something,’” recalled Shaffer. “We want extra Jim Greene’s on the planet. Folks that deal with exhausting issues for no different motive than it’s the proper factor to do.”
A memorial service at Arlington Nationwide Cemetery will likely be held at a date to be decided.
