Rear Admiral May was assigned as Commander of the Coast Guard’s Personnel Service Center in May of 2010 and oversees all recruiting, assignment, advancement, pay, and promotion actions for the Coast Guard’s nearly 50,000 active duty and reserve workforce. His previous Flag assignment was as the Director of the Coast Guard’s Reserve and Leadership Directorate from 2008 to 2010. He is a member of the Board of Trustees for the Coast Guard Academy and previously served as the Assistant Superintendent of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy.
Rear Admiral May is a 1979 graduate of the United States Coast Guard Academy majoring in Ocean Engineering and has served in a wide variety of operational, engineering, and staff positions. Following his initial tour aboard CGC INGHAM, he served as the Ocean Engineer for the Fifth District Civil Engineering Office before reporting to graduate school at the University of Rhode Island in 1982. Upon earning a Master’s Degree in Ocean Engineering, Rear Admiral May reported to the National Data Buoy Center at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. During his four year tour, he was responsible for the expansion of the ocean and coastal weather data collection network from just over 35 sites to nearly 80 locations including coastal lighthouse sites and several Hawaiian Island buoys moored in over 18,000 ft. of water. In 1988 Rear Admiral May was assigned as the Commanding Officer of the Station and Base in St. Louis, Missouri providing the only dedicated SAR resource for the St. Louis community as well as supply and logistics support to the entire 18 state region of the former Second Coast Guard District. Rear Admiral May returned to the engineering field in 1991 at Civil Engineering Unit Providence where he served as the project engineer for several major lighthouse projects including the relocation of Block Island Southeast Light, the first move of a major lighthouse structure within the United States. In 1995 Rear Admiral May was assigned as the Deputy Commander, Coast Guard Group Boston followed by a tour as the Industrial Manager for the Integrated Support Command (ISC) Boston from 1998 to 2001, providing a wide range of engineering and logistics support to all Coast Guard units located in the Northeast Region of the United States. Rear Admiral May also served as the Chief of the Operations Division for the multi-agency search and recovery effort during the crash of JFK Jr’s plane in July of 1999. Rear Admiral May served as the Commander, Coast Guard Group Boston from June of 2001 to June of 2004 overseeing all Coast Guard operations from Plymouth Bay, Massachusetts north to the border of New Hampshire. Rear Admiral May is the recipient of numerous personal and unit awards including three Legions of Merit Awards, two Meritorious Service Medals with Operational Distinguishing Device, four Coast Guard Commendation Medals, three Achievement Medals, three Special Operations awards, two Unit Commendation Awards and three Meritorious Unit Commendations. He is the 1992 RADM John B. Oren award recipient for the most significant contributions to the Coast Guard civil engineering program.