Vice Admiral Sandra L. Stosz assumed the duties of Deputy Commandant for Mission Support at U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington, D.C. on June 3rd, 2015. As Deputy Commandant for Mission Support, Vice Admiral Stosz leads the 17,000-person organization that delivers the systems and people that enable the U.S. Coast Guard to efficiently and effectively perform its operational missions. She is responsible for all facets of support for the Coast Guard’s diverse mission set through oversight of human capital, lifecycle engineering and logistics, acquisitions, information technology and security.
Previously, Vice Admiral Stosz served as Superintendent of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut, where she was responsible for developing the 1,000-person Corps of Cadets into leaders of character strong in their resolve to be worthy of the traditions of commissioned officers in the U.S. Coast Guard in service of their country and humanity. She also served as Director of Reserve and Leadership at Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington, D.C., where she was responsible for developing policies to recruit, train and support approximately 8,100 Coast Guard Reservists.
Vice Admiral Stosz is a surface operations officer with 12 years at sea, including duty onboard the heavy icebreakers GLACIER and POLAR STAR and command of two cutters – an icebreaking tug on the Great Lakes and a medium endurance cutter that patrolled North Atlantic and Caribbean waters. She and her crews executed many of the Coast Guard’s 11 missions such as drug, migrant and fisheries law enforcement, search and rescue, polar and domestic icebreaking, and ports and waterways security.
Between sea duty tours, Vice Admiral Stosz specialized in personnel and resource management and program review. She served tours of duty as Chief of Officer Assignments and as Program Reviewer and Acquisition Funds Coordinator for Coast Guard major systems acquisitions, including the 225-foot buoy tenders and 87-foot coastal patrol boats. She broadened her experience as the Secretary of Transportation’s military assistant and years later as the Commandant’s executive assistant. She held major command ashore as Commanding Officer of the Coast Guard’s recruit training center in Cape May, New Jersey.
Vice Admiral Stosz graduated from the Coast Guard Academy in 1982 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Government. She was awarded a Master of Business Administration degree from Northwestern University’s J. L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management in 1994. In 2000, she completed an executive fellowship in national security through the MIT Seminar XXI program, and she earned a Master of National Security Strategy from the National War College in 2004. In 2009, she attended the Navy’s Executive Business Course at the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler business school.
Vice Admiral Stosz’s personal awards include the Coast Guard Distinguished Service Medal, three Legion of Merit Medals, four Meritorious Service Medals, two Coast Guard Commendation Medals, and two Coast Guard Achievement Medals.