The Honorable Nickolas H. Guertin

Hon. Nickolas H. Guertin, PE performs consulting with technology companies in business modeling, system architectures, and acquisition planning. He is also on faculty part-time at Virginia Tech’s National Security Institute as a Senior Research Fellow (National Security Technologies and Transformation). In addition, he is on the board of Southern New England Defense Industrial Association.

Most recently, he served as the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development, and Acquisition (ASN RD&A). A Presidential appointee confirmed by the United States Senate, he led the Department of the Navy’s (DON) Research, Development, Acquisition, and Sustainment programs and the DON’s contracting community. This position manages $130 billion in product development, improvement and sustainment.

Prior to that role, Mr. Guertin served in a different Presidentially Appointed/Senate confirmed position as the Director, Operational Test and Evaluation. In that capacity, he was a senior advisor to the Secretary of Defense, and independently reported to Congress on operational and live fire test and evaluation of Department of Defense weapon systems.

Mr. Guertin has an extensive four-decade combined military and civilian career in submarine operations; ship construction and maintenance; development and testing of weapons, sensors, combat management products including the improvement of systems engineering; and defense acquisition. Prior to his confirmation position, he was performing applied research for government and academia at Carnegie Mellon University’s Software Engineering Institute.

Over his career, he has led organizational transformation, improved competition, and increased application of modular open-system approaches, prototyping, and experimentation. He has also researched and published extensively on software-reliant system design, testing, and acquisition.

He received a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Washington and an MBA from Bryant University. He is a retired Navy Reserve Engineering Duty Officer, was Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act (DAWIA) certified in Program Management and Engineering, and is a licensed Professional Engineer (Mechanical).

Hon. Guertin resides with his wife Maria with their twin children in McLean, VA. He volunteers with Scouting America as an Assistant Scoutmaster and Merit Badge Counselor. He is also an amateur musician with the Arlington Concert Band.