Distinguished Engineer of the Year
Capt. Willie L. Metts, U.S. Navy
Division Director, Information Operations and Intelligence Assignments (PERS-47), Navy Personnel Command
Will Metts always wanted a career involving public service. After graduation from high school, he viewed serving in the military as a good foundation. In the small Central Georgia town where he grew up, he says, “the military was viewed as a symbol of enhancing diversity and creating greater opportunities for all members of society.”
Metts enrolled in the electronics engineering program at Savannah State University and the Navy ROTC, which paid for his education. After his commissioning, his desire was to pursue a military career that influenced policy and deployment decisions.
“That desire drove me to the intelligence community in general and cryptology in paticular.”
His first assignment after commissioning, in 1985, was as Combat Information Center and Electronics Warfare officer on a frigate, the USS Thomas C. Hart, followed by service on a guided missile cruiser during Operation Desert Storm. After Desert Storm and graduation from the Naval Post Graduate School, he began his rise through the Navy’s Information Warfare Community.
Capt. Metts is one of only 850 Information Warfare officers in the Navy and is the highest-ranking African American in that specialty.
In his current position, he is responsible for career development, and assignments of Information Warfare, Intelligence, Information Professional and Oceanography assignments for approximately 3,600 officers. He is also the Navy’s lead for career management for the Information Dominance Workforce and for expansion and modernization in the area of cyber warfare to meet the threats of the future.
From his post in Tennessee, Capt. Metts is an avid supporter of the Naval Sea Cadet Corps, speaking to minority high school students about the importance of science, technology, engineering and math programs in preparing them for a rewarding future.
Roger Witherspoon is a journalist and author based in New York.