Rear Admiral William E. Shannon, III USN-Ret
| Rear Admiral Bill Shannon USN (Ret) was appointed as the Naval Helicopter Association’s 16th Chairman of the Board in May 2013. He had previously served as an NHA Trustee for over a decade. He also serves on the board of directors of the Association of Naval Aviation. He retired from the Naval Service in 2012 after serving 37 years in various operational, command, and program management positions. Rear Admiral Shannon graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1975 and earned his “Wings of Gold’ in Dec 1976. He held numerous squadron level positions in the HM community and also completed a USMC flying tour with the “Ugly Angels” of HMH-362. He has flown all versions of the H-53. His operational tours culminated with command of the HM-15 “Blackhawks”. Following his command tour, Rear Admiral Shannon transitioned to the Acquisition Corps and was selected to lead PMA-299, the Navy H-60 program office, during the development and fleet introduction of the MH-60R and MH-60S. He attained the rank of Rear Admiral and held numerous flag level acquisition positions; serving in his last two tours as the Vice Commander for Naval Air Systems Command and the Program Executive Officer for Unmanned Aviation and Strike Weapons. Rear Admiral Shannon joined Science and Engineering Services LLC as the Executive Vice President for Naval Programs in November 2012. He and his wife Debbie reside in southern Maryland. Their two sons; Will and Tommy are lieutenants in the Navy. Navy Bio |