Coast Guard Sector N.C. gets new commander

MOREHEAD CITY, N.C. – Coast Guard Sector North Carolina will welcome a new sector commander during a change-of-command ceremony Friday at 10 a.m. at the Crystal Coast Civic Center in Morehead City.

By: 5th District Public Affairs | WNCT
Published: February 11, 2010

MOREHEAD CITY, N.C. – Coast Guard Sector North Carolina will welcome a new sector commander during a change-of-command ceremony Friday at 10 a.m. at the Crystal Coast Civic Center in Morehead City.

The command will be transferred to Capt. Anthony Popeil as the current sector commander, Capt. June Ryan, reports to Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington, D.C., as the Deputy Director for Response Policy.

Rear Adm. Wayne Justice, the 5th District Commander, will preside over the ceremony.

Capt. Popiel comes to Sector North Carolina from the Brookings Institution, an independent, non-partisan think tank in Washington, where he was assigned as a Federal Executive Fellow in their Foreign Policy program. Prior to Brookings, he served in Florida as Sector Jacksonville's Deputy Sector Commander from August 2007 to August 2009. As Deputy, he also served as the Alternate Captain of the Port, Alternate Federal Maritime Security Coordinator, and Alternate Federal On-Scene Coordinator for Northeast Florida.

Popiel is a 1987 graduate of the United States Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn., where he earned a Bachelor's Degree in Management. He also has earned a Masters Degree in Public Administration from George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., in 1998.

In previous assignments Popiel has served as Operations Officer at Group Milwaukee, Group Commander at Group Grand Haven, Mich., Search and Rescue Planner at the Great Lakes Rescue Coordination Center in Cleveland, and Program Reviewer and Budget Coordinator at Coast Guard Headquarters.

Popiel and his wife Jayne have two sons, ages 15 and 18. His hometown is Lorain, Ohio, on the shores of Lake Erie.

Capt. Ryan, a native of Bettendorf, Iowa, holds a Bachelors of Science degree in Biology and a Masters of Arts degree in Adult Education.

In previous assignments Ryan has served as the commanding officer of Coast Guard Cutters Cape Morgan and Neah Bay as well as Group Commander of Group Charleston, S.C. She has served as Deputy Group Commander of Group St. Petersburg, Florida, and Deputy Sector Commander and Alternate Captain of the Port at Group Charleston, S.C. Ryan was also the third woman in U.S. history to serve as the Military Aide to the President.

Ryan is married to retired Chief Warrant Officer Timothy Ryan, of Wayne, N.J. They currently reside in Morehead City with their 8-year-old daughter Aisling.