David Kennedy is currently NOAA’s Senior Advisor for the Arctic Region.  He served as Deputy Undersecretary for Administration at NOAA as well as Assistant Administrator for NOAA Ocean Service and director of NOAA’s Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management. He has more than two decades of experience leading hazardous materials management and response efforts, including coordinating federal scientific response to more than 100 oil and chemical spill incidents. Prior to 1976, Kennedy was director of the spilled oil research team at the University of Alaska Geophysical Institute. He is a native of Oskaloosa, Iowa, and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in anthropology from the University of Northern Colorado.