CONTACT: Frank Lepore FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
National Hurricane Center 1/31/95
(305) 666-0413
Robert C. Sheets, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Hurricane Center, was honored recently for outstanding leadership and special achievement by the Senior Executives Association Professional Development League at its ninth annual Executive Excellence Awards ceremony.
SEA, a non-profit corporation representing career federal executives, recognizes those who have significantly improved the efficiency and effectiveness of a federal program through achievements or service.
Sheets and five other recipients were selected from among 8,000 senior federal career executives. An awards committee composed of representatives from the public sector reviewed eighty-five executives nominated this year by their agency heads.
In ceremonies at the National Press Club in Washington, Franklin A. Thomas, president of the Ford Foundation and honorary chair of this year's selection committee, commended Sheets for his achievements in creating the world's premier hurricane forecasting center.
The award nomination cited Sheets' innovations in technical and scientific standards, using 1992's Hurricane Andrew disaster as an example. Increased forecasting accuracy and lead time for Hurricane Andrew resulted in predicted landfall and track errors 30 percent less than previous averages, while hurricane watches and warnings were issued three to six hours earlier than average. Many lives were saved as a result.
Sheets completes a 30-year career in meteorology this May. He became director of the National Hurricane Center in 1987 after previous assignments there as deputy director (1985-87) and hurricane specialist (1980-85). He also served as a senior scientist with NOAA's Hurricane Research Division (1965-80).