George Guy Thomas, MBA

With an MBA in Computer Information Systems, Guy Thomas is Advisor and Chairman of the Global Maritime Awareness Institute for Security, Safety & Stewardship (GMAISSS), a unit of Taksha’s Institute for Science and Technology (TIST). Concurrently the Executive Director of MBA Science & Technology Advisor to the US Coast Guard, he is also involved in maritime surveillance from operator to lead systems / test engineer to inventor and developer.

His role in Maritime Domain Awareness technology has been extensive. He conceived, secured funding for, and helped design space-based AIS; subsequently developing the Collaboration in Space for International Global Maritime Awareness (C-SIGMA) concept to fully explain and exploit this new capability. His 2001 paper on why and how to build a Maritime Traffic Tracking System, published in the Naval War College Review in 2003, became the conceptual backbone of the national effort to build an international Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) system. He contributed to the writing of the National Strategy for Maritime Security, National Plan to Achieve Maritime Domain Awareness, and the Global Maritime Intelligence Integration Plan, co-chairing the writing of the National Maritime Domain Awareness Technology roadmap of 2005. In a 2009-2010 interdepartmental White House effort, his concept on the potential synergism of the space and maritime domains was incorporated verbatim into the National Space Policy and its implementation Directive (June 2010).

Serving in combat and hostile environments as a signals warfare officer on submarines, ships, and aircraft, he led the mission systems test of the Navy’s EP-3E in the Pacific and the initial test & global deployment of the USAF’s modernized Rivet Joint (RC-135), becoming the first person in history to be allowed to wear both Navy and Air Force wings at the same time. He became one of the Navy’s first designated sub-specialists in space operations. He filled both the Space and Special Operations research billets at the Naval War College (1982-1986), retiring in 1988 as Head of Analysis, Joint Electronic Warfare Center.

At Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Lab (JHU/APL) 1995-2003, he led or co-led numerous technology-focused war games and at-sea experiments, and took early retirement from JHU/APL to become the Technical Lead at the Joint USCG/USN MDA Program Integration Office, which became, at White House direction, the national Office for Global Maritime Situational Awareness, 2007.

A distinguished graduate of the Naval War College, he holds his MBA with high honors from Bryant University. He studied Systems Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. He has also studied Spanish, Japanese and Russian.