Rear Admiral Peter V. Neffenger
Commander
Ninth Coast Guard District
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Rear Admiral Peter Neffenger assumed command of the Ninth Coast Guard District in May, 2008. His area of responsibility spans the five Great Lakes, the Saint Lawrence Seaway and parts of the surrounding states including 6,700 miles of shoreline and 1,500 miles of international border. As the region’s operational commander, he leads over 6,900 Coast Guard active duty, reserve, civilian and auxiliary men and women serving at 74 subordinate units and on the District staff in delivering the world’s premier multi-mission services in search and rescue, marine safety, environmental protection, maritime law enforcement, aids to navigation and icebreaking.
A native of Elyria, Ohio, Rear Admiral Neffenger was commissioned in 1982 at Coast Guard Officer Candidate School in Yorktown, Virginia. He is a Marine Safety professional with a diverse career of operational and staff assignments across the spectrum of Coast Guard missions. Notable among these, he was Captain of the Port, Federal Maritime Security Coordinator and Commander of Coast Guard Sector Los Angeles – Long Beach, California, where he was the senior Coast Guard operational commander for an area of responsibility encompassing over 300 miles of Southern California coast, including the Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex – the nation’s largest. He has served in five Marine Safety field assignments, as an engineer on USCGC GALLATIN (WHEC721), as the Coast Guard Liaison Officer to the Territory of American Samoa and as a Coast Guard Fellow on the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee.
Rear Admiral Neffenger most recently served as Chief of the Office of Budget and Programs at Coast Guard Headquarters, Washington, DC, where he was the principal budget advisor to the Commandant of the Coast Guard. His responsibilities included reviewing all Coast Guard programs and developing and defending the Coast Guard’s $9 billion budget before the Administration and Congress.
Rear Admiral Neffenger has earned three Master’s degrees: in National Security and Strategic Studies from the Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island; in Public Administration from Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government; and in Business Management from Central Michigan University. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from Baldwin-Wallace College, Berea, Ohio.
Rear Admiral Neffenger has received numerous military and civic awards and was recognized by the Coast Guard Foundation for his accomplishments in American Samoa and by the Department of Justice for his assistance in prosecuting environmental crimes in Northern California.