Vice Admiral David Architzel

Vice Adm. Architzel currently serves as commander, Naval Air Systems Command, headquartered in Patuxent River, Md. He assumed his duties in May 2010, after serving as the principal military deputy to the Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Research, Development, and Acquisition).

Previous flag assignments included program executive officer for Aircraft Carriers; commander of Operational Test and Evaluation Force, Norfolk; commander, Navy Region Mid-Atlantic; commander, Naval Safety Center, Norfolk; commander, Iceland Defense Force; and commander, Fleet Air Keflavik.

At sea, Architzel served as the executive officer, USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) and Pre-Commissioning Unit John C. Stennis (CVN 74). He served as the commanding officer, USS Guam (LPH 9); flagship for commander Amphibious Squadron (CPR) 2; and the sixth commanding officer of USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71).

A career naval aviator, Architzel has accumulated more than 5,000 flight hours, 4,300 of those hours in the S-3, and the remainder in some 30 other aircraft types in his role as a test pilot at Naval Air Station Patuxent River. He served in Sea Control Squadron (VS) 30, deploying aboard USS Forrestal (CV 59), and as maintenance officer in VS-28, deploying aboard USS Independence (CV 62). He later returned to VS-30 as the executive officer and subsequently as commanding officer.

Architzel was born in Ogdensburg, N.Y., and raised in Merrick, Long Island. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics at the U.S. Naval Academy in June 1973, and also holds a Master of Science degree in aeronautical systems from the University of West Florida. He enjoys major league baseball, model trains and is an avid golfer.

His decorations include two Navy Distinguished Service Medals, the Defense Superior Service Medal, four Legions of Merit, three Meritorious Service Medals, the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal and various service related awards and campaign ribbons. He was also awarded the Spanish Naval Cross of Merit from His Majesty, King Juan Carlos of Spain, the General Counsel of the Navy Eugene P. Angrist Award for 2012, the Navy League's John Paul Jones Leadership Award for 1998, the Commander's Cross with Star of the Icelandic Order of the Falcon presented by the president of Iceland, and the Department of the Navy Diversity Leadership Award for 2012.