Gary Carter has served as Director for the Office of Hydrologic Development, National Weather Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), since November 2000. He is responsible for a group of 80 Government and contract employees engaged in research and development activities to advance the National Weather Service mission to forecast the water in America's rivers and streams. In November 2006, Mr. Carter was selected to lead the NOAA Priority Area Task Team on Integrated Water Resource Services. Currently, he is the Water Forecasting Program Manager for NOAA.
Mr. Carter has 41 years of federal experience, with over 30 years as a manager of research and development projects. From 1989 to 2000, he was responsible for the professional development and training of operational forecasters throughout the eastern U.S. He has also worked as a research scientist focusing on the design, testing, and implementation of statistical procedures to produce weather forecasts.
His professional accomplishments include membership in the American Meteorological Society and the National Weather Association. Mr. Carter is a "Fellow" of the American Meteorological Society and a recipient of the National Weather Association Award for "An Important Contribution to Operational Meteorology through New or Continuing Research." He has published an extensive suite of papers in a wide variety of professional journals, and he has served as Chief Editor of the American Meteorological Society's journal entitled Weather and Forecasting. From 1999 - 2000, Mr. Carter led a National Weather Service task force to improve the national techniques for the production of quantitative precipitation forecasts. In 2001, this group was awarded an organizational Bronze Medal by NOAA. He received the NOAA Diversity Council’s Spectrum Achievement Award for Managers in 2002. In 2006, Mr. Carter was honored with the “Presidential Rank Award for Meritorious Executive Service.”