Director

Jeffrey L. Payne, Ph.D

The Office for Coastal Management was established in 2014 when NOAA integrated the Coastal Services Center and the Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management. Dr. Jeff Payne is the Senior Executive Service director for the office, and under his leadership, the nation’s coastal management activities are coordinated to address the significant challenges affecting our coastal communities. All activities focus on constituent needs, creativity, effectiveness, and a commitment to a partnership approach to doing business.

Payne previously served as the deputy director of NOAA’s Coastal Services Center since 1998. During that time he also led the Southeast and Caribbean Regional Team, a NOAA-wide effort to improve the value of NOAA services to the Southeast region states, Puerto Rico, and U.S. Virgin Islands. From 2009 to 2010, he served as the acting deputy chief of staff for NOAA.

He was deputy director of NOAA's Office of Policy and Strategic Planning in Washington, D.C. and served in the Office of Management and Budget in the Executive Office of the President as the budget examiner for NOAA and the Marine Mammal Commission. He also served a year in the U.S. House of Representatives as the American Geophysical Union Congressional Science and Engineering Fellow.

Payne is well respected among coastal and ocean science and management practitioners and serves as a subject matter expert on natural resource, community resilience, and climate adaptation issues. His current interagency appointments include the Federal Floodplain Management Task Force, Recovery Support Function Leadership Group, Mitigation Framework Leadership Group, Subcommittee on Ocean Science and Technology, and U.S.-Mexico Good Neighbor Environmental Board.

Payne received a doctorate in geophysical oceanography from Texas A&M University and a bachelor's degree in geology from West Virginia University. While at Texas A&M, he was employed by the Geodynamics Research Institute as a research associate. Payne has conducted extensive ship-based geological and geophysical research and consulting work, with 380 days logged at sea. He also has been widely published on scientific, technical, coastal management, and public policy topics.