Editor: Jim Elliott
Contributors: Alan Weinstein, Ginny Owen, and Julie Burba
Copy Editor: Anne Siefken
Dr. Ronald D. McPherson, retired director of the National Weather Service Centers for Environmental Prediction, will be the next executive director of the 12 000-member American Meteorological Society. Announcement of his selection by a search committee of peers was made by Dr. Eugene Rasmusson, president of AMS and senior scientist at the Department of Meteorology at the University of Maryland at College Park, on 26 June. The search committee had been reviewing candidates since last year when the current executive director, Richard E. (Dick) Hallgren, announced he planned to step down in 1999.
McPherson's appointment, which was approved by the AMS Council, will become effective in January 1999. Hallgren, who has been executive director since 1988, will step down but will continue to work part-time for about two years.
In making the announcement, Rasmusson applauded McPherson for his background and experience, saying, "The American Meteorological Society is extremely fortunate to have Ron McPherson as our next executive director. He is both an outstanding scientist and an outstanding leader. He brings to this position all the qualities needed to meet the challenges of our society and our profession as we enter the 21st Century."
McPherson, who held the elected position of president of AMS in 1997, expressed gratitude at having been selected and said he was excited over the opportunity and challenge he faces in his new position.
One of his objectives, he continued, will be to bring together potential users of weather, climate, ocean and water resource predictions...for example, chief operating officers of weather-vulnerable enterprises...with society members who can explain what our professionals can provide. Our predictions, he said, have attained a level of reliability that has been noticed by the public. In this way, he continued, opportunities for our private sector and employment opportunities for our professionals will be enhanced.
As AMS president last year, McPherson initiated a 10-yr vision study to serve as a guide for the evolution of the society over the next decade or more. One of the more important aspects of the study is the appreciation that much of the growth in the atmospheric and related sciences will be in applications of the scientific advances up to now. Many of those applications are expected in the private sector, according to the study.
McPherson has long been active within AMS. He became a member in 1960 and was elected a fellow in 1992. He was a councilor from 1991 to 1994, and a member of the executive committee from 1992 to 1994. He was an at-large member of the publications commission from 1990 to 1996 and chaired an ad hoc committee on meetings from 1993 to 1995. He has been a member of the AMS Executive Committee since 1996.
In addition, McPherson has been extensively involved with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in Geneva, Switzerland. He was a U.S. delegate to the WMO, where he served on its Commission on Basic Systems in 1988. He was the principal U.S. delegate in the WMO VI Meeting in Sofia, Bulgaria, in 1990; he headed the U.S. delegation to the WMO 11th Session of the WMO Commission for Atmospheric Sciences in 1994, and was a U.S. delegate to the WMO delegate to the WMO Congress XII in 1995.
In his capacity as executive director, McPherson will be the principal active officer of the nonprofit organization, composed of meteorologists, oceanographers, atmospheric and related scientists, as well as technical experts from around the world. AMS has its headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts and an office in Washington, D.C.
A native of Orange, Texas, where he was born on 4 July 1938, McPherson earned his B.S. degree in meteorology in 1961, his M.S. degree in environmental engineering in 1964, and his Ph.D. degree in atmospheric sciences in 1968, all from the University of Texas at Austin.
He has been associated with NOAA's NWS since 1960 when he joined the federal agency as a staff meteorologist. He was an aviation forecaster in San Antonio in 1967–68; a research meteorologist in the Development Division of the National Meteorological Center (NMC), 1968–86; NMC liaison to Forecast Systems Laboratory, 1986–87; chief, Meteorological Operations Division, NMC, 1987–88; deputy director, NWS, 1988–1990, and the director of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction from 1990 until 3 July, when he retired.
McPherson has participated in a number of scientific panels, including Cooperative Institute for Climate Studies (1990–present); Cooperative Institute for Tropical Meteorology (1992–present); review of Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (1993); Center for Analysis and Prediction of Storms (1994); Cooperative Institute Mesoscale Meteorology Studies review (1995), and cochair, Data Assimilation Working Group (1985).
Recently, McPherson provided testimonials to the senate regarding budget cuts to the National Weather Service. He was written scientific articles that have been published in the Journal of Applied Meteorology, Monthly Weather Review, and Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. He also has written a number of articles on numerical weather prediction.
In his most recent position as director of NWS's Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP), McPherson directed the activities of 370 civil service employees plus 75 visiting scientists and contractors distributed over nine centers in five locations. The center provides centralized guidance, forecasts and warnings for a wide range of users, including NWS local offices and River Forecast Centers; aviation and marine interests; the emergency management community; weather-vulnerable economic sectors, as well as the private meteorological community and media.
As NCEP director, he managed a major reduction in personnel from 434 full-time equivalents (FTEs) in May 1994 to 372 in 1997 with a concomitant reduction in financial resources.
He also led the North American Observing System Program, a multinational effort to redesign the observing system supporting weather forecasting over North America for greater efficiency and effectiveness.
During his government career, McPherson won numerous awards, including the Department of Commerce Silver Award (1980) and the Presidential Rank Award (1993).