Eric Webster is Vice President and Director of Environmental Systems ITT Geospatial Systems in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. Mr. Webster directly oversees ITT's weather and climate satellite instrument business unit, which includes instruments for NOAA/NASA geostationary and polar orbiting programs, NASA Earth Science, and international customers, worth more than $1 billion in contract value. He is also leading the development of a broader ITT business into environmental data products and services. Mr. Webster began with ITT in 2008, working in government relations and business development. Mr. Webster has more than 18 years of budget, policy, legislative, and executive experience. He served as director, Office of Legislative Affairs for NOAA following his appointment by President Bush in September 2005. At NOAA, Mr. Webster served as the agency's chief political strategist and negotiator with Congress, the White House, and other departments on all legislative matters. He also served as a senior policy advisor to the Administrator on satellite programs. Before serving in the administration, Mr. Webster worked 12 years for Congress, including serving as the subcommittee staff director for the House Science Subcommittee on Environment, Technology, and Standards. The subcommittee had jurisdiction over matters of environmental policy and research, as well as competitiveness, technology, and innovation, including oversight of NOAA, NIST, and the science and technology programs of the EPA and DOT. He also led the committee's investigations into NOAA's weather satelitte programs. He began his career on Capitol Hill as a legislative assistant in the office of Congressman Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY), from 1993-1997, specializing in defense, transportation, and agricultural issues. From 1997 to 2011, Mr. Webster was the legislative director for Congressman Wayne Gilchrest (R-NY), with a focus on transportation and environmental policy. Mr. Webster is a graduate of the Senior Managements in Government Executive Program at the John F. Kenney School of Government at Harvard University. He has an MA degree in European Studies from Washington University in St. Louis, and BA degree in European History from Hobart and William Smith colleges in Geneva, New York.