Mike Brennan begins new job as Director of the National Hurricane Center
MIAMI - With the 2023 Atlantic Hurricane Season right around the corner, NOAA has a new director at the National Hurricane Center.
Mike Brennan began his first day on the job as director on Monday, April 10th.
"Mike possesses the right combination of experience, leadership, and personal traits to prepare and guide us through major storms," said Rick Spinrad, Ph.D., NOAA administrator.
Brennan began his NHC career in 2008 as a senior hurricane specialist. He has spent nearly all of his 15-year NOAA career at NHC, and for the past year has served as the acting NHC deputy director. Since 2018, Brennan has been the branch chief of the Hurricane Specialist Unit.
"During this period, he supervised one of NOAA's highest profile operational forecast units through 18 U.S. landfalling hurricanes – including eight major hurricanes – and more than 20 U.S. tropical storm landfalls," according to a statement from the National Hurricane Center.
Brennan fills the role left vacant by the departure of Ken Graham, who became the director of the National Weather Service in June 2022. Jamie Rhome has served as the acting director of the National Hurricane Center since that time and resumes his duties as the center's deputy director.
"I had the pleasure of working with Mike for four years at NHC, where I observed his steadfast dedication to the mission of saving lives and property," said Graham. "Mike is an innovator who has built incredible relationships across the agency and with our emergency management and media partners, and I look forward to the great things ahead at NHC under his leadership."
Brennan earned a Bachelor's in Meteorology, and a Masters and Ph.D. in Atmospheric Science, all from North Carolina State University.
The National Hurricane Center is co-located with the National Weather Service Miami-South Florida forecast office on the campus of Florida International University.