WALSINGHAM ACADEMY GRADUATE PROMOTED
TO COAST GUARD REAR ADMIRAL

WASHINGTON - Captain Joel R. Whitehead, a 1971 graduate of Walsingham Academy in Williamsburg, Va., and Newport News, Va., native has been promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral in the U.S. Coast Guard.

Commissioned an ensign in the Coast Guard in 1975 after graduating from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy with a bachelor’s degree in history and government, Whitehead also has a master’s degree in Public Administration from the State University of New York at Albany and was a National Security Fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass.

Whitehead is currently the Assistant Commandant for Governmental and Public Affairs, as well as the Chief of Congressional Affairs at Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington. Before his current position, Whitehead was Chief of Staff of the Eighth Coast Guard District headquartered in New Orleans, where he directed the service’s immediate response to the Sept. 11 attacks along the Gulf Coast and the nation’s inland river system. The Eighth District is the largest Coast Guard district, encompassing 26 states from the Gulf of Mexico to the Canadian border in North Dakota. From 1999 to 2001, Whitehead was Commanding Officer of the Coast Guard Marine Safety Office in Boston.

Admiral Whitehead is the son of the late retired Army Lt. Col. and Mrs. James R. Whitehead, and is the brother of Scott Whitehead of Williamsburg. He is married to the former Martha Millaras of Waterford, Conn. They have two daughters, Christine and Katherine who attend college in Washington.

The U.S. Coast Guard is a military, maritime, multi-mission service within the
Department of Homeland Security dedicated to protecting the safety and security of America.