SEAN WALSH/CCB MEDIA PHOTO
BUZZARDS BAY – The last of five finalists for the Massachusetts Maritime Academy President position is interviewing today.
Captain Francis McDonald, who is the last finalist to interview, is the current executive vice president at the academy and a former graduate.
The board will recommend a candidate following a meeting on Thursday and submit the decision in writing to the commissioner of the Board of Education.
A final interview is set for June 9 in Boston with the Board of Higher Education, the candidate, the Chair of the Board of Trustees and the Search Committee Chair.
Among the other finalists is Coast Guard Captain Melissa Bert of Miami, Florida, who is the chief of staff of the Seventh Coast Guard District, an attorney and an educator.
Retired Coast Guard Captain Kurt J. Colella of Gales Ferry, Connecticut, is an academic dean at the US Coast Guard Academy is also a finalist.
The fourth finalist is Retired Navy Vice Admiral Ann Rondeau of Vienna, Virginia, who is former president of the National Defense University.
The fifth finalist is Retired Navy Rear Admiral Michael P. Nowakowski of Chesapeake, Virginia, who works part-time at Huntington Ingalls Industries, where he is an advisor to senior naval officers at Surface Warfare Officers School and at the Naval War College in the Department of Operational and Strategic Leadership.
