Rear Admiral Richard A. Appelbaum - United States Coast Guard (Retired)
Rear Admiral Dick Appelbaum completed thirty-five years of active
service in the United States Coast Guard. During his career, he experienced a
broad variety of shipboard and shore-based operational and administrative
assignments, including commands at sea and several positions within the field
of law. He served on the East, West, and Gulf Coasts, The Great Lakes,
As a flag officer, Admiral Appelbaum commanded the Ninth (Great Lakes) and Eleventh (Pacific Southwest) Coast Guard Districts and the National Pollution Funds Center.
As Commander of the Ninth Coast Guard District, Admiral Appelbaum managed all Coast Guard missions on or near The Great Lakes. His command included 120 operational units in the eight states surrounding the five lakes. He conducted extensive international activities with Canadian authorities.
As Commander of the Eleventh Coast Guard District, Admiral Appelbaum had responsibility for all Coast Guard missions in the Southwest (California, Arizona, Nevada and Utah) and vast ocean areas to the west and south. He coordinated several activities with officials of Mexico.
Admiral Appelbaum created the National Pollution Funds Center. As Commander, he was responsible for designing the governing organization and managing the billion-dollar Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, which was established by the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, following the Exxon Valdez incident. Admiral Appelbaum promulgated the regulations to initiate the Center’s handling of liability and compensation issues involved in marine pollution. He implemented a unique case management process to provide optimal customer service in this new, challenging field.
Admiral Appelbaum also served in Coast Guard Headquarters as the Chief of Operations. As such, he directed every major operational program of the Coast Guard. He was the capital resources director for all Coast Guard ships, boats, and aircraft (fixed and rotary wing), as well as several types of shore units and training facilities. Admiral Appelbaum had responsibility for over $2 billion in annual operating funds plus a capital plant valued at over $18 billion.
As a flag officer committed to the principles of quality management, Admiral Appelbaum instituted and led numerous projects to develop service-wide organizational redesign and process improvement. Examples include institutionalization of doctrine to capture benefits of experience and experimentation; restructuring of the service’s defense operations niche; incorporation of mission analysis for capital resource design; and development of an Incident Command System for a broad spectrum of interservice, interagency, and industry partnering activities and operations.
Since retirement, Admiral Appelbaum concurrently: (1) has been of counsel to a West Coast maritime and securities law firm; (2) has been the Vice President for Maritime Programs for a domestic and international defense and security contractor; (3) has been an Associate at two firms providing general consultative services to a broad spectrum of clients; (4) has provided business development services for several start-up companies; and (5) has consulted privately for individuals and corporations.
Admiral Appelbaum participated – and continues to participate – on several advisory and charitable boards.
Admiral Appelbaum holds a Bachelor of Science degree (Engineering), with honors, from the U. S. Coast Guard Academy and a Juris Doctor degree, with honors, from George Washington University (National Law Center).
