IAN SEARS
Mission Control Branch Chief
National Data Buoy Center

Ian Sears has worked for NOAA since 2006. The foundation of his experience is in operations and data management, which began at the National Data Buoy Center as a Data Analyst. While there, he served as the data manager during the transition of the DART II buoy system from PMEL to NWS.

From 2009 to 2018, he worked for NOAA's Office of Marine and Aviation Operations (OMAO), where he flew aboard NOAA's Hurricane Hunter aircraft as the Flight Director (in-flight Meteorologist), supporting research and operational missions in hurricanes and tropical storms. He completed 140 hurricane eye wall penetrations and accumulated over 2,200 flight hours across diverse NOAA missions, including disaster response, climate studies, air chemistry experiments, Arctic flux research, NASA ICE BRIDGE, winter storm surveillance, and satellite verification surveys.

Ian also served in detail assignments at the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) as Acting Branch Chief for Satellite Operations and at the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Southeast Regional Office as a strategic plan execution analyst.

After more than a year supporting the Deputy Director of Weather Services as Executive Officer in the NWS Office of the Chief of Staff, Ian spent over three years as the NWS Tsunami Program Coordinator, where he led national tsunami services and interagency partnerships. He now serves as the Mission Services Branch Chief at the National Data Buoy Center, overseeing real-time data operations and IT modernization to ensure the continuity and integrity of marine and atmospheric observations.

Before joining NOAA, Ian taught middle and high school STEM for two years. He earned a B.S. in Meteorology from Florida State University in 2005.