Merchant Marine Academy Gets New Leader

A former U.S. Army colonel and National Security and Strategy department chairman at the Army War College has been tapped as superintendent of the .

James Helis, a 30-year Army veteran, was appointed to the post by U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. 

Helis, 55, whose first day on the job was Monday, will be commissioned a Rear Admiral at an , according to the Academy. He is the third person to take the top job in as many years.

“Colonel Helis is an ideal fit for the Academy,” LaHood said. “His extensive military and academic experience reflects the academy’s mission of both training and educating its students to support our country’s maritime needs, and I look forward to working with him to ensure a strong future for Kings Point.”

Helis served as an Army Ranger and master parachutist and was a veteran of the war in Afghanistan, where he served as Chief of Plans for the NATO International Security Assistance Force. His professional foreign travel includes Belgium, Canada, Estonia, France, Germany, Haiti, Japan, Korea, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Saudi Arabia and Sweden. He spent the last eight years at the War College in Pennsylvania.

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“I am deeply honored and very excited about the opportunity to serve at Kings Point,” Helis said. “I am eager to join the team of faculty, staff and most of all midshipmen, all of whom daily live by the values of honor, service and excellence.”

Helis and his wife, Jan, have two sons, Corbin, 22, a 2011 West Point graduate, and Ian, 18, who joins the Kings Point Class of 2016 this summer.

Helis is a West Point graduate, received his Doctorate of Philosophy in International Relations from Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and holds masters degrees from both the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College and the University of Pennsylvania.  

The soon-to-be Rear Admiral has a new challenge: Steer USMMA ahead.