NAVAL AIR WARFARE CENTER WEAPONS DIVISION, CHINA LAKE, California - Dan Carreño has always looked forward to doing his “small part” at Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division in support of the warfighter. His role just got bigger as he was selected for Senior Executive Service and will serve as the director of the Weapons and Energetics Department (AIR-4.7).

 “When I received the phone call, it was a pinch myself moment,” Carreño said as he recalled all the times he’d spent on the other side the desk he now calls his own. “Thinking of all those years, my mentors and growing up in the organization, I realize how blessed I am to have this opportunity. I’m very excited and very humbled.”

 A native of Florida and a graduate of the University of Tennessee with a degree in aerospace engineering, Carreño began his career at NAWCWD in 1990 working in propulsion and missile performance simulations. He was selected to work off-site in support of the Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile Program Office and, upon his return to China Lake, served as the branch head for the Propulsion Performance Office and the development Integrated Product Team lead for the AMRAAM Technical Project Office. He then worked in support of the Joint Standoff Weapon before becoming a science advisor for the Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center supporting the Strike and TOPGUN departments at Fallon, Nevada.

 For many years, Carreño worked as the TPO lead for the Standoff Land Attack Missile-Expanded Response and Harpoon until he transferred to the Range as the Range Safety Officer. He returned to Michelson Laboratory to work on the Tomahawk synthetic guidance demonstration before his most recent role as the associate director for Weapons in AIR-4.7.

 “I’ve been in [the 4.7] department the vast majority of my career both on the weapons side and on the program side,” he said. “I think the best experiences I’ve had that make me most effective in this new position, however, are those close relationships that I’ve had with the fleet over the years. I feel that has prepared me to much better understand what the fleet needs and identify more urgent priorities versus some things that may have more time to develop.”

 In recalling mentors who helped him develop in his career, he acknowledged former Executive Director Scott O’Neil as one of the people who helped lay a foundation for him. Carreño said he believes current leadership within the Navy and the Department of Defense as a whole is in great alignment to recognize the potential and capability within warfare centers like NAWCWD and their contribution to rapid response.

 “There are great leaders here and it’s just a matter of figuring out how we can most effectively team together and make things happen,” Carreño said in hopes of doing more in-house prototyping and development. “A lot of times, we collectively minimize what we can do. Instead, let’s go out there, push what we can push and be passionate about it. Our fleet needs us.”

In addition to product development, Carreño aims to help the people he works with develop as individuals. As he heads the largest department at WD in terms of people, he expects to find a balance of both hands-on and administrative work with a heavy emphasis on sharing his passion and giving others a true sense of why we’re here.

“I plan to work with my leadership team and make sure that we have a consistent vision and momentum that’s shared with everyone in our department,” Carreño said. “The development of people is important to me. I feel that if I don’t find a way to replace me and our leaders, then I haven’t done my job. It’s up to me to provide the same environment that I had so all of our people can say, ‘what a career I’ve had,’ and continue to positively impact our men and women in uniform.”