Rear Adm. John "Jay" Vann
Commander, Fifth Coast Guard District
Rear Adm. John “Jay” Vann assumed duties as commander, Fifth Coast Guard District, located in Portsmouth, Virginia in June 2024. In this position, Vann serves as the operational commander of all Coast Guard missions from the North Carolina–South Carolina border to New Jersey, leading nearly 3,000 Coast Guard active duty, reserve, and civilian personnel. This area spans 1.4 million square miles of ocean, bays, and rivers, several mid-Atlantic ports, the largest U.S. Naval Base in the world, and our National Capitol Region.
Prior to his current assignment, Vann served as commander of Coast Guard Cyber Command. He was responsible for conducting full-spectrum cyberspace operations in support of Coast Guard, Department of Homeland Security, and Department of Defense mission objectives.
Vann was deputy commander of the Coast Guard Personnel Service Center, where he oversaw execution of all Coast Guard human resource policies managing nearly 45,000 members of the active duty and reserve workforces. In June 2021, he completed a Fellowship at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Vann previously served as Assistant Superintendent of the Coast Guard Academy, and commanding officer of the Coast Guard’s largest training center in Yorktown, VA A career operations afloat officer, he commanded Coast Guard Cutters Harriet Lane and Assateague, and served aboard cutters Active, Gallatin, and Forward.
His assignments ashore have included duty as both Future Operations and Cutter Forces Chief at Coast Guard Atlantic Area, as Support and Special Staff Assignments Officer in the Officer Assignments Branch of the Coast Guard Personnel Service Center, and as the Coast Guard’s first e-Learning Program Manager on the Commandant’s Training, Workforce Performance and Development staff.
Vann is a 1992 graduate of the Coast Guard Academy, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering. He holds master’s degrees in Instructional Systems from Florida State University and Strategic Studies from the U.S. Air Force War College. Vann is a 2019 graduate of the Harvard University Graduate School of Education’s Institute for Educational Management, and a 2023 graduate of the Stanford University Graduate School of Business Executive Leadership Program.
His military decorations include three Coast Guard Legions of Merit, four Meritorious Service Medals, five Commendation Medals, and the permanent Cutterman’s Pin. He was awarded the 2015 Secretary of Homeland Security’s Gold Medal for Exceptional and Distinguished Service and was designated an Honorary Chief Petty Officer in 2018. Vann and his wife Dr. Darlene Vann are the proud parents of daughters Lt. Hailey Murray, Medical Corps, U.S. Navy, and Coast Guard spouse Madison Jezuit.
(Current as of Feb. 2025)