Jeff Wheeler is the deputy chief of the U.S. Coast Guard’s Office of Boat Forces, located at U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington, DC. The Office of Boat Forces enables mission performance in support of the strategic goals of the Coast Guard, providing human capital and capabilities necessary to effectively operate boats to meet Coast Guard mission requirements.

Wheeler came to the Office of Boat Forces in 2000 while still on active duty, assuming the role of manager, boat crew training and doctrine. In this capacity, he was responsible for the management, oversight and development of the service-wide boat crew training program and boat readiness and standardization program. Wheeler retired from active duty in 2003 and continued to serve the Office of Boat Forces in a civilian capacity. In 2008, he assumed the deputy chief position in which he is responsible for assisting the office chief in the direct supervision, management and strategic development of the Boat Forces program. 
Prior to his assignments within the Office of Boat Forces, Wheeler served at multiple operational field commands throughout the country performing law enforcement, search and rescue, and aids to navigation missions. Wheeler has held numerous operational and boat competencies within the Coast Guard, including Surfman, which have provided him a profound knowledge of boat operations and mission requirements. He attended the Federal Executive Institute, Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2009.

Wheeler was the recipient of a 2010 Nextgov Award. This is an inaugural program to recognize federal managers who overcame bureaucratic inertia and political resistance to establish innovative processes that improved government operations and citizens’ lives.  

Wheeler won the award for his work with NASBLA in the creation of NASBLA’s Boat Operations and Training (BOAT) Program. Through this initiative, he established a single standard of training and credentialing of state, county, local and tribal organizations in support of interoperability and force multiplication. 

Pam is a Certified Association Executive currently serving as Paddlesports Trade Coalition staff under a service agreement with NASBLA. Pamela Dillon previously staffed the National Boating Education Standards Panel and the Education Committee. She co-authored the Third Edition of “The Guide for Multiple Use Waterway Management.” With her husband, Virgil Chambers, she is Program Co-Manager of the Inland Boat Operation and Marine Patrol Fundamentals Train-the-Trainer course and Methods of Instructor course under NASBLA’s Boat Operation and Training (BOAT) program.

Previously, Dillon served as boating law administrator for the state of Ohio, retiring in 2011 as chief of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Watercraft. Dillon served as executive director of the American Canoe Association from 2002-2007. In addition, Dillon served two terms as an appointed member of the National Boating Safety Advisory Council is a recipient of the U.S. Coast Guard’s Distinguished Public Service Award.