Bill Proenza

History Bill Proenza was born in New York, and raised in Florida. He graduated from Florida State University. He joined the National Hurricane Center in 1963 and 1964, becoming a reconnaissance meteorologist from 1965 through 1967. After working at the National Weather Service field offices in Huntsville, Alabama (1968), Columbus, Georgia (1969), and Atlanta, Georgia (1970), he headed for work at NWS headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland and Central Region headquarters before working for Southern Region headquarters in the late 1980s as deputy director, a position he served through the 1990s, before becoming its director in 1999. He was let go in February 2013 for unauthorized transfer of $528,000 to maintenance of dozens of radar systems across the southern tier of the US and weather service staffing before expected budget cuts to the National Weather Service. He was fired four days after being interviewed for an article in The Washington Post about the cuts, which he claimed could limit radar use during critical weather events.

In May 2007, he publicly accused NOAA of wasting money, specifically citing NOAA's plans to spend $4 million to publicize a 200th anniversary celebration while the agency has cut $700,000 from hurricane research. In its defense "NOAA spokesman Anson Franklin said the agency is actually only spending about $1.5 million on the campaign over two years. He said it is justified to publicize the agency's mission to a public that is often unaware of its involvement in weather prediction and forecasting."

Proenza had been particularly outspoken in his desire to see a replacement for the aging QuikSCAT satellite, which measures surface winds over remote ocean areas, citing a study that says "the center's ability to track storms could dip as much as 16 percent when the satellite dies."

Three senior researchers, however, complained that Proenza overstated his case, unduly alarming the public and compromising the center's credibility. Jeff Masters, former NOAA meteorologist and operator of Weather Underground, said Proenza relied on an imperfect, unpublished study. Masters pointed to a different, more complete study, which stated that QuickSCAT's loss would have at most a "minor effect".

As early as June 2007, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) administrator Vice Admiral Conrad Lautenbacher initiated an investigation into Proenza's management of the National Hurricane Center, prompted by concerns from Mary Glackin, acting director of the National Weather Service. On June 26, Lautenbacher received permission from Secretary of Commerce Carlos M. Gutierrez to take action against Proenza should it be necessary.

Lautenbacher requested that the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) form an independent "management assessment team" which would travel to the National Hurricane Center and evaluate the management situation. This team was personally headed by NIST deputy director James Turner, who delivered the team's final report. The above-mentioned letter was signed by the employees while the assessment team was visiting the hurricane center. This fact caused Proenza to speculate that the letter signing may have been engineered by vengeful NOAA management. The NWS Employee's Organization recognized him as the NWS manager of the year for 1998. The NWS Employees' Organization also recognized Proenza nationally as the NWS Manager of 1998 for his collaborative leadership with their union. In 2001, the American Meteorological Society recognized him with its prestigious Francis W. Reichelderfer Award for outstanding environmental services to the nation.