Rear Admiral Rick Burgess, a native of Bellevue, Washington, graduated from the United States Naval Academy and commissioned in 1996.  He is the son of an Army Field Artillery Officer and grandson of a World War II Surface Warfare Officer.  As an aviator, he was a TOPGUN Instructor and Forward Air Controller (Airborne), flying more than 4,000 hours in the F-14, F-15, F-16, and F/A-18.  As a ship’s Captain, he commanded two first-in-class big decks, sailing more than 200,000 nautical miles during three combat deployments.  He holds a Master of Arts degree in National Security and Strategic Studies from Naval War College and a graduate certificate in Nuclear Engineering from Naval Postgraduate School.  

Operational command tours include Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 103, the Jolly Rogers; our nation’s first Expeditionary Sea Base, USS Lewis B. Puller (ESB 3), forward deployed to Bahrain; and USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), where his crew earned consecutive Atlantic Fleet Battle “E” and CNO Afloat Safety “S” awards, the RADM James “Jig Dog” Ramage award with CVW-8, and the 2023 Battenberg Cup.  Other operational assignments at sea include tours with Fighter Squadron (VF) 31, USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72); VFA-102, USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63); an earlier tour with VFA-103, USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) and USS George Washington (CVN 73); and he served as Executive Officer aboard USS George H. W. Bush (CVN 77).
    
Shore assignments include Action Officer in the House Liaison Office, Office of Legislative Affairs (OLA); TOPGUN Instructor with Navy Fighter Weapons School; Strike Fighter Placement Officer (PERS-433B) with Navy Personnel Command (NPC); Branch Chief, Global Missile Defense Requirements at Joint Integrated Air and Missile Defense Organization (JIAMDO), the Joint Staff (J8); and Homeland Defense Technologies Project Lead with The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL). 

His personal decorations include the Legion of Merit, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, and various individual and unit campaign awards.

Rear Admiral Burgess assumed command of Naval Aviation Warfighting Development Center (NAWDC) in June 2025.
 

Last Updated: 18 June 2025