SECTOR COMMANDER / AIR STATION COMMANDING OFFICER

Captain Hans Govertsen

Captain Hans Govertsen assumed command of Sector / Air Station Corpus Christi in June 2021. He oversees all Coast Guard operations along the South Texas coast from the Colorado River to the Rio Grande at the U.S./Mexico border and offshore waters. The unit has 919 dedicated Active Duty, Reserve, Civilian and Auxiliary personnel assigned to three coastal patrol boats, two marine safety detachments, one aids to navigation construction tender, three boat stations, a naval engineering maintenance facility, three aids to navigation teams, and the air station.

Previously, CAPT Govertsen served as the Eighth District Resources Branch Chief. The Eighth Coast Guard District, headquartered in New Orleans, LA covers all or part of 26 states throughout the Gulf Coast and heartland of America. Part of Department of Homeland Security, the men and women of the Eighth District are vital to protecting the 1,200 miles of coastline and 10,300 miles of inland navigable waterways located in their area of responsibility.

Captain Govertsen graduated from the Coast Guard Academy in 1997 with a degree in Civil Engineering. Following graduation, his first assignment was as an Engineering Officer In Training and Damage Control Assistant aboard USCGC RUSH, based in Honolulu, HI. He was selected for Naval Flight Training, and received his Wings of Gold from NAS Pensacola in 2001.

Captain Govertsen’s first aviation tour was at Group-Air Station Atlantic City, where he achieved the status as Aircraft Commander in the MH-65B and MH-65C. As one of the inaugural Rotary Wing Air Intercept (RWAI) pilots, he participated in the initial Coast Guard / Secret Service initiative to guard National Special Security Events (NSSE’s). In 2005, he was selected for the Aeronautical Engineering Officer program, and transferred to Air Station Borinquen, PR, where he completed the Aeronautical Engineering Officer syllabus while serving as the Assistant Aviation Engineering Officer. He supported D7 and JIATF South anti-migrant and counter-drug operations in the Caribbean Sea. Following the landfall of Tropical Storm Noel in the Dominican Republic, he guided a crew of six through flood recovery operations that resulted in 19 lives saved and assisting 7,100 people. In 2008, he transferred to Air Station New Orleans as the Aeronautical Engineering Officer. While there, he qualified as an Instructor Pilot/Flight Evaluator. He provided humanitarian response following Hurricanes Ike and Gustav, the Haitian earthquake of 2010 and the Coast Guard’s recovery efforts following the Deepwater Horizon Oil Rig explosion and subsequent oil spill.

In 2011, Captain Govertsen was selected to attend the Aeronautical Engineering Master’s Program at Purdue University with a focus in Aviation Structures. In 2013 he completed the Master’s Degree and was assigned as a member of the rotating military faculty in the Mechanical Engineering Section at the Coast Guard Academy. From 2013-2016, he taught cadets in Engineering, Math, Leadership and Principles of Aviation and established the first competitive Flight Team at the CGA.

In 2016, Captain Govertsen was assigned as Executive Officer at Air Station/Sector Field Office Port Angeles, WA, supporting the logistics functions of USCGC ACTIVE, three boat stations and five patrol boats while executing the primary missions of the unit. During his tenure, the unit stood up the first-ever aviation ship-rider program with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to enforce international laws and treaties across the maritime boundary line with Canada.

Captain Govertsen has been married to his wife, Michelle since 1999 and has been blessed with two wonderful children, Sonja and Kainoa. His military decorations include two Meritorious Service Medals, Air Medal, three Commendation Medals and two Achievement Medals.

DEPUTY SECTOR COMMANDER

Captain Jason Gunning

CDR Jason Gunning is currently assigned as the Deputy Sector Commander of Coast Guard Sector / Air Station Corpus Christi serving as the Alternate Captain of the Port, Officer-in-Charge of Marine Inspection, Federal Maritime Security Coordinator, and Federal On-Scene Coordinator for South Texas.

CDR Gunning’s career background is in marine safety, coastal security and emergency response. Most recently, he completed a staff assignment at Coast Guard Headquarters for the Assistant Commandant for Prevention Policy. His prior field assignments include Sector Long Island Sound as the Prevention Department Head, Marine Safety Unit Lake Charles, LA as Executive Officer, and marine inspections tours at Activities Europe in the Netherlands and Marine Safety Office Houston. His first tours after graduating Office Candidate School in 1998 were the Coast Guard Cutters out of Galveston, TX on the PAPAW, working aids to navigation along the Texas Gulf Coast, and DAUNTLESS, conducting law enforcement patrols in the Caribbean.

CDR Gunning’s personal awards include three Coast Guard Meritorious Service Medals, the Coast Guard Commendation Medal, three Coast Guard Achievement Medals, the Commandant’s Letter of Commendation ribbon and several unit and team awards. 

CDR Gunning grew up in Corpus Christi, TX and graduated from the University of Texas with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering before joining the Coast Guard in 1997. He also earned a master’s degree in public policy in 2012 from Texas A&M’s Bush School of Government. CDR Gunning is married to the former Angela Segura from Houston, TX and has three children.

 EXECUTIVE OFFICER

Commander Aaron J. Mader

A native of Wyoming, CDR Mader graduated from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree.  Upon commissioning, he served on the cutter DECISIVE home-ported in Pascagoula, Mississippi primarily conducting counter-drug operations in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean.  

After selection to U.S. Naval flight training and designation as a Coast Guard HH-65 Dolphin helicopter, pilot his first duty station was serving at Coast Guard Air Station Los Angeles, California. Upon completion of training at the U.S. Naval Post-Graduate School and the Southern California Safety Institute, he later served as the Flight Safety Officer for Air Station Houston and became certified as an Aircraft Accident Investigator and later selected as the Assistant Operations Officer for the Air Station. While in Houston, CDR Mader earned his Master’s Degree in Systems Management. Then, in 2013, he was assigned to Coast Guard Air Station Borinquen, Puerto Rico, once again conducting search and rescue and alien migration interdiction operations in the MH-65. 

In 2015 CDR Mader moved to Nassau Bahamas to serve at the U.S. Embassy as the Coast Guard Liaison Officer and Department of Homeland Security Attaché to The Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Islands. In this capacity he worked directly with the police and defense forces to improve security cooperation, maritime domain awareness, narcotics/weapons interdiction, and alien interdiction efforts. In 2017 CDR Mader then relocated to Coast Guard Air Station New Orleans to stand up a new position as the Command Safety Officer for the Air Station.

CDR Mader is a career pilot with over 3,800 hours of flight time with an Airline Transport Pilot rating from the FAA. CDR Mader’s personal awards include a Meritorious Service Medal, five Coast Guard Commendation Medals, Armed Forces Services Medal, two Coast Guard Achievement Medals, and multiple team and unit awards.

SECTOR COMMAND MASTER CHIEF

AETCM James A. Murray

Master Chief Murray enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves in May 1997 and lateralled to the U.S. Coast Guard in February 1999.  His first tour of duty was assigned as a Fireman at CG Station San Francisco, CA. He attended Avionics Technician (AVT) “A” school in March 2000. His assignments include duty as an HH-60J Flight Mechanic at CG Air Station Astoria, and then a student at the Advanced Avionics and Integrated Weapons Systems Maintenance Course-C1 (AAIWSM) at NATTC Pensacola, Fl.  A C-37A and C-143A Avionicsman at CG Air Station Washington D.C.  A Radioman on the HC-130H in Kodiak, AK followed by a short 10-month tour in Savannah, GA. as the Avionics shop Chief.  Additionally, he served as the LCPO for Air Station Houston, TX. In his last assignment, he served as the Unit Command Master Chief for Air Station/Sector Field Office Port Angeles, WA from 2017-2020.

Master Chief Murray is a native of Cabot, AR.  He is completing a degree in Electronics Engineering.  In 2008, he was selected as the Nation Capital Region’s Enlisted Person of the Year and was also a nominee for the Douglas Munro Inspirational Leadership Award. He graduated from the CPO Academy class 186 in May 2012 and the Senior Enlisted Leadership Course in March 2017.  Master Chief Murrays personal awards include: two Coast Guard Commendation Medals with the “O” device, two Coast Guard Achievement Medals, three Commandant Letter of Commendation awards, seven Good Conduct Medals, Command Master Chief Silver Badge Insignia, and the Aircrewman Insignia.