Vice Commander Bob Sweet, SN serves as the National Educational Officer for USPS. He is responsible for the operations of the Educational Department and with the Assistant National Educational Officer manages the ten committees that make up the department. Bob joined the national educational organization by serving on the Basic Public Education Committee and shortly thereafter was elected Assistant Chairman and Staff Commander, he then served three years as ANEO before being elected to NEO in February 2009.

While a member of the Basic Public Education Committee, Bob led the effort to create a public GPS Seminar. He subsequently coordinated the development of new Piloting and Advanced Piloting courses. As ANEO, he was responsible for the development of the USPS Seminar Series, restructuring of most USPS courses, and initiating Boat Operator Certification. He was also tasked with a variety of initiatives leading to cooperative programs with other organizations such as CPS and US Sailing, Boater’s World, West Marine, and PassageMaker TrawlerFest.

Bob over the past eight years has been an author. He currently has four books and six guides to his credit. He is the author of GPS for Mariners, The Weekend Navigator, Powerboat Handling Illustrated, Using GPS, Using VHF and SSB Radio, Onboard Weather Forecasting, Boat Handling Under Power, Using GPS with Charts, and Chart Symbols and On-the-Water Guide. He is also a co-author of The Instant Handbook of Boat Handling, Navigation, and Seamanship.

Bob’s professional background includes business consulting, restructuring companies and forming alliances and acquisitions. He began his career as system engineering manager designing radar and naval communications systems. From there, he transitioned into management. Bob was Director responsible for programs which included GPS, shipboard communications, a number of satellite ground systems. He then became President, CEO and board member of several high technology companies engaged in tracking systems, training equipment, avionics, shipboard systems, commercial manufacturing, and electro-optics equipment. Bob has BS and MS degrees in Electrical Engineering from Penn State and post graduate studies at MIT, Colorado and business training at Florida.