Mr. Albert (Benjie) Spencer serves as the Chief Engineer and Director of Engineering Standards Division for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Weather Service within the Office of Planning and Programming for Service Delivery. Mr. Spencer is responsible for implementing policy, providing end-to-end system engineering oversight, assessing risks and ensuring consistent engineering processes and standards are applied throughout the organization.

Mr. Spencer has over 40 years of civil service with NOAA, with over 25 years of systems engineering and major acquisition experience, having served in various engineering positions for some of NOAA’s major acquisitions of the NEXRAD (Next Generation Weather RADAR), NOAA Aircraft Acquisition for a Gulfstream G4 business class aircraft modified for meteorological and atmospheric measurements, AWIPS (Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System) and NPOESS (National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System), which are critical to providing timely climate and weather information to the public. He also serves on two satellite Standing Review Boards as well as the Executive Advisory Board (EAB) for the Systems Engineering Research Center (SERC) and the External Advisory Board of the NOAA Cooperative Science Center for Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology (NCAS-M). Mr. Spencer was highlighted in the Spring 2015 issue of the magazine Minority Engineer, sharing his story in helping NWS build a Weather-Ready Nation and the challenges to get minorities interested in science and engineering careers at NOAA and is the recipient of the 2017 Black Engineer of the Year Award (BEYA) for Career Achievement in the Federal Government.

Mr. Spencer obtained his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Howard University in Washington, D.C., and received his Graduate Certificate in Systems Engineering and Architecting from Stevens Institute of Technology. He is the recipient of The U.S. Department of Commerce Gold and Silver Medals, the two highest honor awards that can be granted by the Secretary of Commerce, and two Bronze Medal awards, NOAA’s highest honor award. Mr. Spencer is a member of the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE), and the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE). He is also a member Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc, and for 15 years, has been singing with the Heritage Signature Chorale and the Washington Performing Arts, Men and Women of the Gospel. Mr. Spencer has been married for over 35 years to his wife Margo, and he is a native of Washington, D.C., raised in Portsmouth, Va.