Johns Hopkins APL Names Watkins First Chief Mission Engineering and Integration Officer

The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, has appointed Christopher R. Watkins as its first chief mission engineering and integration officer.

In this new executive role, Watkins will lead efforts to strengthen internal collaboration, connect and integrate multidisciplinary expertise, and speed the Laboratory’s development and transition of innovations that address the nation’s most pressing national security challenges. He will also build deep connections within and across highly classified programs to align mission needs with emerging technologies, and champion investments and enhancements that accelerate capability development, prototyping, and fielding.

Watkins previously served as APL’s mission area executive for Sea Control, leading a broad portfolio of programs for the Navy and the Intelligence Community. In that role, he directed key investments in trusted autonomous systems, seabed and anti-submarine warfare capabilities, advanced undersea sensor design and deployment, and the application of artificial intelligence to modernize Navy supply chains. Watkins also played a pivotal role in the development and execution of a strategic wargame for senior government decision-makers that increased awareness of the seabed warfare domain and initiated important new technology programs.

“As the Laboratory further focuses on accelerating technology development and transition across many important operational domains, we see the need to focus executive-level leadership on integrating APL’s multidisciplinary competencies,” said APL Director Dave Van Wie. “Chris’s deep technical insight and proven leadership in rapid technology deployment will help the Laboratory identify and develop complementary cross-domain solutions, and then drive prototyping and fielding processes to deliver the critical capabilities our nation urgently needs.”

Watkins began his career as a Navy submarine officer and joined APL in 2003 as an operations analyst, later taking on roles as program manager, program area manager, deputy mission area executive, and, eventually, Sea Control Mission Area executive in 2015. He served as a National Reconnaissance Office technology fellow and on multiple external study boards and panels — including Naval Studies Board and Defense Science Board studies — examining topics such as Arctic operations and naval needs in the space domain. He co-chairs the annual Submarine Technology Symposium and serves on the advisory board of the National Defense Industrial Association’s Undersea Warfare Division.

Watkins holds a bachelor’s degree in aeronautical engineering from the United States Naval Academy, a master’s degree in engineering management from Old Dominion University, and master’s degrees in space systems engineering and business administration from the University of Maryland, College Park.