John Shea

Chief Executive, Facilities & Infrastructure

United States Merchant Marine Academy

Rear Admiral John T. Shea, USMS is the Director of Facilities and Infrastructure at the United States Merchant Marine Academy, one of the five US federal service academies. In this role, Admiral Shea is responsible for the day-to-day maintenance and operations of the 82 acre waterfront campus located in Kings Point, New York, as well as overseeing the $3 billion campus modernization capital plan.

Prior to this role, he was the CEO of the New York City Public Schools Division of School Facilities (NYCPS). NYCPS is the largest K-12 school district in the United States with 1 million students, and a portfolio of 1500 buildings totaling 135M square feet of managed space. John led an outstanding team of 250 professional staff in the areas of Facility Management, Engineering, Contracts, Project Management, Sustainability, Environmental Health and Safety, Finance, Emergency Preparedness, IT, and Maintenance Management, as well as 450 professional trades staff, 860 Custodian Engineers, 1100 Building Engineers, and 6500 Cleaners.

Before arriving at the NYC DOE, John spent twelve years as the Executive Director of Facilities for the Nassau County Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES), the largest regional school district in New York State. Prior to BOCES, he was a Technical Manager for the Aramark Corporation in their Educational Services division.

John started his career in the maritime industry as an engineer, supervising ship repair and construction both domestically and internationally. He also supported the sealift operations during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. He has a BS in Marine Engineering from USMMA, from where he proudly graduated in 1989.