Mr. Bryan E. Baker currently serves as the Acting Civilian Deputy Commander of the South Pacific Division (SPD). As Civilian Deputy Commander, he shares responsibility for providing guidance and direction to four operating district commands located in Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Francisco, and Albuquerque, encompassing a professional workforce of nearly 2,800. In this role, he supports the Division Commander in driving strategic priorities, regional governance, and business process improvements to manage the nation’s water resources infrastructure, support military installations, and strengthen national security.
Prior to assuming this role, Mr. Baker was the Chief, Program Delivery and Analytics Division and dual-hatted as Chief of Staff for SPD, where he provided executive direction for regional strategies and facilitated key leader engagements. Previously, he served as the Acting Deputy Director at the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, providing strategic oversight of laboratory operations in New Hampshire and Alaska. During his tenure, he resolved budget and staffing shortfalls, modernized base operations, achieved sustained regulatory compliance, and secured OPM approval to expand the Boston locality pay area for federal employees.
Mr. Baker also served as the Lead of the Water Resource and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Group at the USACE Remote Sensing/GIS Center of Expertise. In this capacity, he managed a cross-functional team and led the development of the first USACE Civil Works Data Governance Strategy, an enterprise-wide plan that modernized data management for analytics and artificial intelligence. Additionally, he served on the HQUSACE Executive Advisory Committee for the Hydraulics, Hydrology, and Coastal Community of Practice, guiding policy and the development of enterprise budget tools.
Earlier in his career, he served as an Engineer and Program Manager with the Northwestern Division (NWD). There, he managed large-scale water operations across the Missouri River Basin and played a key role in developing the Missouri River Master Manual, balancing priorities such as navigation, hydropower, tribal rights, and environmental restoration. Prior to NWD, Mr. Baker was a hydraulic engineer with the Omaha District.
Mr. Baker holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from the University of Nebraska. He is also a graduate of Harvard Kennedy School of Government, completing both the Senior Executive Fellows Program and the Executive in Public Leadership Program. He is a Registered Professional Engineer in the State of Nebraska.