Mal Branch and Tom Epley
Mal Branch, President/CEO of the Virginia Ship Repair Association since 2003, retired in May. Mr. Ron Ritter will be the interim President.
Mal transformed the organization from the South Tidewater Association of Ship Repairers to the Virginia Ship Repair Association, the most vibrant ship repair association in the nation. Under his leadership, membership grew from 175 to 233 member companies, and revenues increased over 400%. The Association’s cash flow and profitability are better than ever thanks to his fiscal acumen and strategic investments in valuable training programs. He also significantly expanded the Association’s outreach to area schools and maritime groups.
Since his arrival, he led the association through a comprehensive strategic planning effort. The result was adoption of the association's first Strategic Plan, a revitalization of the association's training and workforce development department, and ongoing efforts to form strong bonds with other ship repair and maritime groups throughout the country. He brought significant management and engineering skills developed through a distinguished career in the U.S. Navy where he held numerous aviation and surface commands. This culminated in command of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS George Washington.
He is an honors graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a BS in Engineering Mechanics, and he earned his MS in Aeronautical Engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California. He is a distinguished graduate of the Navy Nuclear Power Program. In 1999, he received the University of Wisconsin College of Engineering Distinguished Service Award.
We thank Mal for positioning the Association so well to take on future challenges. We wish him fair winds and following seas.
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