Wesley E. Coleman, Jr. was appointed to the Senior Executive Service (SES) in July 2023 and currently serves is the Director of Programs for the Southwestern Division, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
He is responsible for the development and execution of Civil Works, Military Missions and Interagency Support within the Division. He provides leadership and supervision for the SWD Programs Directorate and has staff oversight for programs, planning, and project management activities in the division’s four district offices.
Coleman came to the Southwestern Division from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers headquarters’ office, where he was Chief, Office of Water Project Review. In this position, he led a multi-disciplinary team who perform policy compliance reviews of complex water resource projects. His recommendations led to the authorization of approximately $100 billion for about 150 projects to reduce risk from flooding and coastal storms, improve the Nation’s waterborne transportation systems, and restore nationally significant ecosystems.
Coleman has held multiple senior-level positions within the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers developing and managing Civil Works and water resource programs and policies to include: Interim Chief, Programs Integration Division; the Interim Regional Programs Director, North Atlantic Division; the Interim Director of the Institute for Water Resources and Interim Director of the International Center for Integrated Water Resources Management; the Deputy Chief, North Atlantic Division Regional Integration Team (RIT), and the RIT Senior Planner, Mississippi Valley Division. He also served as the Senior Policy Expert for the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works).
He began his career with the Baltimore District in 1985 and held a variety of positions in the district’s Planning Division, rising to the Chief of the Civil Project Development Branch.
Coleman has a Bachelor of Science Degree in oceanography from the Florida Institute of Technology.