Fort Schuyler Magazine

encouraging young folks to find their own talents and leadership capacities. He considers this part of his national service, too. “It’s on us, as senior leaders, to get out in the community and educate America why we have a navy and a merchant marine, what we’re doing on their behalf away from the shores of the continental U.S., where our enemies wish to upend the liberal world order and replace it with their own authoritarian rule.” Through visits to school-age children on up to heads of commerce in local Rotary Clubs, he links the Navy’s activities to Americans’ personal freedom, security and prosperity. Okon feels a particular sense of duty to his home community in upstate New York. “Like The Dome, this is a community that instilled in me values of integrity, selfless service, hard work – the talent equalizer – and they poured into me leadership and guidance and competence as a young man. It’s really important for me to make sure I don’t forget where I come from, both from West Genesee High as well as Maritime College.”

John and wife Valerie Okon ’92 met at Maritime College and have been married over 25 years.

Security and Strategic Studies at the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island in 2007.

Okon cites his crowning achievement at Naval Postgraduate School as the presentation of his thesis on the north wall effect to the American Meteorological Society in 2003. He discussed the interactions of cold polar air in the northern Atlantic with the northern edge of the warm waters of the Gulf Stream which rapidly generates treacherous rogue waves. The north wall effect endangers Mariners and naval operations within the Cherry Point and Virginia Capes Operating Areas along the U.S. East Coast. Following SUNY Maritime and Naval Postgraduate School, Naval War College proved a dramatic contrast for Okon. “It was probably the most broadening experience that I’ve had because it got out of heavy STEM and got into softer, theoretical social studies,” he says. “It stretched my brain when it came to things like joint military operations, how the branches of our government work together to deliver national security through the legislative and executive branches, and the Department of Defense. It’s fair to say that Okon’s career has found him as much as he’s found it. And this upstate New York native enthusiastically gives back to his communities and pays it forward in his outreach on behalf of the U.S. Navy and

CAPT Sean Memmen ‘92, left, at his 2018 retirement ceremony at Washington Navy Yard, accompanied by his friend RADM Okon.

While he credits his academic institutions with stellar leadership training, John doesn’t hesitate to proclaim, by example, that true leadership is born from within. “As a kid, I didn’t study in high school. I did just enough to get by,” he admits. “It wasn’t until I took ownership of my own development that I started to apply myself. I started to focus on living a life that matters. Maritime was a big part of my

24 Fall 2022 Fort Schuyler