# Kevin Decker

> Kevin Decker is the CEO of Ocean Aero, the Gulfport, Mississippi company that builds the TRITON - the world's only autonomous vehicle that both sails the surface on wind and solar power and dives beneath it. A 16-year GE veteran brought in at the end of 2020 to turn a Navy-veteran R&D shop into a commercial defense manufacturer, Decker moved the whole operation from San Diego to the Gulf Coast and opened a 63,000-square-foot factory. He is now steering Ocean Aero from handcrafted prototypes toward AI-driven fleets deployed by the U.S. Department of Defense, Homeland Security, NOAA, and offshore energy firms.

- **Role:** Chief Executive Officer at Ocean Aero Inc
- **Organizations:** Ocean Aero Inc, General Electric (former)
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** BSBA, Business Administration, Boston University
- **Known for:** Transformed Ocean Aero from a Navy-veteran R&D shop into a commercially active defense and maritime technology manufacturer, Relocated the company headquarters and manufacturing from San Diego to Gulfport, Mississippi and opened a 63,000-square-foot factory, Scaled the new facility from zero to production in 4-5 months and grew the team toward ~72 employees

## Career timeline

- **before 2020** — Spent 16 years at GE in global market development and commercial leadership roles across the global technology space
- **before 2020** — Held commercial leadership roles at a Fortune 50 company, a mid-sized industrial business, and a small biotech start-up
- **2020** — Brought in as CEO of Ocean Aero as the founders moved to take the company commercial
- **2022** — Led Ocean Aero's relocation from San Diego to Gulfport, Mississippi, partnering with the University of Southern Mississippi and the Port of Gulfport
- **2023** — Opened a 63,000-square-foot manufacturing facility on the Gulf Coast; signed an agreement with HII to link unmanned vessels
- **2024** — Forged a strategic partnership with INTRA Defense Technologies and MEMR to advance maritime technology in Saudi Arabia
- **2025** — Outlined the next phase of TRITON: Generation 4 hardware, expanded payloads, and AI-driven swarm autonomy; Ocean Aero began continuous monitoring of the Port of Gulfport for seabed change detection

## Achievements

- Transformed Ocean Aero from a Navy-veteran R&D shop into a commercially active defense and maritime technology manufacturer
- Relocated the company headquarters and manufacturing from San Diego to Gulfport, Mississippi and opened a 63,000-square-foot factory
- Scaled the new facility from zero to production in 4-5 months and grew the team toward ~72 employees
- Secured investment from Teledyne and later Lockheed Martin, the world's largest defense prime contractor
- Put TRITON AUSVs into the hands of the U.S. Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, and NOAA
- Designed a production path capable of up to 360 units annually on three shifts

## Latest updates

- **2025-05** — Decker laid out TRITON's three-phase roadmap: a Generation 4 vehicle with improved power and manufacturability, expanded mission payloads, and AI-driven autonomy for swarm coordination and seabed analysis.
- **2025** — Ocean Aero partnered with the University of Southern Mississippi to continuously monitor the Port of Gulfport for subsea infrastructure and seabed change detection.

## Links

- Website: https://oceanaero.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinbentondecker/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/kevin-decker
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-11