Grays Harbor County has named Thomas O’Connor as the county’s first-ever Chief Operations Officer (COO) at an initial annual salary of $137,328.

O’Connor’s official start date is Aug. 18 and he will work out of offices on the upper floor of the historic Byles House located across the street from the county administration building in Montesano.

As COO, O’Connor will be responsible for streamlining and strengthening the county’s internal processes and systems starting with finance and moving on to human resources, procurement, grants, and project management. O’Connor will focus on enhancing efficiency and aligning operational tools and processes to better serve the residents of the county.

O’Connor is a former United States Navy nuclear-qualified submariner and later worked his way through college by alternating school and work in the commercial nuclear industry, leading to his first engineering position at the Trojan Nuclear Power Plant upon graduation. He spent 15 years as an engineer and program manager at Hewlett-Packard, followed by seven years at Caesars Entertainment managing finance projects.

O’Connor also worked as the director of program development for the Grand Canyon Unified School District in Grand Canyon, Arizona, senior project manager for Wind Mountain Consulting Group, LLC, and as senior program manager for Northwest Evaluation Association. O’Connor also spent time with the Girl Scouts of America and led groups of 10-year-old girls through summer camp adventures. He’s the father of two adult daughters.

Most recently, O’Connor led a handful of off-site strategic planning workshops for the Grays Harbor County Board of County Commissioners consisting of Georgia Miller, Rick Hole and Vickie Raines, Clerk of the Board Wendy Chatham and County Administrator Sam Kim. These retreats led directly to the crafting of mission and vision statements and a set of core values.

O’Connor graduated from Oregon State University with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and earned a Master of Arts in Whole Systems Design from Antioch University in Seattle.

His professional certifications include Lean Product Development (University of Michigan), Lean Six Sigma Black Belt (American Society for Quality), and both PMP and ACP credentials from the Project Management Institute.