KODIAK, Alaska – Lt. Cmdr. Michele Schallip will relieve Lt. Cmdr. Keith Ropella as commanding officer of the SPAR in a formal ceremony Friday at 11 a.m. on the cutter at Coast Guard Base Kodiak.
Ropella has commanded the SPAR, the Aleutian Keeper, in Kodiak since July 2008. Ropella’s next assignment will be at the Ninth Coast Guard District Waterways Management Branch in Cleveland.
Schallip is arriving from Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington D.C. where she was chief of the executive staff for the Assistant Commandant for Marine Safety, Security, and Stewardship. Her prior assignments include deck watch officer of the cutter Boutwell in Alameda, Calif., plank-owning commanding officer of cutter Cobia in Mobile, Ala., and executive officer of cutter Maple in Sitka. Her staff tours include senior controller at the Seventeenth Coast Guard District Command Center in Juneau and operations officer of Vessel Traffic Service San Francisco.
