Commander Matthew Kempe assumed his current role as the Product Line Manager of the Command, Control and Navigation Product Line in July 2021, after serving as the Base Honolulu C5I Department head since 2019. His work at Base Honolulu included serving as the joint chairman of the USCG and State of Hawai’i Ānuenue Interisland Digital Microwave Network Executive Council, along with the State CIO. He oversaw the management and modernization of an essential public safety network across the State of Hawai’i.

Commander Kempe is a 2005 graduate of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering. Upon graduating, he reported as part of the Pre-commissioning and Plankowner crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw (WLBB 30). After assisting with breathing life into the new cutter, he attended the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2007. He graduated in 2009 with both a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering and a Master of Business Administration, and transferred to the Coast Guard Academy where he served as part of the rotating military faculty in the Electrical Engineering Section.

In 2013 he assumed duties as Executive Officer of USCGC Sycamore (WLB 209) in Cordova, Alaska; followed by assignment as Navigation Sensors Section Chief at Command, Control, and Communications Engineering Center in 2015. While there, he oversaw the solicitation and selection of the Scalable Integrated Navigation System Two, a 15-year effort to standardize navigation sensors throughout the Coast Guard.

CDR Kempe earned a Master of Arts in Defense and Strategic Studies from the U.S. Naval War College in 2023 with focus on Homeland Security and Homeland Defense. He holds Department of Homeland Security Acquisition Program Management Level II, Systems Engineering Level III, and Technical Manger Level III certifications, and is a member of the Institute of Electrical Engineers and Society of American Military Engineers. His personal awards include the Coast Guard Meritorious Service Medal, three Coast Guard Commendation Medals, the Coast Guard Achievement Medal and various other personal and unit awards.

He is married to the former Raena Bugbee of Killingworth, Connecticut, and lives in Chesapeake with her and their two sons, Oliver and Gideon.