Don Goff, Ph.D. (email) serves the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary as the Senior Advisor to NACO for Paddlecraft Safety (N-PC) and as the Division Chief-Paddlecraft Safety (DVC-BPC). He is an Auxiliary Boat Crew Coxswain and an active duty Coast Guard Boat Crew Member on the 25-foot RB-S, as well as certified as IT, VE, MDV, TCO and Communications Watchstander.

He has served as a Division and Flotilla Commander, and in staff positions at the Flotilla, Division, District and National Staff levels. A lifelong paddle sports enthusiast, Dr. Goff has built several wooden sea kayaks and has paddled in Puget Sound, Quebec, Penobscot and Chesapeake Bays, the Atlantic Ocean around Chincoteague Island, VA, and many rivers, including the Rio Grande, Shenandoah and tidal Potomac. Most weekends, he can be found paddling the back waters of Belmont Bay, Virginia watching the bald eagles.

Retired from AT&T, the Army Reserve, and University of Maryland University College, he now provides independent consulting in cybersecurity. He was awarded the Ph.D. in telecommunications and engineering management from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. He holds radio licenses as a GMDSS operator/maintainer with radar endorsement and Amateur Extra and is an American Canoe Association sea kayaking instructor.