U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Zeita Merchant has made history as the first Black female admiral in the service’s 233-year history. Admiral Merchant, previously the commander of Sector New York, will now lead the Coast Guard Personnel Service Center in Washington, D.C., where she will oversee recruitment and scholarships.
Merchant’s career features key roles such as Special Assistant to the 27th and 28th Vice Commandants of the Coast Guard, Congressional Fellow for the Committees on Oversight and Reform and Transportation and Infrastructure, and Executive Strategic Planner for the Coast Guard Flag and Senior Executive Service Corps.
She holds a Doctor of Business Administration and a Master of Quality Systems Management from the National Graduate School at New England Institute of Business. She also earned a Master of Public Administration from George Washington University and a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Tougaloo College.
Merchant also completed the Executive Education Leadership in Homeland Security program at Harvard Kennedy School of Government and was a Seminar XXI National Security and Foreign Affairs Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
