Allan T. Bombard has been elected National Executive Officer of America’s Boating Club | United States Power Squadrons. Bombard brings more than three decades of membership and leadership experience at the squadron, district and national levels to the position.
Bombard joined America’s Boating Club | United States Power Squadrons in 1995 as a member of City Island Power Squadron in the Bronx, New York. Since then, he has held numerous leadership positions throughout the organization, including Commander of the San Diego Sail & Power Squadron and District Commander of District 28 and District 50.
He remains an active member of America’s Boating Club of San Diego, where he serves as a vessel safety examiner. He also has served for more than a decade as editor of the squadron newsletter.
At the national level, Bombard served on the United States Power Squadrons Reorganization Committee, which helped develop organizational changes designed to better serve members. He also has served as Assistant National Secretary.
Bombard has completed the organization’s highest levels of advanced navigational training, earning the grade of Senior Navigator–Offshore Navigator. These advanced qualifications represent the highest degree of navigational education offered by America’s Boating Club | United States Power Squadrons and encompass extensive training in celestial and offshore navigation, voyage planning and related navigational skills.
“We have work to do, and I’m excited to join a great team and get it done,” Bombard said. “As William Arthur Ward said, ‘The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.’ I think that’s a pretty good philosophy for both boating and leadership.”
Bombard’s professional career has combined medicine, biotechnology and military service. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Colgate University and a medical degree from George Washington University. He completed a clinical fellowship at Northwestern University and later earned an MBA from the University of San Diego. His career in academic medicine and biotechnology focused on prenatal diagnosis. He is board certified in obstetrics, gynecology and genetics.
He also served 26 years in the U.S. Air Force, retiring as a colonel. Following the Sept. 11 attacks, Bombard served with the New York City Police Department Harbor Unit, where he applied his boating and nautical experience on the waterways of the New York metropolitan area.
Bombard’s connection to boating began when he was 7 years old and his uncle taught him to sail on Lake Champlain. He holds a PADI Master Diver certification and earned his U.S. Coast Guard OUPV (Operator of Uninspected Passenger Vessels) Captain’s License in 2005. Today, he boats in San Diego and during the summer on Lake Champlain in northern New York.
Outside of America’s Boating Club | United States Power Squadrons, Bombard enjoys travel, learning new languages, golf, hiking and activities involving the water. His wife, Paula Vance, describes him as “nautically promiscuous” because “he’ll go out on ANY vessel!”
As Executive Officer, Bombard will help provide national leadership for the organization and support its mission of promoting boating safety, education and fellowship among recreational boaters.
