Mr. Lerchbacker graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1974. His 22 year career in the Navy was as an Engineering Duty Officer. He graduated from the US Naval Diving & Salvage Training Center, after he completed his Master’s Degree in Monterey at the Naval Post Graduate School in Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture. He spent most of his career in the Navy in Naval Shipyards or in the Navy Diving and Special Operations Community. He was a Navy Aquanaut and served as part of the highly classified saturation deep diving program.

Mr. Lerchbacker was the officer in Charge of the Space Shuttle Challenger STS-51L recovery operations, where he led his team of over 120 divers, 33 ships, and over 3000 NASA personnel to search the 452 square miles of the ocean for the Challenger debris.

He taught Mechanical Engineering and coached men’s volleyball when he returned to his Alma Mater from 1986 to 1988. While an instructor at the Naval Academy, he was sent to lead Special Operations teams in combat to recover a high value asset off the Iranian Coast.

After retirement, Mr. Lerchbacker served as the Assistant Chief Operating Officer for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. While in this capacity, he also earned his MBA at Claremont University, the Peter Drucker School of Business. He then became the Chief Operating Officer for a Business Incubator, growing it from 10 companies to 54, and launching 14 companies. He then served as the President of Taylor Dunn in Anaheim, California. Taylor Dunn was the largest producer of electric vehicles in the United States.

In 2000, Mr. Lerchbacker moved to Australia to learn from the Australians their ideas on shipyards and commercial shipbuilding. He was then transferred to Mobile, Alabama, where he became the first CEO for Austal USA. He built this shipyard from 66 men and women to over 1200 employees, with an apprentice program of over 100. Mr. Lerchbacker then formed the team of General Dynamics, Boeing and Austal USA to win the contract to build the Littoral Combat Ships for the Navy; a $38B contract.

Currently, Mr. Lerchbacker is the President and CEO for Naval Coatings Inc., a company that has been the leader in the blasting and painting of Navy Ships since 1979 here in San Diego.