FORT HOOD, Texas (May 9, 2013) - U.S. Army Operational Test Command Executive Director James Amato has been selected to be the new director of the U.S. Army Materiel Systems Analysis Activity at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md.

Amato was selected to Senior Executive Service in September 2008 and assigned to USAOTC as executive director. From 2005-2008, he was the director, Integrated Logistics Support Evaluation Directorate, U.S. Army Evaluation Center, ATEC. He was the chief, Field Studies Branch, Logistics Analysis Division, AMSAA, 2000-2005, and began his federal service career in 1987 with AMSAA.

AMSAA is an Army Materiel Command organization that conducts a variety of critical analyses to provide state-of-the-art analytical solutions to senior level Army and Department of Defense officials. With more than 600 analysts, engineers, mathematicians and scientists, AMSAA supports the equipping and sustaining of weapons and materiel for Soldiers in the field and for the future force.

"I am honored to have been chosen for this once in a lifetime opportunity," Amato said. "My family and I are looking forward to getting back to our Maryland roots, but at the same time, leaving Central Texas will be bittersweet. Amato and his wife Susan are both Baltimore natives.

"We have made lots of friends here and saying goodbye won't be easy," he said, "but we'll look forward to returning for visits and hope that our Texas friends will visit us in Maryland as well."

A graduate of Loyola College in Maryland with a bachelor's degree in engineering science, Amato also has master's degrees in electrical engineering from Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md., and national security strategy from the U.S. Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, Pa. He has also completed the Defense Leadership and Management Program and received level III certification from the Army Acquisition Corps.

"I am extremely proud to have been associated with OTC these last four years," Amato said. "I have learned so much from the exceptional work force that I will take with me as I continue in the service of the men and women who defend our great nation."

USAOTC plans, conducts and reports the results of rigorous operational tests, assessments and experiments in order to provide essential information to senior Army leaders for the acquisition and fielding of warfighting systems. With four test directorates and several staff components located at Fort Hood, OTC also oversees test directorates at Fort Bliss, Texas; Fort Bragg, N.C.; Fort Huachuca, Ariz.; and Fort Sill, Okla.

The command also deploys small teams of Soldiers, Department of the Army civilians and contractors into theater to complete operational assessments under combat conditions. Since 2010, USAOTC has conducted the semi-annual Network Integration Evaluation series at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., and Fort Bliss, as a partnership with the Systems of Systems Engineering & Integration directorate and the Army's Training and Doctrine Command's Brigade Modernization Command in an effort to speed up getting the best equipment available into the hands of America's Soldiers as quickly as possible.