M. Stephen Pierce serves as the Safety and Occupational Health (SOH) Program Manager for the National Occupational Health Center (NOHC), a specialized enterprise-level program headquartered under the SOH Program in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). He was selected as the first NOHC Program Manager in January 2023, following a decade of demonstrated leadership in safety and occupational health. Under his guidance, the NOHC was formally established to streamline, standardize, and strengthen the delivery of occupational health services across USACE. Today, it serves the entire enterprise with nationwide contract support, compliance oversight, and occupational health program management.
Mr. Pierce previously served as the Program Manager of the Regional Occupational Health Center (ROHC) and Chief of Safety and Occupational Health for the Mobile District, responsible for coordinating occupational health services across all South Atlantic Division (SAD) districts and assisting the Mobile District in achieving Stages I and II of CESOHMS. In 2022, he temporarily served as the Chief of SOH for SAD. During this period, he led a national analysis of USACE occupational health delivery following the termination of the Department of Defense’s agreement with Federal Occupational Health (FOH) and helped craft the methodology used to stand up the NOHC as an enterprise solution.
Mr. Pierce began his federal career with the Alabama Army National Guard, where he served for nine years. His service included multiple natural disaster responses and a deployment to Kuwait in 2003. A native of Mobile, Alabama, he earned his degree from the University of South Alabama in 2007.
He began his USACE career in 2008 as a local safety intern in the Mobile District and quickly advanced to become the Lead Safety and Occupational Health Specialist and Dive Safety Coordinator by 2012. He has been instrumental in developing Corps-wide safety policies, serving on multiple national working groups, and has been recognized as a subject matter expert in fall protection and prevention. He is a graduate of the Mobile Leadership Development Program and previously served as Acting Chief of Safety and Occupational Health for the Charleston District. Throughout his career, he has supported various emergency response missions, including the 2011 Alabama Spring Tornado debris mission, Hurricane Katrina, and the COVID-19 FEMA response.
Mr. Pierce also served in the Europe District as a Safety Specialist, where he assisted in completing the Stage I baseline for CESOHMS and completed a developmental assignment as a Project Manager, further expanding his operational and leadership experience.
In addition to his federal service, Mr. Pierce is active in his local community as a coach for his children’s sports teams and Student Pastor at Faith Family Fellowship in Spanish Fort. He has participated in overseas mission work in Uruguay, Nova Scotia, the Czech Republic, Guatemala, and Thailand.
He is married to Allison Pierce, a long-serving engineer with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and together they have three children.