Air Station San Francisco Command Leadership
Commanding Officer
Captain Christopher M. Huberty
Captain Huberty was born into a military family and spent his childhood growing up throughout the United States and Europe. He is a 1995 graduate of the University of California at Santa Barbara where he earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in mechanical engineering.
After receiving his commission as a Direct Commission Engineer in July of 1997, Captain Huberty served his initial tour as a specification writer at MLC Pacific developing dry dock and dockside maintenance packages for vessels on the West Coast. After completing Naval Fight Training in Pensacola, Florida in October of 2000, his first aviation tour was flying the HH-65A helicopter at Air Station Los Angeles, California. Captain Huberty’s second aviation tour was Air Station New Orleans, Louisiana where he served as the Assistant Aeronautical Engineering Officer flying the HH-65B in multiple major hurricanes, to include Ivan, Dennis, Katrina and Rita along with standing the first watch at the National Capital Region Air Defense Facility in Washington, DC. Following four years in New Orleans, he reported to Air Station North Bend, Oregon where he flew the HH-65C and served as the Aeronautical Engineering Officer for two years.
In 2010 he was selected for and attend the aeronautical structural engineering program at Purdue University. After earning his Master’s Degree in Aeronautical Engineering in June 2012, he reported to the Aviation Logistics Center in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. Here Captain Huberty transitioned to C-130Hs and served not only as the C-130H Product Line Engineer but also the Long Range Surveillance Product Line Manager, following a brief assignment as the Engineering Services Division Chief.
Captain Huberty returned to the operational Coast Guard and the H-65 fleet as the Engineering Officer at Air Station San Francisco in the summer of 2016 and fleeted up to serve as the Executive Officer in 2017. In 2019 he was assigned to District 11 to serve as the Incident Management Branch Chief, where he oversaw all search and rescue along with all marine environmental responses in D11’s 3.3M square mile AOR. In 2022, Captain Huberty assumed command of Air Station San Francisco.
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Executive Officer
Commander Kelly L. Higgins
Commander Higgins has proudly served the United States Coast Guard for over 18 years and is currently the Executive Officer of her dream unit, Air Station San Francisco, CA.
Her career began as a Deck Watch Officer aboard the Coast Guard Cutter BOUTWELL, a 378-foot vessel also homeported in Alameda, California. After two years afloat, she attended Naval Flight Training in Pensacola, Florida, followed by flying tours in Air Station Port Angeles, Washington, and Air Station Miami, Florida, where she earned the highest aviation qualification in the Coast Guard as a Flight Examiner and Instructor Pilot. Also in Miami, she completed the Naval Aviation Safety Officer Course and subsequently directed Air Station Miami’s mishap prevention and response programs. Her hard work was rewarded with a tour at Coast Guard Headquarters, where she served as a Resource Advisor to the Deputy Commandant for Operations (DCO-RA), advocating for DCO Assistant Commandants in the Planning Programming Budget and Execution process and serving as a direct advisor to the Three Star on budget initiatives. She is also a plank owner of the Office of Program Analysis and Evaluation under the Assistant Commandant of Resources
(CG-8).
Some of Commander Higgins’ proudest accomplishments include receiving the CAPT Edward R. Williams Award for Leadership and Diversity and the Pacific Northwest Coast Guard Foundation Award for Heroism.
A native of Portland, Oregon, Commander Higgins graduated from the United States Coast Guard Academy with a Bachelor of Science degree in Management. She later earned a Coast Guard sponsored Master of Public Administration degree from the George Washington University in Washington, DC.
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Command Master Chief
Master Chief Petty Officer Eric M. Monti
Master Chief Monti is a 28-year veteran of the U.S. Coast Guard (CG), and currently serves as the Command Master Chief of CG Air Station San Francisco. As Command Master Chief, he advises Captain Christopher Huberty, the Commanding Officer of Air Station San Francisco, on issues and initiatives pertaining to morale, welfare, job satisfaction, discipline, utilization and training of enlisted personnel.
Master Chief Monti is a native of Merrill, Wisconsin and a 1992 graduate of Merrill HS. After graduation he went on to attend Madison Area Technical College for two years where he studied graphic design. After witnessing a Search and Rescue mission off the coast of Florida in 1994 Eric made the decision to enlist in the CG and graduated Coast Guard Basic Training in December of 1994.
Most recently Master Chief Monti completed his assignment as the Leading Chief Petty Officer of CG Air Station Atlantic City, NJ and National Capital Region Air Defense Facility, Washington DC. While there he managed personnel and logistics schedules in support of the unit’s high priority National Capital Region and Presidential Deployable Rotary Wing Air intercept missions.
Other aviation assignments include Assistant Leading Chief, C-130 shop Chief, and quality assurance inspector at CG Air Station Barbers Point, HI; Quality Assurance inspector and Unit Corrosion Program Manager (UCPM) at CG Air Station Kodiak, AK; HC-130H Dropmaster, Sensor System Operator, and UCPM at CG Air Station Sacramento, CA; HU-25 Falcon Jet Dropmaster, Quality Assurance inspector and UCPM at CG Air Station Corpus Christi, TX; HU-25 Falcon Jet Dropmaster and Quality Assurance inspector at CG Air Station Miami, FL.
Eric attended & graduated Aviation Maintenance Technician “A” school in June of 1999. Prior to that he was stationed at small boat Station Two Rivers, WI and the USCGC Mobile Bay based out of Sturgeon Bay, WI.
Master Chief is a graduate of the CG Senior Enlisted Leadership Course and CG Chief Petty Officer Academy (Class 205). He is currently working toward a Bachelor of Arts degree in Human Resource Management from American Military University.
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