Anita L. Lopez is a former officer of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Officer Corps. She last served as the deputy director of the NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps and deputy director for Operations of NOAA's Office of Marine and Aviation Operations. She previously served as the commanding officer of NOAA's Marine Operations Center–Atlantic in Norfolk, Virginia from June 2012 to January 2014. Lopez retired form the NOAA Corps on March 1, 2018. Since 2018, she has been serving as the Director of Research Vessel Operations at the University of Hawaii and the Interim Director of Diversity Equity and Inclusion at the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST).