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News | June 2, 2017

2017 FEA awards

By Michael L. Jones DLA Land and Maritime Public Affairs

Federal employees from throughout Central Ohio gathered May 24 to celebrate their commitment to public service and honor peers at the annual “Excellence in Government Service” awards luncheon. Staged at Columbus’ Villa Milano Banquet Center, the event kicked off at 11:30 and included a motivating master of ceremonies in Barry Roberts from the Department of Housing and Urban Development and spirited support from the participating federal organizations as winners were announced.

Employees vied for individual and team awards that recognized community commitment and mission focus covering the previous year. There were 28 finalists in the competitive portion of the awards luncheon and five Cooperative Interagency Recognition award areas.

Additionally, annual essay contest winners were recognized for their submissions which focused on the theme “How I Build My Own Reservoir of Personal Resiliency.” Third place went to Tina Frazier from Defense Finance and Accounting Service; second place accolades went to Andrea Pirrone from the Department of Health and Human Services. Terry Roach, also from DFAS, took top honors and excerpts from her essay were shared at the beginning of the luncheon.

DLA Land and Maritime Deputy Commander and FEA Chair James McClaugherty, thanked the judges who waded through numerous submissions to select the award finalists. He also shared his insights about the important contributions Federal workers make both to the government and their communities. “I think it’s important today that this gathering recognizes the excellence of the professionals in this room … what’s important is getting something done right and with excellence, that’s an achievement – and that’s what we’re here to recognize today,” McClaugherty said.

DLA Land and Maritime and DLA Installation Support combined to collect 11 of the 28 recognition awards in both individual and team categories. The remaining awards were shared among competing federal agencies.

DLA Land and Maritime and DLA Installation Services winners are: Heath Berkshire, DLA Land and Maritime – winner of the Individual Innovation award for a large agency.

Fire and Emergency Services, DLA Installation Support, won the Outstanding Productivity or Process Improvement team award for a small agency.

DLA Land and Maritime’s Aircraft Launch and Recovery Equipment Team won the Innovation Team award for a large agency. Team members include: Lt. Cmdr. Anas Maazouzi, Stephanie McCormick, Christian Zahnow, Tammy Munro-Reyes, James Duffala, Susan Lupo, Kyle Barr, Alla Yakover, Rhonda Blum, William Palmer, Michael Benson, Jennifer McNamara, Stacy White, Michael DeJournett, John Stover, Jeremy Camarata and Laura Stimmel.

Sherry Wellmer, DLA Land and Maritime won the Community Service Honor Award.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Federal Women’s Program Whitehall-Yearling High School Mentoring Program garnered the Community Service team award.

Randy Rodgers, DLA Installation Support won the Excellence in Customer Service individual award for a small agency.

Anthony Stone collected the Outstanding EEO Individual award and Kimberly Watson won the Supervisory Leadership Individual award for a large agency.

The Outstanding Productivity or Process Improvement Individual award for a small agency went to Nicholas Doss from DLA Installation Support.

Thomas Comeans captured the Individual Overcoming Disabilities Award. And in the Cooperative Interagency Recognition category, DLA Land and Maritime’s Reverse Engineering Team and Organic Manufacturing Team were recognized for their efforts.