RICHMOND, Va. –
Close to 40 senior military and civilian leaders from across the Defense Logistics Agency Aviation Enterprise came together in the Frank B. Lotts Conference Center on Defense Supply Center Richmond, Virginia for the DLA Aviation Senior Leader Alignment and Commitment Meeting Nov. 8 and 9.
The theme for the event, formerly known as the Senior Leadership Conference, was “DLA Aviation: Aligned and Committed.”
DLA Aviation Commander Air Force Brig. Gen. Sean Tyler kicked off the two-day event by delivering opening remarks, going over the purpose and intent of the SLAC and welcoming those who traveled from as far away as San Diego, California.
“I really love getting all of our leadership together in person to where we can really talk about those key things we are working on or need to work on to support our people and organization.” Tyler said. “We want to recommit to those initiatives and further define any new ones we need to get after or any more special attention we need to put on existing ones.”
Tyler unveiled the FY23-24 DLA Aviation Operating Plan during his “Mission and Intent” presentation.
“My intent is to develop capabilities that provide a foundation to achieve the short, mid, and long-term goals of DLA’s Strategic Plan and provide the ability for our Major Subordinate Command to satisfy the material requirements needed to compete with, deter, or if necessary, defeat our adversaries.”
This intent includes supporting the DLA Strategic Plan 2021 – 2026 five Lines of Efforts and associated objectives:
- Warfighter Always: Tailored solutions to drive readiness.
- Support to the Nation: Deliberate approach, without tradeoff to the Warfighter.
- Trusted Mission Partner: Transparency and accountability to our customers.
- Modernized Acquisition and Supply Chain Management: Leading in logistics to deliver best value and manage risk.
- Future of Work: Adapting to new ways of working.
During the two-day meeting, participants heard from DLA Vice Director Brad Bunn, DLA Comptroller/Director Jason Buys; DLA Aviation Deputy Director Charlie Lilli, DLA Aviation and DLA Aviation Acquisition Executive Cathy Contreras, who gave an overview of fiscal 23 challenges. Navy Capt. Ron Hoak, chief of DLA Aviation’s Customer Operations Directorate’s Navy Customer Facing Division, facilitated a strategic shift to industrial panel discussion.
“The two days were great, but now it’s going to be about the things we want to really focus on: number one, how do we do it, and number two, who does it. The how and the who are really going to be key.” said Tyler.