WARNER ROBINS, Georgia –
Frederick “Tony” Brooks has been awarded the DLA Director’s Strategic Goals Award for third quarter, fiscal year 2017.
Brooks, who is currently serving as the deputy director at DLA Distribution, Warner Robins, Georgia, played a critical role in midst of a crisis while serving as deputy director at DLA Distribution Albany, Georgia. The distribution center was in the path of a tornado on Jan. 22, 2017, and sustained significant destruction, along with the local community.
After the storm, Brooks was an essential part of the distribution center’s success in ensuring all operations were moving towards the common goal of completing “today’s work today.”
“Tony demonstrated extraordinary leadership skills. Each day, although extremely challenging, he ensured the team stayed focused on the Warfighter,” said Twila C. Gonzales, Senior Executive Service, DLA Distribution deputy commander.
Brooks' approach toward challenging times in an environment where audit readiness is at the forefront, even during the aftermath of recovering from a natural disaster, was nothing short of outstanding. He worked hard every day and was relentless when it came to meeting organizational goals while serving a workforce during climate and culture change.
During this period, Brooks led DLA Distribution Albany, Georgia, through tornado recovery, lack of personnel due to the hiring freeze, and a drop in performance with professionalism and drive. Workload for this time period was over 79,000 receipts and issues, and overall performance remained green.
Brooks tasked the administrative support team to perform floor-to-book inventories on a weekly basis, averaging 75 per week; and he established a Tiger Team to perform 1,200 visual inspections and physical inventories of all tornado-affected locations when required, supporting audit readiness goals.
“The resiliency of Tony served as a catalyst for DLA Distribution Albany, Georgia’s, success during the third quarter of this fiscal year,” said Gonzales.
Aside Brooks’ support during this time of uncertainty, he proved himself daily in his own area of responsibility. He ensured his personnel were kept well informed of current events relative to audit readiness, administration, culture and climate and rewarded all players for their service.
“We can look to DLA Distribution Albany as a very real example of resiliency and dedication to serving our customers,” said Gonzales “We take great pride in all that the team has accomplished in a very short period of time while balancing their own personal needs as well as those of the larger community.”