Defense Logistics Agency Energy Commander Air Force Brig. Gen. Albert Miller shared employee related news during a town hall held in the Fort Belvoir McNamara Headquarters Complex auditorium March 26.
Miller kicked off the meeting by recognizing employees who reached career milestones in federal service. He acknowledged DLA Energy Americas East employees Curtis Britten and Kenneth Hawes for 30 years of federal service. He recognized DLA Energy America East employees Joel Steinberg, Michael Downs and Rose Lockhart for 35 years of service. Notably, he recognized DLA Energy Quality Assurance Specialist Michael Shannon for 45 years of service.
Miller highlighted the following employees for the Superior Civilian Service Award:
• DLA Energy Quality Jeffrey Feltner
• DLA Energy Middle East Jamie Moore
• DLA Energy Americas East Timothy Howell
• DLA Energy Americas East Stacy Miller
DLA Energy Supplier Operations Deputy Director Kevin Ahern joined Miller on stage for the Meritorious Civilian Service Award for his leadership keeping Procurement Process Support Directorate operating effectively and efficiently while serving as the directorate’s acting director from January until September 2018.
He also recognized employees of the quarter for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2018 and the first quarter of fiscal year 2019:
• DLA Energy Americas East Larry Lewis and DLA Energy Hawaii Daniel Muranaka for the GS/WS 7-12 category.
• DLA Energy Americas East Marcus Ortman and DLA Energy Installation Energy Jacob Vigil for the GS/WS 13-15 category.
Miller also recognized military decorations for several service members and made special mention of DLA Energy Americas East Air Force Maj. Charles Morton as the DLA Field Grade Officer of the first quarter of fiscal year 2019.
DLA Energy Management Analyst Janel Thompson was presented the DLA Enterprise Small Business Team Award for her outstanding contributions toward the accomplishment of the DLA mission and fulfillment of the DLA Strategic Plan.
Miller also highlighted more than 20 DLA Energy employees who were selected for the Executive Development Program.
Sexual Assault Response Coordinator Stephanie VanRiper spoke about the Safe Helpline and the DLA Sexual Assault Awareness Month events that run from April 1 - 30. She encouraged employees to get involved and invited employees to a Lunch and Learn event on The Neurobiology of Trauma on April 24.
Director of DLA Energy Manpower and Administrative Support Darcy Hall highlighted that March 31 is the end of the Department of Defense Performance Management and Appraisal Program’s performance period. She stressed the importance of ongoing communication between supervisor and employee, as well as the necessity of keeping track of accomplishments, special projects and unique assignments.
“Our timeline will be short with employees needing to have their self-assessment completed by April 5,” Hall said.
Focusing on safety, DLA Installation Support John Cantrell talked to employees about the importance of trips, slips and falls and presented safety statistics. Miller strongly emphasized Cantrell’s message.
“This is a commander’s program,” Miller said. “We all need to slow down, take a step back and pay attention to our surroundings to help prevent employee mishaps,” Miller said.
Miller invited the 2019 Worldwide Energy Conference Coordinator Bruce Blank on stage to brief the audience on the upcoming event scheduled at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in Oxon Hill, Maryland, May 20-22.
“The key to a successful event is the volunteers, so please get involved,” Blank said.
Miller moved on to discuss DLA Energy Culture Climate program and said all the Major Subordinate Commands briefed their Cultural Action Plan to the DLA director last week.
The director asked “what did we do well?” and Miller’s response was that DLA Energy has an aggressive, detailed plan to helped move the needle significantly from 2016 to 2018.
“I’m really happy with where we are and what you have created as a culture in Energy,” he said. “The key to this is a good climate and culture in the work place that makes employees effective and adds to mission readiness.”
Miller then transitioned to what he called his big rocks: audit, DLA cash position, cultural climate and comment cards.
He said the audit is our focus this year – and next year – and said all employees have a part to play in the audit. He stressed that everyone needs to know their job and follow standard operating procedures.
“You may not be the one talking to the auditors or gathering evidential matter, but everything we do has an internal control and probably is audible,” Miller said.
In his closing, he mentioned the placement of comment card boxes around the Energy business units and emphasized the cards are anonymous. He shared several comments and discussed a few inputs he received.
After taking several questions from the audience, Miller concluded the town hall with a heartfelt thank you.