Richmond, Va. –
The best of the best in Defense Logistics Agency Aviation were once again honored for their contributions to their roles and larger teams, as well as the warfighter mission, during a town hall which included the Fiscal 2022 annual awards ceremony held Mar. 16.
DLA Aviation Commander Air Force Brig. Gen. Sean Tyler welcomed honorees and other attendees to the ceremony, held at the Frank B. Lotts Conference Center on Defense Supply Center Richmond, Virginia, with words of gratitude and congratulations.
“Across Aviation, they are the best of the best,” Tyler said. “The competition was extremely tough to get to this point. We have outstanding performers at many levels, but today we are going to recognize a handful that is truly the best of the best.”
Non-Commissioned Officer of the Year, Air Force Tech Sgt. King Romero, was recognized for his contributions to the Supply Chain Operations Wing, where he uncovered and resolved depot-repair choke-points, clearing a 12-month parts backlog while revitalizing base repair capabilities.
Tyler also noted Romero's leadership of the F100 Engine Summit planning team, for which he coordinated requirements across four services, propelling next-generation supply chain management sustainment for 37 aircraft.
Air Force Master Sgt. Jonathan DiPasquale received Aviation’s Senior Non-Commissioned Officer of the Year. He deployed as the sole DLA representative in Jordan. While deployed, DiPasquale steered Afghanistan drawdown support by securing the turn-in of $21 million in war reserve materiel and 340 tons of scrap. Additionally, he oversaw Operation Shark Bite support, serving as the acting senior enlisted leader for a Defense Support Team that trained 67 host nation military police.
Aviation’s Company Grade Officer of the Year was Air Force Capt. Amanda Hopkins, who established the first risk management program at DLA Aviation at Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, in 10 years. The program resulted in the immediate mitigation of 10 safety concerns and saved two lives.
Additionally, she excelled as a wing level executive officer, leading executive service prep for two 4-star level conferences and 95 senior leader engagements, aligning Air Force Sustainment Command and Supply Chain Management Wing strategic goals.
Navy Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Nechak was named Field Grade Officer of the Year. His achievements include mitigating the impacts of insufficient provisioning, lingering COVID-19 supply chain barriers and demand spikes to improve DLA support for the Navy E-2D Advanced Hawkeye aircraft. These efforts reduced Issue priority group 1 back orders by 31% while maintaining over 90% material availability. His laser focus on barrier removal directly resulted in the expedited delivery of over 200 issue priority group 1 orders.
Civilian employees were also honored at the ceremony; Category A Civilian Employee of the Year is Matthew Stott from DLA Aviation at Ogden. Stott was instrumental in a large-scale and aggressive wall-to-wall inventory aimed at uncovering and rectifying potential inventory inaccuracies.
Stott's findings resulted in the correction of eight locations and roughly $10,000 worth of material accounted for and correctly stored. He achieved an average delivery response time of 12 hours and 43 seconds, far exceeding division standards and goals.
Tamika Williams from DLA Aviation at Jacksonville, Florida, was named the Category B Civilian Employee of the Year for her consistent high performance while directly supporting and collaborating with the team at Fleet Readiness Center Southeast. Her meticulous management of 1,320 items directly contributed to the Command's 95% material availability rate and a three percent increase of stock on-hand material.
Williams' efforts in Fiscal 2022 resulted in the filling of 447 fleet and worldwide orders, netting DLA revenue sales of more than $523,000.
William Hutteman from the Business Process Support Directorate received the Category C Civilian Employee of the Year honor, notably for his work creating multiple applications to automate and streamline the development of metric reporting. Three applications are in full production and two are currently under development, all in support of DLA Aviation's automation initiative. Hutteman's contributions mean these applications will provide or upgrade multiple capabilities to include a visual interface for the analysis of Aviation supply chain performance.