COLUMBUS, Ohio –
Defense Logistics Agency Weapons Support (Columbus) Maritime Customer Operations Directorate hosted a Senior Executive Service synchronization event at Defense Supply Center Columbus Feb. 5 with key stakeholders from Naval Sea Systems Command and Naval Supply Systems Command. The SES’s in attendance included Steven Kinskie, deputy commander for DLA Weapons Support; Eric Lind, executive director for Navy Regional Maintenance Centers; Lynn Kohl, vice commander for NAVSUP; and Howard Berkof, acting executive director for Program Executive Office for Integrated Warfare Systems.
The session was the fourth installment of an engagement cycle that began in 2024 at DSCC followed by the Washington Navy Yard in Washington, D.C. in January 2025, and at Naval Support Activity Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania in August 2025. This recurring cycle enables the leaders to identify current issues impacting surface ship readiness, empower their teams to find solutions, and within a few months, update the group on the progress at the next session.
Topics discussed at the February meeting included:
- NAVSUP’s efforts to establish a Surface Coordinated Allowance List that would add a level of ashore inventory in support of increased material availability for ships in depot and intermediate maintenance periods, and ways in which it is dealing with customer requirements for obsolete material that can no longer be procured.
- NAVSEA’s efforts to reduce procurement cycle time for long lead-time material, better utilization of data to decrease the need for readiness-impacting cannibalizations, and steps taken to increase repair capability at select regional maintenance centers.
- DLA’s efforts to increase utilization of their newly developed Maritime Acquisition Advancement Contract and to improve ability to provide the diverse array of valves that the Navy needs in a timelier manner.
Deanna Blesch, DLA Weapons Support (Columbus) deputy director for Maritime Customer Operations, attended all four SES synchronization events and has seen firsthand the value they bring to the Navy.
“Within the last year, DLA Weapons Support has reorganized our Maritime Industrial Support branch to provide dedicated wholesale support to the four shipyards and seven Regional Maintenance Centers,” she said, regarding the Navy’s efforts to reduce the amount of time ships spend in maintenance periods.
“These regular synchronizations allow SES leadership and their subject matter experts to all sit together in the same room and work through complex logistics challenges that are negatively impacting our naval warfighters,” she continued. “We look forward to continuing our close partnership with NAVSEA and NAVSUP as the Navy and DLA undergo significant transformation efforts intended to improve support to the warfighter.”