COLUMBUS, Ohio –
Three former Defense Logistics Agency Land and Maritime associates joined the Land and Maritime Hall of Fame at the Defense Supply Center Columbus Building 20 Auditorium May 24.
Associates joined the ceremony to honor the newest members and celebrate their 110 combined years of federal service; 77 of those years at Land and Maritime and its legacy organizations.
“This is a time when history merges our past and present – a moment that acknowledges our accomplishments – while revealing our aspirations,” said Land and Maritime Commander Navy Rear Adm. Michelle Skubic.
As Skubic acknowledged each honoree, she talked about the historic events that led up to the induction of each honored DLA Land and Maritime retiree and provided some insights into their personality through stories provided by family and friends.
Laughter erupted throughout the audience as they reminisced about the inductees. Stephen Rodocker and former DLA Land and Maritime Acquisition Executive Milton Lewis often worked so closely together on strategy that he jokingly became known as “Milt’s Piñata.” Additional stories included Harvey Hodak’s love for sweets and Steve Finney being an avid runner and his choices for exercise attire.
The 2018 DLA Land and Maritime inductees are:
Steve E. Finney
Finney held several key positions during his 40-year Tech/Quality focused career. In his final position as the Mechanical Lab chief, Finney was a strong advocate for product testing, championing many high-profile testing issues including machine gun parts that greatly enhanced the product quality of businesses working with DLA. His hard work and dedication helped strengthen the culture within and among the DLA Product Test Centers.
Harvey P. Hodak
Hodak performed as the consummate expert human resources advisor to management, colleagues, employees and labor partners, serving as an honest broker, facilitator and trusted partner throughout his 35-year career. He served as the human resources representative during the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) action where he was responsible for the establishment and transfer of various functions from military departments to DLA Land and Maritime.
Stephen E. Rodocker
Rodocker, as the first director of the Strategic Acquisition Programs Directorate, both improved business processes and significantly changed the way DLA does business. Over his 35-year career his legacy of leadership and contributions to contracting policies, strategies and workforce development left an indelible mark on DLA Land and Maritime and the entire Agency.
During the ceremony, each inductee was recognized individually, received a plaque and medal from Skubic and addressed the audience.
As the inductees spoke, there was a common theme from their messages – their success was correlated to the people who supported them along the way, the ones who came before and the ones who will come after.
Finney emphasized how great of a place DLA is to work and how proud he was to be a small part of the organization.
Hodak echoed Finney’s comments and added that he was thankful for the job broadening experiences that allowed him to grow as an individual, associate and leader.
Rodocker summed up the common theme with his final comments.
“I’ve been extremely lucky over the years as I’ve had the best players in the organization working for me,” said Rodocker. “I feel blessed because of that and all they’ve done.”
The ceremony was video streamed to Land and Maritime’s detachment units and included a historical slideshow presentation of the previous Hall of Fame inductees and this year’s honorees.
A cake and punch reception followed the ceremony in the Building 20 Buckeye Room.
The DLA Land and Maritime Hall of Fame, much like the DLA Hall of Fame, was established to honor and preserve the memory of past associates for their exceptional leadership, service, dedication to duty and contributions in supporting the DLA mission.
“In fact, over the 14 years that we’ve inducted colleagues into the Hall of Fame, the total is now more than 2,200 years of service – two millennia of experience dedicated to helping our warfighters and propelling Land and Maritime to an unparalleled level of service,” said Skubic.