FORT BELVOIR, Va. –
Editor’s note: This is the seventh of nine stories featuring 2020 DLA Hall of Fame inductees. A video highlighting inductees’ contributions to the agency will be broadcast on DLA’s Facebook page June 23.
Former Defense Logistics Agency Chief Financial Officer Tony Poleo’s fiscal legacy with the agency and beyond earn him a place in the DLA Hall of Fame.
Poleo’s leadership ensured DLA’s budget enabled the agency to execute $34 billion in warfighter support and humanitarian assistance missions, according to Poleo’s nomination by current DLA CFO Arthur Hagler.
His 35-year career involved contributions to DLA and the Defense Department. Poleo was involved in implementing Defense Management Review Document 902, which consolidated 24 military departments and six DLA depots into one unified military supply distribution system operated by DLA. His team’s efforts to establish a new distribution pricing mechanism led to the development of a “discrete pricing” model that charged customers for depot storage, giving them a financial incentive to dispose of excess material and reduce the need for warehouses.
As cash manager for the Defense-Wide Working Capital Fund for DLA, the Defense Information Systems Agency and the Defense Finance and Accounting Service, Poleo oversaw over $37 billion dollars of annual collections and disbursements. His management of the DWWCF set the benchmark for future DWWCF cash managers, according to the nomination.
“Under Mr. Poleo’s stewardship, the DLA Finance organization was a high-performing, ethically grounded operation,” Hagler said in the packet. He also noted Poleo “directly impacted the department’s ability to produce auditable financial statements, a top priority for the department and Congress.”
Poleo retired in 2017 and was a member of the Senior Executive Service.
Editor's note: View Poleo's segment of the 2020 DLA Hall of Fame ceremony video from June 23: