Photo By Teodora Mocanu | Four of the five newest members of the DLA Hall of Fame pose for a photo with Defense...... read more read more
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FORT BELVOIR, Va. - Leaders who motivate, innovate and dedicate themselves to the mission are what drives the Defense Logistics Agency to success, the agency’s director said July 31 while inducting five former employees into the DLA Hall of Fame.
“Induction into the DLA Hall of Fame recognizes hard work, innovation and dedication in service to their fellow employees, the agency, the nation and our warfighters,” Navy Vice Adm. Mark Harnitchek said during a ceremony at the McNamara Headquarters Complex. “The five folks we are inducting today have sacrificed and contributed to the department’s greatest logistics machine, and they have left a lasting legacy.”
The 2013 DLA Hall of Fame inductees honored in the ceremony were:
-- Jeffrey Neal, who served as chief human capital officer and director of DLA Human Resources from July 2000 to June 2009.
-- Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Loren Reno, who completed three tours with DLA, the most recent being as vice director of the agency from October 2005 to May 2007.
-- Retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Mary Saunders, who served as the director of Defense Supply Center Columbus, Ohio, from August 1998 to September 2001 and vice director of DLA from July 2002 to September 2005.
-- Thomas Spera, who served DLA for more than 42 years at DLA Troop Support and DLA Information Operations and retired in 2011 as the site director for DLA Information Operations in Philadelphia.
-- Edward Sweger, who served DLA for 29 years and ended his career as the lead supply systems analyst and senior adviser to the commander at DLA Distribution Susquehanna, Pennsylvania.
The newest members of the DLA Hall of Fame were all innovators who helped the agency save money and run smoothly, while treating their employees fairly, Harnitchek said. He went on to highlight the contributions and legacy of each inductee.
Calling Neal an “HR juggernaut,” Harnitchek praised him for his years of service to the agency, during which he revolutionized DLA’s personnel practices and identified more than $50 million in administrative and operational savings. Neal’s overhaul of the human resources system in 2000 led to Defense Department recognition as a high performance organization, the admiral noted, and he led renegotiations with the American Federation of Government Employees in 2003 and 2006.
“During all this time, Jeff never lost focus on our most important resource: people,” Harnitchek said, noting that Neal went on to “great things” as the chief human capital officer for the Department of Homeland Security.
Neal said he was honored to be back at the headquarters of what he called “the best agency in the federal government,” noting that his time at DLA was the highlight of his career. He reflected that as he looked at his name on the DLA Hall of Fame, he realized that all the letters after the “J” in his name could be removed and replaced with a “1,” because the work he is being recognized for was the work of the staff of DLA Human Resources, known as J1, in the field and at headquarters.
“I was very proud to lead DLA J1,” Neal said. “It’s the best human resources organization I’ve ever seen. It still is, and it’s a wonderful place to work.”
Putting people first and creating diplomatic solutions to problems were the hallmarks of Reno, who impacted DLA’s workforce by implementing management practices that are still in use today, Harnitchek said.
“He was our head coach, chief motivator and a mentor to more folks than I can count,” the admiral said of Reno. “Those practices transformed the agency’s culture, upgraded the skills of our workforce, and increased the positive perception of our supportive work environment.”
Reno helped DLA navigate the recommendations for consolidation and streamlined processes under the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Act, Harnitchek said, and drove the implementation of DLA’s Business System Modernization initiative.
“Whenever you mention Loren’s name, the first thing people mention is what a nice guy he is,” the admiral said. “Loren, you did a lot here and you said a lot, but folks here will always remember how they felt around you.”
Reno said he was humbled and honored to be included among the other members of the DLA Hall of Fame, whom he called “servants of our nation, patriots and leaders during difficult and challenging times.”
Serving in DLA was a privilege and helped him to grow and learn as a leader, Reno said, recognizing many military and civilian leaders he served for and with over the years.
“To be associated with these greats taught me, inspired me, shaped me, and helped me in my service to this agency and to our nation,” he said.
Reno said his main goal as a leader was always to be a servant, and he was continuously proud of the amazing feats DLA achieved.
“Please realize I was a very small contributor to well-oiled machines led by and fueled by men and women who served tirelessly and mostly without acclaim,” he said. “This honor you give me today belongs to them.”
Saunders, who was a trailblazer as the first female commander of what was then the Defense Supply Center Columbus and the first female vice director of DLA, made her mark pushing for culture change and a positive work environment, Harnitchek said. She developed a formal mentoring program at what is now DLA Land and Maritime, which led to a scholarship being named in her honor, and she sent senior leaders to the Harvard Business School to learn about the dynamics of world-class organizations. Her work on leader development and positive culture change is still in evidence at DLA Land and Maritime and throughout the agency, the admiral noted.
“Mary’s vision was to ‘grow’ the whole person, put people first, and create a supportive work environment,” Harnitchek said. “That vision directly led to better production and mission focus.”
Saunders was unable to attend the ceremony, but James McClaugherty, acting commander of DLA Land and Maritime, accepted the award on her behalf and passed on her thanks to the agency’s senior leaders, her fellow inductees and the “magnificent workforce” she served with during her career.
Noting that Spera’s career began in 1968 and spanned 42 years of changing technology, Harnitchek credited him with helping the agency evolve and use technology effectively over the years.
“We are a big outfit, and we move two things,” the admiral said. “We move stuff … the other thing that we move is information about all that stuff, and if you’re not moving the information and processing the information the right way, you might as well not move anything, because nobody’s going to know about it. Well, Tom is one of those IT pioneers that created that fabulous system that doesn’t move the stuff, but it moves the information about the stuff.”
Harnitchek praised Spera for his work to relocate the information technology systems when BRAC 2003 closed the Defense Personnel Support Center and again when BRAC 2005 consolidated the Defense Supply Center Philadelphia and the Defense Industrial Supply Center. This effort involved relocating 3,500 users, reconstructing eight football fields’ worth of information technology infrastructure, and consolidating computer rooms with 10 terabytes of data, hundreds of servers and a complex telecommunications network.
“Tom did all this while taking care of his folks and teaching them,” the admiral said. “He empowered his workforce and encouraged them.”
Spera’s efforts to improve working conditions for his organization led to it achieving the greatest improvement in climate culture survey results for any DLA Information Operations field activity, Harnitchek added.
Spera admitted that although he is usually known as a joker, he had no jokes about DLA, an agency to which he has many reasons to be grateful. While serving in the Army in Vietnam, he said, he could always count on DLA for the best possible logistical support. Then, he found a career with DLA that offered “limitless opportunities and challenges,” he said, allowing him to grow and develop. His career with DLA also offered a secure, comfortable life for him and his family, he said.
“Although my loyalty to DLA is great, my contribution was meager compared to the agency that has given me so much,” he said.
The DLA family is large and far-reaching, Spera said, but he always enjoyed great support whenever he needed it during his career and felt he was part of a cohesive team.
“Today, along with my fellow recipients, I am truly humbled to join the ranks of those who have preceded us in the DLA Hall of Fame,” he said.
During Sweger’s 31 years at DLA, he was known by many named, including “Mr. Wizard” and “the human computer,” Harnitchek said. Sweger began his career in 1981 as a wage-grade laborer, the admiral said, but worked his way up the ranks until he became an expert adviser on the distribution process. He is perhaps best known for his expertise with the DLA Warehousing and Shipment Processing system and the Distribution Standard System, which was the follow-on to DWASP.
“[Sweger] took complicated processes dealing with statistics, software and technology, and boiled them down to their essence so folks could understand them,” Harnitchek said. “There are lines of folks in central Pennsylvania now that are what they are today because of Ed.”
Sweger noted that his early life lacked direction until he joined the military and learned self-preservation and motivation. That motivation continued throughout his career at DLA, he said, when he was driven by a desire to solve problems and keep distribution functions running smoothly. He recalled receiving a call from a worker in Germany who needed help with DSS and realizing just how important his job was.
“That’s motivation,” Sweger said. “That tells you that you’re appreciated in your job, when someone halfway around the world will call you to help him fix a problem.”
Sweger also recalled helping to solve contentious issues and receiving vital support from leaders when advocating for the systems that best supported the distribution warehouse workers. He urged DLA’s current employees to remember the importance of the DLA workforce in the field, like the warehouse workers who he called the key to the agency’s success.
“If I can be remembered for one thing, I’d like to be remembered that every day I went to work, I tried to be a positive motivation on the people around me,” he said.
At the ceremony, each inductee was honored with a medal and a plaque denoting induction into the DLA Hall of Fame.
| Date Taken: | 07.31.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 08.01.2014 08:35 |
| Story ID: | 137988 |
| Location: | FORT BELVOIR, VA, US |
| Web Views: | 66 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Five former DLA team members inducted into Hall of Fame, by Sara Moore, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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