Photo By Teodora Mocanu | Defense Logistics Agency Director Navy Vice Adm. Mark Harnitchek presents DLA Vice...... read more read more
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FORT BELVOIR, Va. - Defense Logistics Agency leaders past and present honored the agency’s retiring vice director at a celebration March 2 at the McNamara Headquarters Complex.
Mae DeVincentis ended more than 37 years of federal service, all of them with DLA. The retirement celebration was hosted by DLA Director Navy Vice Adm. Mark Harnitchek and attended by a number of current and former leaders and team members from the agency and the broader Defense Department logistics community.
“I never thought this would be such a lifetime relationship when I started as a college dropout. It was just a job,” said DeVincentis, who started her career as a GS-2 clerk typist at what was then the Defense Personnel Support Center in Philadelphia. “But somewhere along the way – and you don’t know what day it happens, but it happens – it becomes a career. It’s not about the paycheck any more, but it’s about what you can do to help. Then you’re committed, really committed.”
Harnitchek opened the ceremony by sharing a number of DeVincentis’ career highlights, which were drawn from friends, colleagues and supervisors from every step along her professional path. He paid particular attention to her roles in shepherding the first pharmaceutical prime vendor and the Enterprise Business System and her being chosen as DLA’s first civilian vice director.
“Anybody who knows Mae or knows of Mae knows that … Mae always took the tough jobs, worked hard at them and then moved on to the next challenge,” Harnitchek said. “That’s really the time-honored formula for success in life.”
Harnitchek said he contacted many of DeVincentis’ current and former colleagues to draw material for his speech, and his inbox was bursting within a day.
“If I read it all, we’d be here all morning,” he said. “But one thing that was a common theme from everybody who talked to me about Mae was they didn’t spend a lot of time telling me about what Mae did or what Mae said, but they did go to great lengths to relate to me how Mae led her people, how she treated people, and how she made them feel.”
DeVincentis thanked many colleagues, friends and family, including former agency and primary-level field activity directors and teammates from throughout her career at both DLA Headquarters and DLA Troop Support. She noted that she could not be happier that her good friend and “long-suffering” deputy, Ted Case, was succeeding her as vice director. She also highlighted the support Assistant Secretary of Defense for Logistics and Material Readiness Alan Estevez has given the agency through the years. Estevez was in attendance.
“He’s been a great leader and has been a huge supporter of DLA throughout the years and a wonderful friend to me,” she said. “Through a lot of turbulence, you have always demonstrated unwavering commitment to this agency and you always do what’s right, so we’re really fortunate to have you for our [Defense Department] boss. Thank you for everything that you do.”
DeVincentis took particular note of her family's support, including that of her husband, Dan DeVincentis, who retired from DLA two years ago. She noted that Dan was always brought up during her travels around DLA, with people often asking, "Are you married to Dan DeVincentis?" and adding, "What a great guy!"
Outside of her family, DeVincentis saved special thanks for Steve Chertock, special assistant to the vice director, who worked with her throughout her last 10 years at DLA Headquarters.
“He’s the best partner you could ever ask for,” she said. “He is my conscience, sometimes my mentor, always my friend. He is the first person I see at DLA in the morning and the last person I see before I go at night. He read just about everything I was to see and drafted much of what I said. … He was always a trusted adviser. There’s only one Steve Chertock.”
During the ceremony, Harnitchek presented DeVincentis with the DoD Distinguished Civilian Service Award, the DLA Distinguished Career Service Award, and a shadowbox containing an American flag flown over DLA Headquarters and the agency’s five PLFAs, the awards she’d earned throughout her career, and the six Joint Meritorious Unit Awards the agency earned during her career.
Both Harnitchek and DeVincentis alluded to the fact that she didn’t originally want to have a celebration of her retirement. She said that when her father retired, he simply turned in the proper paperwork and stopped going to work, and she originally wanted to do something akin to that. She thanked Harnitchek for pushing her to have one.
“It’s true, I didn’t want a ceremony because I know how much work it is. I’ve sat through a lot of them, and they are boring and, frankly, I didn’t enjoy them,” she said with a smile, which got the audience laughing. “But since this one is mine, you’re going to have to sit through it. They made me do it, so we’re going to have a speech.”
Although she is retiring, DeVincentis will remain connected to DLA. She plans to start the DLA Foundation, a nonprofit organization that will give employees past and present ways to support scholarships and relief efforts for employees as well as allowing those team members to stay in touch with each other.
“All of these other organizations have … these groups that do good for their employees,” she said. “I took a look at that and decided to establish the DLA Foundation. … I’m going to borrow a Navy term and call it a force for good.”
With her continuing connection to the agency, DeVincentis said she wouldn’t say goodbye.
“Given the fact that I’ve created not only a way to stay in touch, but now a job for myself to get this thing started, I’m not going to say goodbye. I’m just going to say so long. It’s been a … great run here at DLA. Thank you all for being a part of it.”
| Date Taken: | 03.02.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 03.15.2012 07:40 |
| Story ID: | 85270 |
| Location: | FORT BELVOIR, VA, US |
| Web Views: | 126 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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