Photo By Dana Rene White | Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme Division (NSWC PHD) Commanding Officer...... read more read more
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Mary Westlake has spent more than 25 years in service to the Navy, first as active duty and later as a civilian employee. But it is her outstanding performance as a civilian senior leader at Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme Division (NSWC PHD), rather than simply tenure, that earned her the prestigious Navy Meritorious Civilian Service Award.
Westlake received the award for her technical expertise and exemplary leadership as the supportability manager (SM) for the command’s Littoral Strike and Warfare Department (L Dept.) She is responsible for strategic planning, technical oversight and logistic competency development.
In addition, Westlake is a senior technical representative in the Product Support Office, providing technical oversight and leadership in addressing fleet logistical issues and identifying long-term initiatives that increase the command’s capability to satisfy Fleet needs. She is a mentor for all engineering and logistics Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) personnel and leader of command tactical goals, department research, and development projects.
“Mrs. Westlake is an outstanding employee,” said Tim Carpenter, manager, NSWC PHD Product Support Office. “She is an expert in her field, is always willing to take on the most challenging tasks and never lets anything get in her way when striving to complete her assignments on schedule.”
Commanding Officer Capt. Ray Acevedo presented Westlake with her award, in person, during a virtual All Hands event held May 20.
Acevedo noted that in his time at the command, he could recall only one other PHD team member who was honored with the Meritorious Civilian Service Award.
The award recognizes civilian employees who provided exceptional services that have made a significant and positive impact or contribution to a local or smaller area of operation. It is the third-highest honorary award that the Navy can bestow on a civilian employee after the Distinguished Civilian Service Award and the Superior Civilian Service Award.
Westlake was humbled to receive the accolade.
“I wouldn’t be able to do what I do without the people around me,” she said during the award presentation. “I have a great team and great leaders that also support me. When you feel supported, you are able to exceed. My SM community is awesome, and I really appreciate everything they do for me.”
Westlake served in the Navy as an interior communication electrician from 1993 to 1999. She was stationed aboard USS Samuel Gompers (AD 37) during Operation Desert Storm.
While enlisted, she took courses in Information Systems Management from the University of Maryland. In 2005, she received a Bachelor of Science in e-Business from the University of Phoenix, and in 2017, Westlake achieved the title Certified Scrum Master from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Scrum is a software program that provides a framework for project management.
Westlake began her civilian employment at PHD in October 2003 when she was hired as the Aegis supportability/configuration management lead in the Air Dominance Department (A Dept.)
“When I got out of the Navy, I had applied to one of the general logistics management specialist positions at PHD,” Westake said. She and her active duty husband, Trent, were living on Naval Base Ventura County at the time.
“I received a selection notification in the mail,” she recalled. “Then a couple years later, my husband received orders back to Naval Air Station Sigonella, Sicily,”
She left the command for three years to work in the Fleet Industrial Supply Center (FISC) in Sigonella, and later became the accountability officer at the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) Distribution Center Sigonella. She and her husband returned stateside in 2009, and Westlake rejoined A Dept. in May of that year, this time as Aegis shore ballistic missile defense integrated logistics support lead and Aegis baseline supportability lead.
In May 2010, she moved over to the system engineering branch of what was then the Land Attack Department, serving as the LCS combat system product support integrator.
“My experience at FISC Sigonella and DLA helped me gain operational logistics experience to better understand design and sustainment requirements,” Westlake said. “Additionally, I had worked the LCS program briefly prior to my going to FISC Sigonella.”
She became the SM for the Modernization and Installation/Equipment and Digital Systems divisions in June 2012. From 2016 to present, she has worked under the Product Support Office, assigned to L Dept. as SM.
Westlake is “an exemplary leader, proactive team-builder and inspiring role mode,” according to the nomination material NSWC PHD submitted to Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) headquarters. “Beyond her immediate sphere, she is an invaluable resource of institutional information on whom numerous NAVSEA departments and sponsors rely. Notably, she is responsible for forming Memoranda of Agreement between six major program offices to establish the roles, responsibilities and performance criterion for government furnished equipment provided to the LCS ship class.”
Westlake also routinely mentors the technical workforce on career development opportunities, and guides logistics and research Entry Level Employees through their three-year program, including plans of action, milestones, deliverables, rotational assignments and expectations.
“Simply put, she draws out the best in people,” the nomination stated.
L Dept. Manager Jeffrey Koe praised Westlake via telephone during the All Hands event, saying the award was well deserved.
“This is a huge accomplishment,” he said. “I appreciate her efforts to not only help lead the department but help lead the station through this journey together. Her dedication to the Navy is commendable, and it goes without saying that all of us in L Dept. are really proud of her.”
Westlake gave credit to her “department, the leadership and my mentors along the way,” and added, “I would not have been considered without their support.”
This is not the first noteworthy award Westlake has received in her long career. In 2019, Westlake received the Suzanne Jenniches Upward Mobility Award from the Society of Women Engineers. The award recognizes a woman in an upper management position within her current organization who has created a nurturing environment for other women in the workplace.
Westlake has been accepted into a yearlong residency program at the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, and is scheduled to leave later this month.
| Date Taken: | 06.11.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 06.11.2020 14:15 |
| Story ID: | 371920 |
| Location: | PORT HUENEME, CA, US |
| Web Views: | 350 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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