Photo By Krista Cummins | Lt. Jonathan Zisko is selected as the NAVFAC Pacific Military Engineer of the Year for...... read more read more
Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Pacific Commander Rear Adm. John Adametz congratulated Shannon Kimoto, Civilian Engineer of the Year, and Lt. Jonathan Zisko, Military Engineer of the Year, on being selected as the top NAVFAC Pacific engineers for fiscal year 2021.
“Congratulations to our 2021 NAVFAC Pacific Engineers of the Year, Shannon Kimoto and Lt. Jonathan Zisko,” said Adametz. “Both of these outstanding engineers have made tremendous contributions to NAVFAC Pacific that will pay dividends into the future. Bravo Zulu to you both and congratulations on a job well done!”
Civilian Engineer of the Year – Shannon Kimoto
Shannon Kimoto is the Design and Construction (DC) Business Line Senior Civil Engineer. She serves as the Stormwater / Low Impact Development subject matter expert (SME) for the United States (U.S.) Pacific Fleet area of operation (AO). She provided outstanding technical support on over 40 Military Construction (MILCON) and Naval Construction Battalion projects, and design management for over $250M in MILCON projects over the last three years, and key technical support for a $5B Guam Program.
During this time, she has done an outstanding job by providing invaluable leadership and technical insight as a design manager and SME in the Defense Policy Review Initiative (DPRI) Guam Program, which is aimed at evolving the U.S.-Japan Security Alliance to reflect a rapidly changing global security environment to support the military mission. Kimoto has worked tirelessly with the design team to develop innovative design solutions for various design challenges by integrating engineering criteria and end-user requirements for Federal, Marine Corps, Guam, and Japan agencies. Innovative design solutions have included environmental mitigations and stormwater management practices to protect endangered species, cultural resources, and the critical groundwater resources on Guam. In addition to these, munitions and explosives of concern has been another technical challenge that the team has worked to overcome with innovative design and construction solutions to promote construction workforce safety, and maximize efficient use of project funding.
“Shannon has played a key and valuable role at NAVFAC Pacific for many years in supporting our military throughout our Pacific AO, and her selection as the 2021 Civilian Engineer of the Year comes as no surprise to many who have worked with her over the years,” said Keith Yoshimoto, NAVFAC Pacific DC Civil Engineering branch manager. “She represents the highly competent and dedicated workforce of the entire NAVFAC Pacific Ohana.”
“Being selected as NAVFAC Pacific Civilian Engineer of the Year is a great honor and I am deeply humbled with this distinguished recognition,” said Kimoto. “I could not be effective at my job if it were not for outstanding mentors, co-workers and team members located in both Hawaii and Guam, that I have the opportunity to work with and who constantly support me.”
Kimoto is a graduate of the University of Hawaii at Manoa, with a B.S. in Civil Engineering. She is a registered Professional Engineer in the state of Hawaii.
Military Engineer of the Year - Lt. Jonathan Zisko
As the Supervisory General Engineer, Zisko oversaw the execution of a $250M construction portfolio, and staff of 18, at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland. He developed numerous processes to create workflow efficiencies by coordinating multi-disciplined supervisors and flawlessly performed the project management for the Vertical Electro-Magnetic Pulse Simulator, a globally unique facility constructed to test aircraft resilience to electromagnetic attacks. The $12M project consisted of an experimental electrically conductive concrete mix design never before used in government application. The project delivered within schedule, budget and showcased for government agencies in the application of conductive concrete.
Competitively selected as the Officer in Charge, Zisko stood up the office in Darwin, Australia, a remote, international environment without any established U.S. presence, and only limited remote support, to initiate construction of the U.S. Force Posture Initiative, with projects valued at $480M. He showed continuous design and management prowess working through the complexities and clashes of both U.S. and Australian governments’ bureaucracy, codes, and cultures. While working with international stakeholders across 12 time zones, he executed $118M worth of construction with under half of the minimally needed staffing.
Zisko single-handedly developed a lessons learned register and is the recognized expert for the application of Australian codes, standards, agency involvement, and administrative and legislative requirements, in the design of future NAVFAC projects.
“Lt. Zisko is one of the hardest working lieutenants in the Civil Engineer Corps and Navy for that matter,” said Capt. Michael Obeirne, NAVFAC Pacific Contingency Engineering Business Line manager. “He truly lives up to the Seabee motto every single day – ‘the difficult accomplished immediately, the impossible takes a bit longer’. It is both my honor and privilege to serve alongside young officers of his caliber.”
“I’m deeply honoured and humbled in being NAVFAC Pacific’s nominee,” said Zisko. “The hard work and effort does not solely lie with me, and I am appreciative of all my teammates at NAVFAC Pacific, U.S. Air Force, the Australian Department of Defense, and others who have succeeded in strengthening our ties with one of our strongest Pacific allies. I look forward to continuing in providing great construction products to our U.S. and Australian partners and strengthening the many irreplaceable relationships we’ve made along the way.”
Zisko is a graduate of the University of California at Santa Cruz, with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering. He is a registered Professional Engineer in the state of Maryland.
Both Kimoto and Zisko were forwarded to compete for the NAVFAC Engineer of the Year award and potentially for the National Society of Professional Engineer’s Federal Engineer of the Year award program.
| Date Taken: | 10.29.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 10.29.2020 23:42 |
| Story ID: | 382060 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 447 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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