Photo By Richard Allen | Travis McCune, Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division Newport’s chief strategist for...... read more read more
NEWPORT, R.I. — As the Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division Newport’s new chief strategist for the Strategic Planning Office, Travis McCune hopes to offer new knowledge and views on the work of warfare centers.
After recently completing the Defense Senior Leader Development Program (DSLDP), including studying at the Eisenhower School in Washington, D.C., and completing an experiential assignment with the Defense Department’s chief data officer, McCune, a resident of Providence, Rhode Island, returned to Division Newport’s Undersea Warfare Mission Engineering and Analysis Department with a new focus. In an effort to expand artificial intelligence projects at the warfare centers, McCune applied some of his DSLDP experience to the undersea enterprise, until he began the new challenge as chief strategist in January.
“I’ll be working for Dawn Vaillancourt [head, Strategic Planning Office], supporting her and Deputy Technical Director Don Aker supporting the business side of the equation so it’ll be interesting to see what I can bring from the other perspectives. I hope to use a lot of what I learned from Eisenhower especially the business, economics and the defense industrial base considerations,” McCune said during a recent podcast.
Division Newport’s chief strategist performs a wide variety of functions for the Command including the facilitation of discussions with both the technical department strategists and the workforce to share information on warfighter challenges; identifying innovation activity and events; and working collaboratively to develop cross-departmental solutions to address Navy problems aligned with the Division’s mission.
In his role, McCune will continuously examine the undersea warfare environment with respect to changes in warfighting priorities, technology and policy affecting the Division’s mission, synthesize the information and provide executive-level insights into impacts to undersea warfare and Division Newport that he will share with the leadership and the workforce.
McCune will also help update the Division’s strategic guidance, its short- and long-term strategies, and, more importantly, help implement those strategies. He will also lead the external stakeholder engagement process to ensure proactive and regular leadership engagement with key undersea warfare customers/stakeholders and serve as the technical point of contact for visits by dignitaries.
“I’m really excited to work with Travis and tap into the knowledge that he has gained from the positions he has held at NUWC over the last two decades in different departments and as part of the Field Team.” Vaillancourt said. “I’m also looking forward to him applying what he learned from his participation in the DSLDP Eisenhower School to his new position as chief strategist.”
From a workforce perspective, McCune will assess Division data to analyze workforce trends, identify anomalies and develop recommendations for strategic workforce shaping. He will assess gaps in strategic training plans and make recommendations on NUWC University curriculum to address gaps and identify subject matter experts to develop curriculum. He will also lead the Division’s Knowledge Management (KM) initiative, working with a KM steering committee to identify topics for and expand the KM forums for a wider workforce participation.
As part of the work at DoD, McCune worked with the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), in data scientist and software engineering personnel roles, and plans to apply what he learned there.
“One of the things I did when I was looking at workforce development at OPM is we pulled statistics on age and levels and series for Navy, Army, Air Force … There’s an interesting gap there and I’m really looking at this new position as a way to advocate for NUWC and help us face any obstacles that may come up in the future. But also to help in the knowledge transfer between the generations,” McCune said.
“I look forward helping workforce development from a foundational perspective but also encouraging people to do Field Team assignments and other things.”
NUWC Division Newport is a shore command of the U.S. Navy within the Naval Sea Systems Command, which engineers, builds and supports America’s fleet of ships and combat systems. NUWC Newport provides research, development, test and evaluation, engineering and fleet support for submarines, autonomous underwater systems, undersea offensive and defensive weapons systems, and countermeasures associated with undersea warfare.
NUWC Newport is the oldest warfare center in the country, tracing its heritage to the Naval Torpedo Station established on Goat Island in Newport Harbor in 1869. Commanded by Capt. Chad Hennings, NUWC Newport maintains major detachments in West Palm Beach, Florida, and Andros Island in the Bahamas, as well as test facilities at Seneca Lake and Fisher's Island, New York, Leesburg, Florida, and Dodge Pond, Connecticut.
| Date Taken: | 02.04.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 02.04.2021 10:49 |
| Story ID: | 388358 |
| Location: | NEWPORT, RI, US |
| Hometown: | PROVIDENCE, RI, US |
| Hometown: | REYNOLDSBURG, OH, US |
| Web Views: | 80 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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