Photo By Julie Lemmon | Capt. Ben Van Buskirk relieves Capt. Frank Futcher as NavalX Director in a...... read more read more
Alexandria, Va. – Reflective of NavalX’ unique style, Capt. Frank Futcher passed the literal torch to Capt. Ben Van Buskirk, as he became the new director of NavalX, in a non-traditional change of command, featuring welding torches, March 19 in Alexandria, Va.
Dressed in welding gear, Futcher and Van Buskirk addressed the 14 in-person attendees as well as the Zoom audience, with Futcher welding a line onto a metal plate, followed by Van Buskirk, signifying the continuation of leadership at NavalX.
Chief of Naval Research, Rear Adm. Lorin Selby, presided over the event via Zoom and highlighted how NavalX has removed barriers and influenced agility and speed by asking, ‘Where are you today? Where do you want to be tomorrow? How do you get there?’
“During this period of growth, NavalX has become a beacon for change that is inspiring others to connect with NavalX, be a part of the network, and work together to operationalize and institutionalize agile thinking, methods, and best practices,” Selby said.
Following the turnover tradition, Futcher thanked the NavalX staff. “It has been an honor and privilege to have had the opportunity to be a part of NavalX,” Futcher said. “The most rewarding part of my job was to witness the amazing passion, talent, energy, and creativity of the NavalX team and the DON workforce. It was inspiring.”
NavalX has grown in the two years Futcher served as director. “The team took a vision and transformed it into a platform for agility that the entire Navy can connect to,” he said.
Futcher will retire from the Navy after 30 years as a supply officer. He reflected on how quickly his career has gone by, stated that this last tour at NavalX has been immensely satisfying and relayed the utmost confidence in Van Buskirk as he takes the reins.
Van Buskirk is a naval aviator and comes to NavalX from the Strategic Warfighting Innovation Cell in Washington, D.C. He has also served as a Secretary of Defense Executive Fellow at VMware, Inc. in Palo Alto, Calif., where he worked with senior executives on business strategy and technology innovation.
“Frank (Futcher) and his team have done an incredible job standing up NavalX and building a foundation for further success,” Van Buskirk said.
Van Buskirk intends to collaborate with the Chief of Naval Operations’ staff and the fleet on their highest priority problems, and to work with the research, development and acquisition team to deliver capabilities to the warfighter.
“NavalX is interested in exploring initiatives that further engage active duty Sailors and Marines. We are seeing high demand for our Center for Adaptive Warfighting course offerings, and we’ll expand this program to create an informal network of idea sharing between the fleet units, acquisition professionals, and NavalX.”
NavalX serves as the Department of the Navy (DON) workforce “super-connector,” focused on scaling non-traditional agility methods across the DON workforce.
| Date Taken: | 03.19.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 03.19.2021 16:10 |
| Story ID: | 391883 |
| Location: | ALEXANDRIA , VA, US |
| Web Views: | 378 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, NavalX hosts change of command, by Julie Lemmon, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
LEAVE A COMMENT