Photo By Jhon Parsons | From left: Jim Vallas, a retired engineer and longtime leader of Naval Surface Warfare...... read more read more
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During his more than 40-year civilian career with Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme Division (NSWC PHD) in California, Jim Vallas was a driving force in building the command’s technical competencies and mentoring many of its future leaders.
For his guiding hand and pioneering vision that helped shape the command’s history, NSWC PHD inducted Vallas into its Distinguished Alumni in a ceremony filled with his family and former colleagues on July 12. The event at NSWC PHD came during a week of celebrating the command’s 60th anniversary.
“When it comes to the people here at this command, you cared about every single one — about where they were going and what their future looked like,” NSWC PHD Commanding Officer Capt. Tony Holmes said to Vallas, with whom he worked closely during an earlier tour at the command. “So many people around the command would come to you for advice and guidance, and you never disappointed.”
Vallas is the 12th former leader to join the NSWC PHD Distinguished Alumni, each memorialized with a bronze bust on plaques that line the hallway in the command’s headquarters. Vallas, who saw his new bronze likeness revealed during the ceremony, joins such naval engineering luminaries as Rear Adm. Wayne Meyer — known as the “Father of Aegis” for his seminal role in integrated weapon systems — and Roger “Ted” Rains — NSWC PHD’s longest-serving technical director.
Former colleagues describe Vallas as a first-rate engineer and charismatic leader who helped chart the station’s course and develop its technical workforce. His career trajectory corresponded with the command’s expansion from its early role supporting ship-launched missiles and into combat system engineering and other areas that became integral to NSWC PHD’s support of the Navy fleet.
“Jim was instrumental in setting the engineering vision of this command,” said Mike Horton, a longtime department manager at NSWC PHD. “He was very focused on processes and our technical competencies that drove results.”
Vallas retired from NSWC PHD in 2014, but former colleagues said his legacy endures in the command’s foundation of engineering excellence that he helped build over four decades.
Career trajectory
A Kansas native who majored in electrical engineering at Kansas State University, Vallas started his career in Southern California, where he worked as an engineer on Navy missile systems — including the Standard Missile project — for defense contractor General Dynamics Corp. in Pomona.
Vallas brought that pertinent experience to NSWC PHD, then known as Naval Ship Missile Systems Engineering Station, when he was hired as a Standard Missile engineer in 1971.
Horton said that while Vallas was an electrical engineer by degree, he developed into “a true systems engineer” through his analytical, critical and systematic thinking.
“He was in his element when he was involved with digging into engineering and systems challenges,” Horton said.
Over the years, Vallas rose through the ranks in various technical and management leadership positions, including Aegis weapon direction system branch manager, weapons evaluation division manager and Missile Systems Department manager.
In 1997, he ascended to director of engineering, overseeing the command’s In-Service Engineering Agent (ISEA) and Test and Evaluation efforts for surface ship combat systems and related equipment. In that role, he led eight engineering departments with more than 1,400 technical personnel. He also launched initiatives to develop future fleet support concepts and to increase productivity through process re-engineering and cross-warfare center teaming.
Vallas next served as technical operations manager starting in 2003, then deputy division technical director in 2007. In his senior leadership positions, he paved the way for the command to meet its mission, according to Kris Gillespie, a management analyst in the human resources office.
“Jim preserved our role as the premier ISEA, making all the day-to-day decisions that enabled the departments to excel at providing cradle-to-grave life cycle engineering and sustainment support to the warfighter,” Gillespie said.
Another testament to Vallas’ impact on the command was his close working relationship with Meyer, whose storied naval career included a tour as chief engineer of NSWC PHD. In that role, Meyer often sought Vallas’ input.
“Adm. Meyer held Jim’s engineering insight in such high regard that he consulted with Jim regularly as issues arose,” Horton said. “He and Jim linked up and essentially formed the basis of the installation that we have here today.”
Meyer also bestowed a prestigious honor on Vallas, presenting him with a Navy Superior Civilian Service Award from the chief of naval operations.
Answering the call
Vallas came to be known as “an engineer’s engineer” who also possessed the people skills to be a great leader, according to Fabio Vitale, a department business operations manager at NSWC PHD.
“He was an easy person to speak with, and always professional,” said Vitale, who worked with Vallas during Vallas’ time as technical operations manager. “All of us who worked with him knew where we stood with him.”
When making difficult decisions, Vallas would consider the long-term impact on employees and constantly sought to find “win-win” solutions, according to Vitale.
“He cared immensely about our organization and the people here,” Vitale said.
NSWC PHD personnel who worked with Vallas said that he put the needs of the command above his own interests.
Kris Klimek, also a department business operations manager, said that while Vallas might have preferred to stay more closely involved in technical matters, he “answered the call” to move up into the more strategic leadership realm of NSWC PHD.
“He answered what the command was asking him to do,” Klimek said. “He thought more about the bigger picture and what the whole command needed.”
Similarly, Horton said that Vallas’ combination of technical acumen and people skills made him a prime candidate for leadership, although he didn’t seek the higher profile.
“Jim probably would have preferred to stay involved in technical and engineering projects, but he was driven to supervisory and managerial positions because of his expertise and because he was so good with people,” Horton said.
Command advocate
Former colleagues said that Vallas went to great lengths advocating for the command and its workforce.
NSWC PHD alumnus Howard Ashe began working with Vallas when Ashe was a division manager in the Missile Systems Department. Ashe accompanied Vallas, whom he described as “very diplomatic,” on frequent trips to program offices in Washington, D.C., to strengthen key relationships and maintain a steady flow of work to the command.
“It was a bit competitive, and you had to be social with the program office,” Ashe said. “Jim’s focus was keeping Port Hueneme (Division) healthy, and keeping the Missile Systems Department healthy. Naturally, that supported the Navy — the key was what does the Navy need?”
In a similar vein, fellow NSWC PHD alumnus Terry Wright, who started working in the command’s logistics group in 1975, said that Vallas “knew how to handle the big brass,” and he strove to keep other commands from taking over NSWC PHD’s business.
Vallas also helped bolster the missile supply chain around the country. Ashe recalled a time when the throughput rate was down at the Navy’s then-four missile weapons stations — in Seal Beach and Concord, California; Yorktown, Virginia; and Charleston, South Carolina.
“They were struggling,” Ashe said.
To help improve missile throughput, Vallas and Ashe began visiting each of the four stations quarterly. They would spend a few days talking with the teams and reviewing their production records. Ashe said that he and Vallas helped the stations streamline their testing processes to correct failures more quickly.
“Jim brought that kind of laser-like focus onto the problem to get to the bottom of it,” Ashe said.
Vallas also helped stand up a missile production training school at NSWC PHD.
“Anybody who was going to build missiles for the Navy, domestic or foreign, would come to Port Hueneme and go through that intensive missile assembly and handling course,” Ashe said.
Vallas contributed his technical expertise as the command grew into new areas of engineering — such as combat systems and the Mark 41 Vertical Launching System (VLS) — and as it developed formative facilities — including the Surface Warfare Engineering Facility and the VLS schoolhouse.
Mentor to many
One of Vallas’ lasting impacts on NSWC PHD was his mentoring that helped boost the careers of future leaders.
“A lot of people felt very comfortable coming to him and asking for career advice,” Horton said. “As a result, many who moved on to higher level positions would attribute it to his mentorship.”
Klimek is among those who called Vallas a mentor. As a junior professional engineer in the Missile Systems Department in the late 1980s, Klimek said she was surprised to get to interact with and learn from Vallas, who was deputy department manager when she started, and then department manager.
“He really helped develop people as soon as he saw some inkling of capability that he thought they could use to build their KSAs (knowledge, skills and abilities) and career opportunities,” Klimek said. “I’m an example of that. He brought me into various things that I got to expand and learn on.”
One of those growth opportunities for Klimek was the Technical Capability Health Assessment (TCHA), an annual process that helps commands align their capabilities with customer demands.
When the Naval Sea Systems Command Warfare Centers started the TCHA initiative around 1997, Vallas asked Klimek to get involved for NSWC PHD at the department level. Eventually, Klimek became the TCHA lead for the entire command and sat on the TCHA board for the whole Warfare Centers, which she said opened other career opportunities for her.
“That all started because Jim pulled me in when TCHA started, back when I was an engineer at the team lead level,” Klimek said. “He basically said, ‘You can run with this for our department.’ Then as he moved up to different positions, he brought me up and helped me grow.”
As a senior leader of the command, Vallas pushed for more women in management positions, according to Gillespie, who worked for Vallas in several of his leadership roles.
“Jim and Capt. William DeBow, the commanding officer at the time, challenged the departments to increase the ranks of women and diversity in the higher grade levels,” Gillespie said. “They moved the needle for us.”
A way with words
Horton didn’t work directly with Vallas, but they crossed paths on technical review panels. In those meetings, Horton observed Vallas’ style of listening to other people’s perspectives before speaking up.
“He would take in information as the room was discussing a particular matter, and then he would ask very thought-provoking questions,” Horton said. “He only said something when he felt he had something to contribute.”
As an alumnus of Kansas State University, Vallas often shared his passion for a particular collegiate sport.
“He’s a Kansas boy at heart who loves his alma mater’s basketball team,” Vitale said.
Although Vallas can come across as a “really cerebral man,” according to Horton, he has a knack for injecting humor in the right situations. Sometimes that tied in with his zeal for college basketball.
For example, one of Vallas’ friends at the command at the time, Horace Chambers, had attended Prairie View A&M University in Texas. The two liked to rib each other about their alma maters’ athletics.
“Jim would often tease Horace about Prairie View’s basketball record, especially compared to Kansas State,” Horton recalled. “Horace was a good sport, and they had many laughs during basketball season.”
John Amaki, NSWC PHD’s former activity chief information officer, said that Vallas’ sense of humor was one of his defining traits, along with his personable style of leadership.
“I think Jim’s relaxed and easygoing management style promoted trust in the organization, which allowed managers to address difficult challenges with innovative solutions,” Amaki said.
Gillespie said that public speaking seemed to come naturally for Vallas.
“You could stand him in front of a group of people, and he could speak off the cuff very easily,” Gillespie said. “He just has a gift for that.”
Liz Awa, recruitment and outreach program manager in NSWC PHD’s human resources office, described Vallas as a hard worker.
“I remember working some Saturdays and he was always there,” Awa said.
Ashe agreed. He said Vallas regularly came in on Saturdays to catch up on work.
Sometimes the weekend sessions were punctuated by comical mishaps.
Ashe recalled a Saturday afternoon when Vallas decided to make popcorn in a microwave but accidentally entered an extra digit in the cook time.
“He hit 30 minutes and forgot about it till smoke was coming out,” Ashe said.
Along with his strong work ethic and technical prowess — microwave mishaps aside — former colleagues pointed to another aspect of Vallas’ leadership style: humility. That trait came through as he addressed the audience at NSWC PHD during the recent Distinguished Alumni induction ceremony.
“When you get a recognition like this, it’s really not about one person,” Vallas said. “It’s about all the people you’ve associated with over the years — hundreds of people who have been part of my station and part of my career. I get the credit and get to be recognized, but the award is really for those folks as well.”
| Date Taken: | 07.21.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 07.21.2023 14:54 |
| Story ID: | 449750 |
| Location: | PORT HUENEME, CA, US |
| Web Views: | 697 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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