Senior civilian and military leaders assigned to Naval Supply Systems Command (NAVSUP) headquarters and two of the Enterprise’s echelon three commands, Weapon Systems Support (WSS) and Business Systems Center (BSC), participated in an Artificial Intelligence (AI) Leadership Forum Feb. 26, 2026, onboard Naval Support Activity Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania.
During the all-day event, members of the Naval Postgraduate School's (NPS) AI Task Force presented foundational knowledge of AI and then led small group collaborative sessions designed for attendees to develop actionable AI initiatives for Navy supply, logistics, weapon systems and business technology operations.
Rear Adm. Ken Epps, NAVSUP commander and Chief of Supply Corps, kicked off the Forum with opening remarks.
“I love the promise of how AI will ultimately enable and accelerate smart thinking,” Epps said.
He encouraged leaders in attendance to actively incorporate AI as a tool to improve decision making and job performance, and to assist their subordinates in following their example.
Tishia Miller, NAVSUP WSS AI Innovation Team lead, was one of the event organizers.
“Conducting this Forum was part of NAVSUP’s response to 2025 Executive Order 14179, ‘Winning the Race America’s AI Action Plan’ which sets forth the U.S. national security imperative to achieve and maintain unquestioned and unchallenged global technological dominance,” Miller said. “In a convergence of leadership and innovation, this Forum empowered senior officials to analyze NAVSUP's operational framework through a warfighter-centered lens. The initiative focused on identifying key capability gaps and formulating strategies for their mitigation by leveraging advanced Artificial Intelligence applications. Across the Enterprise, we are working at an accelerated pace to bring AI tools and technologies to the workforce to gain decision advantage across the supply chain.”
Randy Pugh, NPS’ AI Task Force lead, said one of his objectives during the Forum was to demystify the technology for those who have concerns about engaging with AI to perform their jobs. He emphasized that AI is a tool to augment the workforce, not replace it.
"AI can assist in making the NAVSUP workforce more efficient and more effective by offloading some of the more time consuming, rote tasks," he explained. "This allows team members to spend most of their time thinking critically about complex problems and solving hard challenges that require their unique talent.”
The mission of NPS’ AI Task Force is to research, develop and deploy integrated AI solutions for military applications to enhance warfighter effectiveness and ensure decision advantage across all domains of Navy operations.
NAVSUP WSS provides the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, and allied forces the program and supply support for the weapon systems that keep naval forces mission ready. With locations in Philadelphia; Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania; Norfolk, Virginia; and Tucson, Arizona, NAVSUP WSS manages operational readiness for nearly 300 deployable ships, 75 submarines, and over 3,700 aircraft worldwide.
NAVSUP BSC is one of 11 commands under Commander, NAVSUP, and delivers IT and information management solutions with specific emphasis on logistics and financial-related products and services for the Navy, Department of War, other federal agencies, and international customers. For more information about NAVSUP BSC, visithttps://www.navsup.navy.mil/NAVSUP-Enterprise/NAVSUP-Business-Systems-Center/.
Headquartered in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, Naval Supply Systems Command (NAVSUP) employs a workforce of more than 25,000 military and civilian personnel worldwide. NAVSUP and the Navy Supply Corps Community conduct and enable supply chain, acquisition, operational logistics and Sailor & family care with our mission partners to generate readiness and sustain naval forces worldwide to prevent and decisively win wars.
They oversee a diverse portfolio including supply chain management for material support to Navy, Marine Corps, joint and coalition partners, supply operations, conventional ordnance, contracting, resale, transportation, security assistance, Sailor & family care, including food service, postal services, retail facilities, and movement of household goods. Learn more at www.navsup.navy.mil, www.facebook.com/navsupand https://twitter.com/navsupsyscom.