THE IMPORTANCE OF PERSPECTIVE
S SARAH MULLINS
COMMAND/ORGANIZATION: Product Office for Command Centers, Installation Information Infrastructure Modernization Program, Project Manager for Defense Communications and Army Transmis- sion Systems, Program Executive Office for Enterprise Information Systems
TITLE: Deputy product officer YEARS OF SERVICE IN WORKFORCE: 7 YEARS OF MILITARY SERVICE: 11
DAWIA CERTIFICATIONS: Level III in program management and Level I in information technology; Army Acquisition Corps member
EDUCATION: Master of public admin- istration in homeland security, Clemson University (expected August 2019); B.S. in criminology, Florida State University
AWARDS: Bronze Star Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, four Army Commendation Medals, three Army Achievement Medals, Valorous Unit Award, National Defense Service Medal, Afghanistan Campaign Medal, two Iraq Campaign Medals, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Army Service Medal, three Overseas Ribbons, NATO Medal
arah Mullins has seen acquisition from a lot of different perspectives: During more than 11 years on active duty, she spent nearly eight years in the Signal Corps and then four years in the Acquisition Corps. She left active duty as a captain and returned to acquisition as an Army civilian. She now serves as
deputy product officer for the Installation Information Infrastructure Moderniza- tion Program’s Product Office for Command Centers, within the Program Executive Office for Enterprise Information Systems (PEO EIS). Her husband, Maj. Jason Mullins, is also part of the acquisition workforce, and began his acquisition career as assistant product manager for Nett Warrior at PEO Soldier.
From those experiences, she has learned two things. First, it’s important to remain open to change, to rapidly adapt to new information and conditions. Second, Soldiers and civilians could stand to learn a little bit more about each other. “Soldiers don’t understand why it takes so long to get what they need. Tey don’t realize that everything they see is the product of the acquisition process, and they’re not famil- iar with the checks and balances of the system,” said Mullins.
“I’ve encountered many civilians in acquisition who don’t understand how the Army functions at lower echelons,” she added. “Te Civilian Education System is a good start, but not enough. Acquisition civilians need to leave their desks and see how their work directly impacts the Soldier. I know that not everyone can travel inter- nationally, but you don’t need to go overseas to see that—in many cases, you can visit an Army base in the U.S. and learn how the Army operates at the division and below.”
Now in her fourth year as an acquisition civilian, Mullins leads global supply chain and materials acquisition operations and spearheads development and implemen- tation of acquisition strategies, spending plans and process engineering strategies. On the surface, her work is about using technology to connect the Army. “In truth, much of my time is spent on developing networks between diverse groups of subject matter experts to build coalitions,” she said. “By encouraging collaboration and building strategic relationships, we are able to accomplish the Army’s mission.”
Most people don’t know the scale of the work that goes into building the Army a modernized network infrastructure for global connectivity and critical cyberse- curity, Mullins said. “Tey’re surprised at the number of teams of software and network engineers, program managers, logisticians, IT [information technology] specialists and cybersecurity experts working behind the scenes for the Soldier to connect the Army.”
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Army AL&T Magazine
Spring 2019
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