HOW CAN I HELP? S STEFFANI MCQUERREY


COMMAND/ORGANIZATION: Program Executive Office for Intelligence, Electronic Warfare and Sensors


TITLE: Procurement coordinator YEARS OF SERVICE IN WORKFORCE: 10


DAWIA CERTIFICATIONS: Level I in contracting


EDUCATION: B.A. in psychology, Notre Dame of Maryland University


teffani McQuerrey has built her career around a desire to help others— quite literally. Diagnosed with cancer as a teen, she observed the important and impactful work of hospital psychologists in the children’s ward. “When I was going through treatments, I learned that there is a job called ‘child


life specialist,’ which is someone who works in the hospital, primarily in the wings where there are kids with life-threatening illnesses, and they offer activities as well as someone to talk to about what they’re experiencing, which is really important for kids.” She immediately felt drawn to that kind of work, and was inspired to use her experience to help others going through a difficult medical diagnosis. She entered college a short time later, majored in psychology, and then started an internship at a hospital during her senior year. But she quickly realized it wasn’t the right fit. “I just couldn’t be in the hospital again every day,” she said. “It just didn’t work for me, emotionally.”


So, she finished her degree and then started looking for a new career path. As a native of northeast Maryland and the daughter and granddaughter of Soldiers who had both been stationed at Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG), she already had lifelong ties to the Army. “My mom was born on APG,” she laughed. “My grand- parents actually met at APG when my grandfather was stationed here, so it’s been home for our family since then.” McQuerrey had previously held a summer job as a contractor at Aberdeen, so she went back there. “I was working on a task order, doing mind-numbing data entry, to be completely honest,” she said. But that’s where she began to learn the fundamentals of government contracting and started to envision a new career for herself.


“I was trying to figure out at that time what I was going to do, and someone on my team handed me a copy of Contract Management magazine. Tey said, you know, ‘Tis is a growing industry, and you should look into it,’ and I did.” She would eventually move on to task order management and administration positions with the same company, where she also pursued training and certification. “I went back to school and took classes in government contracting and got certified by NCMA [the National Contract Management Association] in federal contract management,” she said. And the rest is history.


Today, McQuerrey works as a procurement coordinator for the Program Executive Office for Intelligence, Electronic Warfare and Sensors (PEO IEW&S) at APG. She primarily supports the Project Director for Sensors-Aerial Intelligence and the Project Manager for Electronic Warfare and Cyber. “I help them review documents, make sure that they are following the applicable federal and agency regulations— all that kind of fun stuff—to make sure that our PMs [project managers], PDMs


“I really just like being able to help people, and this job gives me the opportunity to do that day in and day out.”


74 Army AL&T Magazine Summer 2021


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