UNIT: Project Manager Maneuver Ammunition Systems (PM MAS), PEO Ammunition
POSITION: Deputy Product Director
AAC MEMBER SINCE: 1999
TOTAL YEARS OF ARMY SERVICE: 33
AWARDS: Army Packard Award, DOD Value Engineering Award, Army’s Greatest Inventions
EDUCATION: M.S. in quality systems management, the National Graduate School of Quality Management; B.S. in mechanical engineering technology, University of Tennessee at Martin
What do you do and why is it important to the warfighter?
As deputy product director, I lead four NH-IV team leads and six GS project management engineers with responsibility for the development, production and fielding of cannon caliber munitions (20 mm, 25 mm, LW30 mm, 30 mm x 173 mm and 40 mm/L60) and 40 mm grenades (low and high velocity) for all services, coalition partners and allies, and manage 56 products.
What are some of the milestones you’ve achieved?
I transitioned from active duty to the Army Reserve in 1986 and began a career as an Army civilian, working at Watervliet Arsenal, New York, where I served in a variety of positions. As an Army Reservist, I served in the systems development functional area as a key staff and technical advisor for critical research, development, engineering, acquisition and logistics projects with the Army Ballistics Research Laboratory, Army Materials Technology Laboratory and the Army Weapons and Materials Research Directorate, Army Research Laboratory.
From 1999-2001 I supported the Army Research, Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC) at Picatinny Arsenal as a supplier quality engineer establishing strategies for supplier management and developing and implementing policies for government-contractor partnerships. I served as project director of the Common Remotely Operated Weapon Station (CROWS) for PM Small Arms, managing overall program execution for the CROWS; and as the chief of the Tank Ammunition Branch in the Quality Engineering Directorate, ARDEC, providing management and technical direction to a multidisciplined team of engineers and technicians in the accomplishment of tank ammunition and large caliber ordnance systems project management and acquisition lifecycle management.
I was recalled to active duty in October 2001 in support of Operation Noble Eagle for one year at Army Materiel Command (AMC) Headquarters and served as Homeland Defense Forces planning officer responsible for coordination of logistics, command and control, mission planning and life support issues associated with the mobilization, mission performance, demobilization and rotation of reserve component forces activated to provide force protection and homeland defense to AMC ammunition plants, arsenals, depots and installations.
I returned to Picatinny Arsenal in 2002 as the assistant director of the Industrial Base Management Office, PEO Ammunition, serving as the focal point for engineering planning, management and oversight of the ammunition industrial base programs. Requested by PM MAS to serve as Project Director Small Caliber Ammunition second sourcing in 2004, I was responsible for establishing and directing multifunctional and multiorganizational integrated product team (IPT) efforts in program management, systems engineering, system integration, acquisition, procurement, acceptance and fielding of Army Standard small caliber ammunition acquired from worldwide producers to fulfill Global War on Terrorism requirements above the Army’s organic capacity.
In 2005, I was selected to establish the Product Manager Medium Cannon Caliber (now PD MC) office based on my performance and expertise. There, I established a small team of experts and learned the diverse cannon caliber customer base. I established and led a Medium Cannon Caliber Ammunition Joint Service integrated product team to identify cross-service requirements, resolve customer issues for medium caliber ammunition and to facilitate rapid resolution of programmatic issues to ensure contract awards and deliveries met service customer requirements. This initiative led to substantial improvements in communications across services for common munitions, leveraging of the DODwide Medium Cannon Caliber knowledge base, and rapid resolution of technical and programmatic actions within the Single Manager Conventional Ammunition responsibilities of PEO Ammunition.
After a 24-year career, I retired from the Army Reserve in 2007 as a lieutenant colonel.
What is your greatest satisfaction in being part of the Army Acquisition Corps?
The greatest satisfaction in being part of the AAC is the development and fielding of new and evolving technologies which provide the warfighter leap-ahead capabilities.
In celebration of the silver anniversary of the Army Acquisition Corps (AAC), Access is publishing “25 for 25” — twenty-five profiles of members of the AAC across the Army Acquisition Workforce. These profiles provide unique insight into the variety and importance of the work done by the AAC every day.
