Position and Unit: Supervisory program manager, Utility Monitoring and Control Systems Branch, U.S. Army Engineering and Support Center, Huntsville, Alabama.
Years of Service: 4
Certifications: Project Management Professional certification, Project Management Institute
Education: MBA, Florida Institute of Technology; B.S., aerospace maintenance management, Middle Tennessee State University
Army Corps of Engineers position fills need to serve
By Susan L. Follett
Matthew Thompson’s acquisition career started with a desire to serve his country. “I served for three years with the Army National Guard as an AH-1 crew chief,” he explained. “I spent seven years on active duty after graduating from college, and separated from active duty in 2005.”
Matthew Thompson, UMCS Branch supervisory program manager, speaks to a UMCS contractor during a post-award kickoff meeting. (Photo by Julia Bobick, Huntsville Center Public Affairs)
He worked as his own boss for a couple of years after that, then as a project and program manager for a company that provided environmental remediation, construction and logistics services for DOD and security services for DOD and the Department of State. However, he felt like something was missing. “I missed the satisfaction I get from working with and supporting our military men and women around the world,” he said, “so I joined the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 2011.”
He’s now a supervisory program manager in the Utility Monitoring and Control Systems (UMCS) Branch with the U.S. Army Engineering and Support Center in Huntsville, Alabama (CEHNC), helping facility managers improve the efficiency and operation of their infrastructure. “The benefits are considerable,” he said. “Energy savings through incorporating energy-efficient designs; installing and upgrading building automation systems and equipment that reduce energy consumption; and providing near-real-time visibility of equipment status through monitoring capabilities that allow managers to quickly identify and respond to maintenance issues.”
What do you do in the Army? Why is it important?
My program, UMCS, helps end users get functionality and efficiency from the industrial control systems—like HVAC, utility monitoring, fire and natural gas control systems—and integrated equipment at their facilities. My team of project managers handles more than 200 separate task orders at any given time, supporting the Army and other DOD entities. As the UMCS supervisory program manager, I make sure that we have the personnel, acquisition vehicles, processes, quality assurance, safety and technical support in place to execute all of our requirements.
Our UMCS team supports requirements that directly impact mission readiness by providing end users with facilities that meet their operational needs with respect to power consumption and efficiency, climate comfort, life safety systems and supervisory and data control and data acquisition solutions for numerous applications. These systems support the infrastructure for our nation’s warfighters to sustain, train and deploy, and I am proud to be a part of a team that can support such an important mission.
What has your experience been like? What has surprised you the most?
I have been with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) for just over four years now and have been surprised by its flexibility to adapt to mission requirements and organizational change. The program I support is very fast-paced because of the significant requirements throughout the federal workspace that we support on a reimbursable basis. As a reimbursable entity that provides services that are available through multiple entities, customer service and technical superiority are what set us apart, and my team maintains a climate where we embrace new ideas and diversity.
What attracted you to the position with USACE?
Diversity in mission and personnel. USACE is unique in that it has both a military mission supporting DOD and a civil works mission supporting the public. Both areas are vitally important to our nation, but these core focus areas also provide a wide range of challenging opportunities for both personal development and growth within the organization.
In the four and a half years that I’ve been with USACE, I’ve seen a tremendous push to provide more transparency of the work performed by CEHNC, with other Corps of Engineers Divisions/Districts throughout the world. CEHNC is somewhat different than other Corps of Engineers entities in that we have several programs that are very specialized to support niche requirements—like the UMCS program. As such, we often have work that falls within the geographical support boundaries of other Corps of Engineers entities. Providing better transparency and collaboration with the Corps team as a whole enables us to provide more robust, responsive and cost-effective support to end users.
You deployed to Iraq in 2003, during the initial phase of Operation Iraqi Freedom. What lessons, if any, did you learn from that deployment that you use in your work now?
No matter how stressful the situation, remain poised and appropriately respond to challenging issues. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen individuals react to a stressful situation and let their emotions get the best of them instead of taking a moment to collect their thoughts and respond. While deployed, the stakes were obviously much different than what I deal with now on a daily basis, but I had the opportunity to work with some excellent leaders who really focused on building a cohesive team.
What advice would you give to someone just starting out in your field?
Remain flexible, and never shy away from asking why. Everyone in the acquisition process serves a vital role, but an individual with fresh eyes on a process can provide a unique and unbiased view that can potentially identify opportunity areas to improve processes.
“Faces of the Force” is an online series highlighting members of the Army Acquisition Workforce through the power of individual stories. Profiles are produced by the U.S. Army Acquisition Support Center Communication and Support Branch, working closely with public affairs officers to feature Soldiers and civilians serving in a variety of AL&T disciplines. For more information, or to nominate someone, please contact 703-805-1006.
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