By Steve Stark
FORT BELVOIR, Va. (April 9, 2015) – Army acquisition’s Training with Industry (TWI) Program welcomed its new cohort of 10 officers at an orientation at the Fort Belvoir Officers Club, March 31.
Joined in a day-long session by representatives from participating companies including Amazon, Boeing, Cisco, CSC, General Dynamics Land Systems, Intel, Lockheed Martin and Microsoft, the new participants got a primer on what to expect and what will be expected of them in their new assignments.
The Program Executive Officer for Enterprise Information Systems, Doug Wiltsie, kicked off the event. According to Lt. Col. Clif Sawyer, a current TWI participant, Wiltsie “did a great job highlighting some of his experiences and how exposure to different business models influences his actions today.”
TWI is a work-experience program intended to give top-performing at the level of major to lieutenant colonel extended exposure to industry management techniques and best practices, as well as a view from the “other side of the fence,” which they can then apply to future assignments.
Doug Wiltsie, program executive officer for Enterprise Information Systems was the guest speaker at the Training with Industry (TWI) orientation for 10 new officers who start their assignments this summer. Additional speakers included representatives from industry and current TWI participants who provided an overview of what to expect and what will be expected of them in their new assignments. (Photo by Marti Giella, U.S. Army Acquisition Support Center)
“Depending on who you look at in this room,” said Marti Giella, an acquisition analyst who has managed the program for Army acquisition for the last two and a half years, “we have two representatives from Veterans Affairs [and] we have two representatives from the Air Force. They’re here to provide cross-collaboration—best practices, lessons learned of what they do—and it’s really been great for us. We brought some of their ideas into our program. Looking at some of the industry people here,” she continued, “it’s invaluable that they’re taking time out of their busy day to be here.”
The industry representatives spoke for five to 10 minutes providing previews about how long their companies had been in the program, what their previous officers have done, and what they expect of their incoming officers. “For the incoming officers, this [orientation] is really for them. This is why we’re here. They’re starting [their TWI positions] anywhere between May 15 and July. They’ve got a big challenge, but a fun challenge and experience ahead of them,” said Giella.
During a panel discussion with two current TWI participants, Sawyer and Lt. Col. Joel Gegato spoke of their own experiences with the TWI Program. Gegato was at Intel and Sawyer is finishing up his assignment at Boeing.
“The orientation is a great opportunity for incoming participants to hear from senior acquisition leaders like Mr. Wiltsie, and current and past participants,” Sawyer said. “The orientation focused on the importance of understanding business practices, both differences and similarities [between government and industry], and how the perspective gains can help government acquisition professionals.”
During the panel discussion, Sawyer said, “Joel and I covered several items that we thought were important during our time with TWI. Most important of all the items was ensuring we were engaged with our industry partner so both parties benefited from the relationship.”
For more information on TWI, go to https://asc.army.mil/web/career-development/programs/aac-training-with-industry/
The new TWI Program participants are:
- Lt. Col. Robert Klarenbach, Airbus Group Inc.
- Maj. Steven Gutierrez, Amazon
- Maj. Chae Gayles, Boeing
- Lt. Col. Kecia Troy, Cisco
- Lt. Col. Ralph Ware, CSC
- Lt. Col. Travis Adkins, General Dynamics Land Systems
- Maj. Steven Power, Intel
- Lt. Col. Altheria Niles, Lockheed Martin Training and Logistics Solutions
- Maj. Anthony Douglas, Microsoft
- Maj. Brandy West, Microsoft
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