Winners of the 2019 Army Acquisition Executive Excellence in Leadership Awards
Many people would agree that having their professional accomplishments valued and recognized bring a level of reward and satisfaction. In the world of Army acquisition, we’re paying particular attention to the outstanding work of winners of the 2019 Army Acquisition Executive’s (AAE) Excellence in Leadership Awards. A board of senior leaders identified these acquisition professionals as the best of the best for the work they did to further the Army acquisition mission. The 2019 AAE Excellence in Leadership award recipients are as follows:
Individual Awards
Product Management/Product Director Office Professional of the Year Award (O5 Level) – Lt. Col.(P) Jenny Stacy, Program Executive Office for Command, Control and Communications – Tactical
Lt. Col.(P) Stacy made lasting contributions to tactical network modernization as the Army moves toward becoming a lighter, more expeditionary force. She empowered Soldiers with critical SATCOM capabilities, rapidly delivering innovative new tactical network transport equipment that is making the Army more mobile, agile and lethal. She provided exemplary support to the Expeditionary Signal Battalion-Enhanced pilot; Security Force Assistance Brigades and their evolving Integrated Tactical Network; and the operational needs of deployed Soldiers worldwide.
Project Management/Project Director Office Professional of the Year Award (O6 Level) – Col. Shane N. Fullmer, Program Executive Office Combat Support & Combat Service Support
Col. Fullmer superbly led the Joint Project Office Joint Light Tactical Vehicle Program (JPO JLTV) in the lifecycle management of three families of vehicles and their companion trailers: the JTLV, the Light Tactical Vehicle, and the Ground Mobility Vehicle (GMV). He skillfully managed a funding profile of over $2.4B dollars and a 296 member Joint-service workforce through critical milestones to advance two Acquisition Category (ACAT) IC programs (JLTV and High Mobility Multi-purpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV)) and five ACAT III programs.
Acquisition Support Professional of the Year Award – Deborah G. Ward, Program Executive Office Soldier
Ms. Ward expertly advised the Project Manager and guided critical efforts that delivered mission enhancing and lifesaving capabilities to Soldiers deploying in harm’s way. She creatively leveraged industry innovation to supply the latest technologies to Soldiers at a reduced cost to the Army in a compressed delivery timeline. Ms. Ward actively sought every opportunity to increase the Army’s buying power by establishing initiatives that create opportunities for the other Armed Services to get the best savings through economy of scale procurements.
Thomas E. “Tom” Mullins Business Operations Professional of the Year Award – Maj. Scott M. Davis, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Plans, Programs and Resources
Maj. Scott Davis successfully tracked and communicated the Fiscal Year 20 shift of $30B of research, development and acquisition funding for Army senior leaders. His efforts enabled Army Senior Leaders to brief Congress and industry partners to mitigate any pushback on the funding changes necessary to implement the Army Modernization Strategy. Maj. Davis delivered high quality products which created a shared understanding for the Army Staff and Secretariat that was critical for messaging the Fiscal Year 20 change in priorities.
Defense Export and Cooperation Professional of the Year Award – Kristin McKenna, Program Executive Office Soldier
Ms. McKenna’s leadership, technical expertise, exceptional communication skills, and tenacious pursuit of excellence have been the keystone for enhancing and expanding Program Executive Office Soldier Security Cooperation support capabilities. Her efforts directly and significantly contributed to the development of the strategy, implementation plans, and a supportive resourcing approach necessary to achieve the Program Executive Officer’s vision for a more robust and responsive Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program. Her efforts have set the stage for enhancing the warfighting capabilities of nations that are essential strategic partners of the United States.
Honorable Dr. Claude Bolton Jr. Engineering and Systems Integration Professional of the Year Award – Carl P. Stoops, Program Executive Office Missiles and Space
Mr. Stoops demonstrated superb leadership through his actions to redefine systems engineering within the Army Integrated Air and Missile Defense Project Office to meet Agile development requirements. His consistent display of technical expertise, ability to collaborate across organizations and unrelenting determination to provide Warfighter capability resulted in the development of a complete software build that demonstrates threshold capabilities at a Limited User Test, while simultaneously transitioning the program to Agile software development in accordance with the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019.
Logistician of the Year Award – Michael “Scott” Harris, Program Executive Office Aviation
Through his incredible dedication, aggressive planning, and extraordinary leadership, Mr. Harris was markedly responsible for setting the conditions for the successful execution of the Improved Turbine Engine Program Milestone B and a $500M+ Engineering and Manufacturing Development contract for one of the top Army Aviation modernization programs. Whether formulating the Life Cycle Sustainment Plan for the Improved Turbine Engine Program or designing the Project Office Intellectual Property Strategy, Mr. Harris always lead from the front while providing top cover and mentorship for his team.
Science and Technology Professional of the Year Award – Michael P. Archer, Combat Capabilities Development Command, Ground Vehicle Systems Center
Mr. Archer’s personal drive, leadership, communication skills, and technical competence were invaluable as the Army moves to a new approach for developing, procuring, and fielding protection technologies in an ever-changing environment and was a significant contributor to the success of a major Science & Technology effort. Mr. Archer provided the Combat Capabilities Development Command (CCDC) Ground Vehicle Systems Center (GVSC) team and his Program Executive Officer (PEO) partners with immeasurable value as the lead for the Modular Active Protection program with the transition of the framework, architecture and physical controller and base kit.
Team Awards
Product Management/Product Director Office Team of the Year Award (O5 Level) – Product Manager Stryker Future Operations, Program Executive Office Ground Combat Systems
The Stryker Future Operations Team demonstrated remarkable leadership capabilities in supporting the Warfighters mission while developing, delivering and sustaining the Army’s Premier Wheeled Combat Vehicles. Due to the outstanding leadership and direction of the Stryker Future Operations Team the result was the successful fielding of the Army’s first direct fire weapon system since the 120mm cannon on the Abrams M-1 which ensured the Army’s capability to engage and defeat an aggressor in the European theatre.
Project Management/Project Director Office Team of the Year Award (O6 level) – Project Manager Electronic Warfare and Cyber, Program Executive Office Intelligence, Electronic Warfare and Sensors
From August 1, 2018 to July 31, 2019, Project Manager Electronic Warfare and Cyber (PM EW&C) delivered superior electronic warfare (EW), ground signals intelligence, cyber and space capabilities to the Warfighter. Representing a fundamental and innovative shift in how the Army delivers a new capability, PM EW&C implemented phased prototyping, experimentation, and fielding to deliver new EW capabilities. The effort incorporated Warfighter feedback, infused new technology when available, and quickly delivered incremental upgrades. The team enabled the Army to move faster than traditional acquisition methods allow, delivering needed EW capabilities into the hands of Warfighters one year after they were first envisioned. Warfighters are now using the new tools to implement electronic protection for their own formations, detect and understand enemy activity in the electromagnetic spectrum and disrupt adversaries through electronic attack effects.
Congratulations to all the recipients of the 2019 AAE Excellence in Leadership Awards.
The 2019 Major General Harold “Harry”J. Greene Awards for Acquisition Writing
Just as equally important to acknowledge are the winners of the 6th annual Major General Harold “Harry” J. Greene Awards for Acquisition Writing. It was August 5, 2014, when Maj. Gen. Greene paid the ultimate price in service to our nation while on assignment as the deputy commanding general of the Combined Security Transition Command – Afghanistan. This competition in his name recognizes the outstanding contributions of our military and civilian professionals whose essays, articles and opinion pieces influence and shape the ongoing dialogue about Army acquisition. The winners of the 2019 Maj. Gen. Harold “Harry” J. Greene Awards for Acquisition Writing competition are as follows:
In the category of Acquisition Reform, the winning paper was “Accelerating Science to Solutions at the Velocity of Relevance”, authored by Col. Deydre S. Teyhen, Col. Robert O’Connell, Lt. Col. Vincent Capaldi, Dr. Deborah Shear from the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and Col. Matthew G. Clark from the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology (ASA (AL&T)). Honorable mention goes to a paper entitled “Going Too FAR Takes Too Long” by Mr. Joseph E. Novick and Mr. Ray Gulcynski of the Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Defense.
In the category of Future Operations, the winning submission was authored by Lt. Col. Daniel R. Thetford from Program Executive Office Aviation, entitled “On the Limits of ‘Strong’ Artificial Intelligence: Where don’t we want AI on Tomorrow’s Battlefield?” Mr. Michael J. Ravnitzky of the Naval Sea Systems Command received Honorable Mention for his work entitled “Rare Earth Elements: A Vital Supply Chain at Risk.”
In the category of Innovation, the winning submission was authored by Mr. Kevin Landtroop from the Defense Venture Partner at Capital Factory – Austin and entitled “Accelerating Innovation with the SBIR Program.” Col. (Ret.) Vernon Myers of the U.S. Army Contracting Command – Orlando received Honorable Mention for his essay “Intelligent Contracting – A Vision of the Future of Federal Contracting.”
In the category of Lessons Learned, the winning submission is authored by Col. Matthew G. Clark Office of the ASA(AL&T) and Ms. Kristine Gouveia and Mr. Saumil Shah from the Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Defense. The paper is entitled “Adaptive Acquisition Lessons: Traditional and Novel Tools for Dynamic Quality Product Development.” Two submissions tied for Honorable Mention: (1) the work entitled “Program Management by Design” by Lt. Cmdr. Ryan Hilger from Navy Strategic Systems Programs and (2) the submission entitled “Getting Modernization Right with User-Centered Design and Soldier Touch Points” by Dr. Pam Savage- Knepshield, Lt. Col. Christopher Anderson, Lt. Col. Jason Carney, CW4 (Ret.) Angel Acevedo, and Mr. James Goon of the Program Executive Office Command, Control, Communications-Tactical.
A special note of recognition to the award winners came from Lt. Gen. Paul Ostrowski, principal military deputy to the ASA(ALT): “It is evident that a lot of hard work and critical thought went into the submissions, and I want to express my sincere appreciation to all the authors, their families, and their colleagues who supported them in their writings. My congratulations and best wishes to all who participated in the 2019 Major General Harold J. “Harry” Greene Awards for Acquisition Writing competition.”
Subscribe to Army AL&T News – the premier online news source for the Army Acquisition Workforce. 
Subscribe
