COMMAND/ORGANIZATION: Joint Program Executive Office for Armaments and Ammunition
TITLE: Operations officer
YEARS OF SERVICE IN WORKFORCE: 13
DAWIA CERTIFICATIONS: Practitioner in program management
EDUCATION: B.A. in anthropology, Appalachian State University
AWARDS: Superior Civilian Service Award (2017); Commander’s Award for Civilian Service (2018)

 Mark Whitby

by Cheryl Marino

Before he joined the Army Acquisition Workforce at Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey, Mark Whitby and his wife, Lee, had close ties to New York City. Mark was an archaeologist for 16 years and worked at the same firm as his wife (then fiancé), in lower Manhattan. The couple decided to take a break from the city for a two-week vacation during the first week of September 2001, not realizing it was a decision that would alter the course of their lives. They witnessed the aftermath of 9/11—not from their lower Manhattan workplace, but while on vacation, a safe distance from Ground Zero.

Whitby and his fiancé had been shaken but spared. This motivated Whitby to want to support his country and do his part to protect others in some way going forward. He considered enlisting in the Army, but already in his late 30s, he felt the time for active duty had passed. Instead, he pursued a contractor position at Picatinny Arsenal so that he could support the warfighter.

“I thought that by working for DOD I could in some small way help our nation during that horrible time,” he said. “I think my story is far from unique and was a quite common occurrence immediately after 9/11, when ordinary Americans, regardless of race, political affiliations, religion, etc., just wanted to do something … anything to help their country. That’s how I came to the DOD world.” In 2010, Whitby’s position was converted from a DOD contractor position to a DOD civilian, and he became a member of the Army Acquisition Workforce.

His greatest satisfaction as a DOD civilian, he said, is being a part of a greater entity that has the warfighter’s interest at heart.

“There are personnel within JPEO A&A [Joint Program Executive Office Armaments and Ammunition] who are in the military or were in the military or have sons and daughters who are or were in the military. The personnel of JPEO A&A take pride in knowing that what they do helps and protects those warfighters by giving them the advantage they may need over current or future adversaries,” he said.

In his role as an operations officer, Whitby is responsible for the coordination and execution of daily task management, staffing actions, briefing documentation and continuity of operations plans within JPEO A&A.

“I lead a small team of four operations officers within JPEO A&A headquarters who evaluate and develop action plans for tasks and actions received from the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology (ASA(ALT)), Headquarters, Department of the Army and the Office of the Secretary of Defense,” he said. “We then task the O-6 level [colonel-led] organizations within JPEO A&A, coordinate and consolidate the information received from the PMs/PDs [project managers and project directors]. The consolidated package is then provided to JPEO A&A leadership for review and approval before providing the response to senior Army leadership.”

Whitby and his team also manage all staffing actions, associated with acquisition decisions, financial management, fielding and transition to sustainment for the six project management and project director offices within JPEO A&A.

“My role is basically to keep communications and information flowing between our organization and senior-level Army, other DOD organizations and Congress. This flow of information enables our government to make the best decisions for our warfighters,” he said.

Whitby’s first year as the operations officer within JPEO Armaments & Ammunition [then PEO Ammunition] was “an eye-opening time,” he said. “Prior to that I had worked for three O-6 organizations within PEO Ammunition. I knew how hard personnel within the O-6 shops worked each day but had no understanding and appreciation of the workload the PEO Ammunition headquarters staff and leadership carried out daily,” he said.

It’s a learning experience, and he would advise junior operations officers to just “be ethical and honest. If you make a mistake, own up to it. Apologize and move on. Be understanding of the workload of the personnel you are assigning tasks to.”

Whitby said most people outside of work, other than those who knew him from his archeology career days, simply know him as “friend” and “dad.” He enjoys spending time with his children in all their activities whether it’s sports, choir, musicals, his daughter’s dance or his son’s Boy Scout activities—or taking on landscaping and other projects at home. He said no matter what he’s doing he is always dedicated. “I try and have the same ethic no matter what it is. I attempt to be the best dad I can be to my kids. My goal is to complete projects at home and at work to the best of my ability,” he said. “In other words, I strive to do the best job that I can do, no matter what or where that ‘job’ may be.”

There are three important lessons Whitby said he’s learned over the course of his career. First, no one is perfect. “Everyone makes mistakes. How you deal with those mistakes is what makes or breaks you. You can either wallow in your defeats or use those mistakes/defeats as a learning experience and move on.”

Also, he said, listen to people, no matter the position they hold. “Don’t be so caught up in what you’re going to say that you miss some great piece of information that someone else is providing.”

And lastly, he believes that “honesty is the best policy.” There are exceptions to the policy but in most cases—in particular in the work environment—he believes honesty is the best course of action even if it initially puts you in a bad spotlight. It’s all a work in progress, and Whitby said he’s “still working on mastering all three.”