COMMAND/ORGANIZATION: U.S. Army Contracting Command – Rock Island
TITLE: Supervisory contract specialist – branch chief
ACQUISITION CAREER FIELD: Contracting
YEARS OF SERVICE IN WORKFORCE: 15
DAWIA CERTIFICATIONS: DOD contracting professional
EDUCATION: MBA and B.A. in management, both from St. Ambrose University
AWARDS: U.S. Army Materiel Command Top Employee of the Quarter, fiscal year 2023

Danielle Gainey

by Cheryl Marino

Logistics services are vital for Soldier readiness and effectiveness in mission execution. As a branch chief at the U.S. Army Contracting Command – Rock Island, Danielle Gainey oversees the procurement of many of these high-visibility services to ensure that Soldiers have the equipment and base life support they need.

“I am proud to contribute to the quality of life that our Soldiers experience while they are deployed in support of our freedoms,” Gainey said. The services that her teams support are critical to base life support services in numerous combatant commands, including U.S. Northern Command, U.S. European Command, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command and U.S. Central Command. “These services ensure that our deployed Soldiers can focus on fighting our nation’s wars,” she added.

Gainey’s teams also oversee the transportation, supply and logistics of the Army’s Prepositioned Stock (APS) program, which strategically prepositions equipment worldwide to reduce deployment response times. “The APS mission ensures that Soldiers have the equipment they need when they need it in order to respond to our nation’s wars.” Together, she said, “these missions are the lifeblood of our deployed soldiers, and I am immensely proud of what my teams do to ensure their success.”

For Gainey, life is all about balance. “We work on balance in the gym for our fitness, and we also have to work on balance in our life. If you think about your day, there are 24 hours available to be used. You should sleep for eight of those hours, ideally; you should work for eight of those hours; and the remaining eight hours should be spent on what you value most, what brings you joy and what helps you grow as an individual.” Gainey refers to that approach as the “balance of the eights,” and encourages everyone she works with to apply it to their own lives. “There will be times when you have to give or take, but the key is the overall balance being in check. We can’t be our best if we are off-balance.”

Gainey joined the Army Acquisition Workforce in 2011 as a contract specialist supporting the Joint Manufacturing and Technology Center at the Rock Island Arsenal. “To be honest, I didn’t know much about the position,” she said. “A mentor of mine said that it would be a secure job because the government always has to buy things. It was quickly apparent that Army procurements are very interesting and no two days are alike.” One day she may be called to assist with a rogue wave in the Pacific that has compromised communications with U.S. allies;  the next day, she might be discussing a capability that a contractor has to assist in repairing equipment to ramp-up support to Eastern Europe. “As a person who is creative outside of work, I enjoy being presented with challenges and asked to craft solutions that are inventive,” she said.

Gainey said expanding her procurement knowledge with various Army commands has been invaluable and has given her a wider view of the Army’s mission. “I have served on so many diverse teams and procured numerous supplies, services, construction and architect-engineering services. All of that has provided me with a broad perspective of just how vast the Army’s procurement mission really is.”

As she became more interested in leadership roles, Gainey was selected to participate in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Supervisory Leadership Development Program. The program includes 10 new supervisors within the agency and focuses on collaboration and communication skills that are critical for successful leadership. “I was able to develop phenomenal professional relationships with nine of my peers, who were experiencing all of the same ‘firsts’ as a supervisor that I was.”

Gainey also completed Level II of the earlier this year. It was very eye-opening to see holistically how she views herself, she noted, versus how her peers view her.

She also completed ALCP Level I, Civilian Education System (CES) Basic and Advanced, and was surprised with the results. “I expected to see myself the same or similar as my leadership viewed me,” she said. “I also expected that I would be challenged most in the area of conflict management. But it was clear, through my 360 assessment [administered through the Campbells Leadership Index], that my leadership views me much more positively than I view myself—I am truly my own worst critic.”

As a result of these courses, Gainey said she now applies the technique of constructively sharing with others how she views them. “It’s a skill that feels very uncomfortable at first, but the more you do it, the more natural it becomes,” she said. If she’s attending a collaborative meeting and a colleague speaks up on a confrontational matter, she does her best to reach out to that colleague afterward to let them know she recognized that speaking up may have felt uncomfortable, but by doing so, they demonstrated the Army value of personal courage or commanded respect through the tone of their voice. “This gives my colleagues insight into how they are viewed by others and can allow them to learn more about themselves.”

Through ALCP, Gainey noted, she gained insight into how she performs as a leader and how she can best support the Army’s missions. “I would recommend this course to every single colleague I can,” Gainey said. “I think anyone can benefit from it, no matter where they are in their career or where they want to go. It is a great starting point.”

Gainey’s professional development also includes participation in her agency’s formal mentoring program, where she coaches, mentors and guides her own teams as well as others who have worked for her in the past. “We all benefit from hearing about others’ experiences, even if we don’t think we will,” she said. “I love engaging with my colleagues.”

That goes for her out-of-work activities as well. “I have a love for helping others, and I do it in many ways within my community,” Gainey said. She is a “huge supporter” of a local dog rescue, Ruff Life Dog Rescue of Illowa, and has fostered dogs in her home for several years. Now that her pet roster is full at her house, she supports their fundraisers as much as she can. She also hosts a monthly get-together with friends, where they prepare and freeze meals. “I enjoy gardening with my friends and sharing the ‘fruits of our labor’ with others.”