PHILADELPHIA –
Naval Surface Warfare Center, Philadelphia Division (NSWCPD) employee Kim Yee was recognized with an award from the Federal Asian Pacific American Council (FACPAC) during a ceremony in Huntsville, Ala. on May 16.
Yee, NSWCPD’s Machinery Programs & Platforms Department Contracting Officer’s Representative Supervisor, was awarded the 2019 FAPAC Excellence in Individual Achievement, GS 13-15 Category.
The award recognizes Yee for “outstanding efforts in promoting diversity” as well as his “exceptional leadership in advancing the mission of [his] agency to serve the public and [his] contribution to make the federal workforce the best in the world.”
NSWCPD’s former Commanding Officer, Capt. Francis E. Spencer III, who nominated Yee for the award praised Yee for his role in engaging the Command’s workforce, as well as championing diversity and inclusion.
“For over 30 years, Mr. Kim Yee served NSWCPD as a valued employee and leader across multiple areas and a variety of engineering and business projects. Throughout his career, Mr. Yee worked tirelessly advocating for equal opportunity for those of Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) heritage and other communities across diverse cultural and social backgrounds,” Spencer wrote in the nomination letter.
Yee is an adviser and co-founder of NSWCPD’s Naval Asian Society Employee Resource Group (NASERG), as well as a member of the Command’s Equal Employment Opportunity Advisory Committee.
As an advisor to NASERG, Yee has focused on outreach to the Command’s AAPI community.
“Communication is key to understanding a diverse organization like NSWCPD. Communication helps us to utilize our diversity by understanding people’s backgrounds,” Yee said. “It is very important for us to provide resources to new employees. It gives us the opportunity to mentor younger engineers and to help them build their network.”
Yee accepted the award not only as a recognition of his personal achievements, but for the Navy and NSWCPD.
“[This award] recognizes that the Navy is part of the overall federal community that wants to see underrepresented people succeed in the federal government,” Yee said.
According to FAPAC’s website, “Since 1985, FAPAC has been committed to addressing the interests, issues and representation of AAPIs in the Federal and D.C. governments and promoting local partnerships within the public and private sectors. FAPAC is nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that represents the interests of over 181,000 AAPI employees in the Federal and D.C. governments.”
NSWCPD employs approximately 2,600 civilian engineers, scientists, technicians, and support personnel doing research and development, test and evaluation, acquisition support, and in-service and logistics engineering for Navy ships. NSWCPD is also the lead organization providing cybersecurity for all ship systems.