DAHLGREN, Va. – Denise Bagnall reflected on memories of her mentors and their guidance throughout her career when informed that she won the second highest Department of the Navy honorary award that can be granted to a Navy civilian employee.
The Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD) engineer credits her mentors, family and exceptional opportunities for her success, recently culminating in the Department of the Navy (DoN) Superior Civilian Service Award.
“I would like to thank my early mentors at NSWCDD for all of their advice, and for encouraging me to take on challenging assignments from day one in my career,” said Bagnall. “I would also like to thank my husband and son for allowing me to travel extensively for work, which opened up so many opportunities to learn, grow, and interface across the U.S. with government and contractor experts.”
NSWCDD Commanding Officer Stephen ‘Casey’ Plew, NSWCDD Technical Director John Fiore, and U.S. Rep. Rob Wittman formally recognized Bagnall on July 27 for her outstanding contributions to force-level Navy systems across the navigation and track management portfolios.
Her support proved critical to the success of multi-organizational collaborative teams. These teams include members from industry, academia, and the Navy Research and Development Enterprise.
Bagnall also served as the Integrated Warfare Systems Aegis Interoperability Warfare area manager. In this role, she successfully integrated the previously mentioned teams to produce specific capabilities with a high level of excellence.
“I have never looked for the next promotion in my career,” said Bagnall, “I have just worked hard every day to do my best, and to support the warfighter. I spent many nights and even weekends away from home. My daily commute is a two-and-a-half to six hour round trip but I have been so blessed to work with the experts in this field and do not regret a minute of it. I also have built so many friendships that transcend the work environment. The Naval workforce is the best.”
Awardees of this honor are recognized for exceptional far-reaching, Enterprise-wide contributions that warrant Echelon II command recognition.
“Thanks so much to all the people who worked hard to get this award through the process, it is an honor to receive it,” said Bagnall.
This award also recognizes Bagnall for the key role she played in deploying Counter Air, an enabling pillar of Naval Integrated Fire Control. She produced substantial contributions to NSWCDD, the Naval Sea Systems Command, and the U.S. Navy. Additionally, she provided major contributions to NAVSEA Integrated Warfare Systems Engineering Directorate including the formulation of a long-range strategic plan for the Navy’s Distributed Engineering Plant.
In the past 32 years, Bagnall worked on various aspects of systems engineering on several Naval and joint programs at NSWCDD. She is now the NSWCDD navigation chief engineer, a position she has held for the past year.