PORTSMOUTH NAVAL SHIPYARD, Maine –
Portsmouth Naval Shipyard’s Travel Office was presented with the FY21 Excellence in Practice “Elite” Award March 3 during a virtual award ceremony hosted by the Defense Travel Management Office.
The Travel Office processes tens of thousands of actions to ensure Portsmouth Naval Shipyard’s talented workforce can bring their expertise across the globe to deliver excellence for the submarine fleet.
Arranging travel itineraries with such a high number of actions can be a challenge as thousands of those actions can be executed flawlessly, but when there is a handful that need rectifying, those become magnified.
Deputy Executive Director Dee-Dee Schussler congratulated the travel team for facing this challenge and their exceptional work over the past year to drive improvement while remaining customer focused.
“[This award was] an honor,” said Schussler. “The travel office deserves this recognition and was selected by a high ranking panel from a pool of many nominees from all branches of the service. Congratulations!”
The Travel Office was nominated for this Department of Defense level recognition by the Navy’s Defense Travel System Program Manager.
“The travel office is very proud [of this recognition]. We didn’t realize we were even in the running, doing what we do on a daily basis,” said Travel Branch Head Patricia Nolden. As the Elite Award specifically recognizes improvement, Nolden credited her staff for the hard work. “We have definitely come a long way with an amazing team.”
Portsmouth’s Travel Office of Debra Beaupre, Kara Capossela, Karisa Durkee, Misty Eastman, Kathy Grenier, Kelly Hickey, Sheree Hietpas, Nicole Marcin, Celia Maurice, Cathy Neal, Patricia Nolden, Trish Ramos, Julie Trask and Mary Wilkinson earned this award for their superior efforts resulting in continuous improvement and outstanding customer care.