DAHLGREN, Va. –
The Department of the Navy and Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) senior leadership announced the civilian winners of the fiscal 21 NAVSEA Excellence Awards from the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD) workforce, June 17.
The awards program selects candidates from a pool of top-performing civilian personnel and teams who are nominated by their organization’s leadership and peers. For fiscal 2021, the awards committee received 256 nominations from across the warfare centers and bestowed awards to 22 individuals and 22 teams in 24 categories.
The selection process is highly competitive and extensive. Each category’s board members are composed of leadership and subject matter experts at NAVSEA Headquarters (HQ) who review individual candidates’ and teams’ qualifications and select one individual and one team to receive the award in each specified category.
For the fiscal 2021 awards season, five teams and one individual from NSWCDD received awards in six categories. These civilian workforce personnel demonstrated a high-performance level while implementing forward-thinking solutions, displaying the “One NAVSEA” attitude and outstanding leadership and provided unwavering dedication to developing and executing top-quality programs and systems support.
The awards committee presented the Fiber Optic Test and Repair Certification Program Team with the One NAVSEA Teamwork Award for “establishing a certification framework and infrastructure that will ensure ships and sailors are prepared to perform critical fiber optic repairs while underway,” as stated in the awards citation. NSWCDD team members Richard Scott, Donnita (McArthur) Jones and Matthew Castelo supported efforts that will “increase system availability, avoid loss of redundancy and avoid using costly fly-away teams to perform repairs” for the fleet.
“The amount of personnel involved and the knowledge base now involved is going to bring a large return on investment to the Navy and more importantly the sailor,” stated Scott. “In the very end, it all comes down to the sailor on that ship, troubleshooting and repairing that fiber optic issue and getting their system back up 100% to protect themselves and their ship.”
“Having NAVSEA HQ recognize the hard work and accomplishments of this team is truly satisfying,” said Castelo. “The team’s work in establishing this program is only the beginning, and this award is a great affirmation that the program we are executing is the right way ahead for the fleet.”
The NAVSEA 04X Fiber Optics Program Team received the Commander’s Innovation Award for “receiving certification to conduct standardized in-house fiber optics training across the four Naval Shipyards.” The team, composed of personnel from NSWCDD’s Strategic and Computing Systems and Integrated Combat Systems departments, worked diligently to develop and launch an innovative fiber optics training program for the Department of the Navy. Michael Brown, Robert Throm, Matthew Castelo and Dale Geiger truly exhibited “an admirable example of a high-performing team accomplishing extraordinary things,” as stated in the awards citation.
For Brown, receiving the award recognizes the hard work and dedication from the team that went into establishing a training certification program that took years in the making. “As a NAVSEA team, we overcame many obstacles with the end goal to deliver a better product to the sailor. This award recognizes all of the teamwork that went into making this a success!”
NSWCDD civilian employee, David Hogue, supported the Program Executive Office Integrated Warfare Systems MK-54 Decoy Launch Message Converter Team. The team won the NAVSEA Excellence Award in the Excellence in Logistics category for their “exemplary leadership, innovation and resourcefulness in developing a critical component for sustained mission readiness of the Navy’s primary decoy launching system, the MK-53 Nulka System,” stated the award citation.
Jeffrey Carlson and Jeffrey Lyon, in support of the Program Executive Office PMS 378 Ford Class Test Team, received recognition for “demonstrating exceptional foresight and coordination with numerous aircraft carrier stakeholders” and “working through hundreds of predecessor test events, certifications and readiness reviews,” as read in part in the awards citation. The team was presented the Excellence in Test and Evaluation award.
Naval Gunnery Senior System Engineer Paul Wingeart felt honored and humbled as an individual recipient of the Excellence in Program Management Award. He supports NSWCDD’s Gun Weapons System Division within the Integrated Engagement Systems Department and is recognized for his “technical leadership, dedication to innovation and a successful demonstration in fielding systems.” His contributions also included providing “detailed attention to process improvement and technical rigor, ensuring that products are delivered to the warfighter on time and of the highest quality,” according to the awards citation.
From Wingeart’s perspective, the award recognition represents an overall outstanding team effort. He attributes the program’s success to his fellow colleagues, stating, “I get to work with some of the smartest, brightest people in the world. We’ve built a great team within the Mark 160 Gun Computer System program, and it’s my honor to work alongside them.”
The NSWCDD Dam Neck Activity Business Office Training, Personnel and Administration (TPA) Team received the award in the Excellence in Command Support Award. The team’s citation highlighted the great work generated by its members: Lorraine Ayerves, Roberta Marable and Leslie Miyazono. “The [team] successfully led numerous command initiatives, producing a series of solutions that increased the effectiveness of the organization, improved program consistency and identified avenues for future enhancements to increase mission effectiveness.”
Marable, who has since retired, reflected on the accomplishments of the team that led to the awards nomination and selection. “The TPA Team takes great pride in consistently being an integral part of customer support. It’s an honor and privilege to support the men and women of the fleet.”
Team member Miyazono and current team lead Ayerves both echoed Marable’s views. “It is very satisfying to be able to provide support and to help solve problems to such a diverse workforce,” said Miyazono. “Our team handles a wide variety of tasking, which keeps it interesting day to day. Our motto here is “Centralized, concise, solutions oriented,” Ayerves stated.
An awards ceremony was held on July 20 at NAVSEA HQ in Washington, D.C., where Vice Adm. William Galinis presented the awards to the recipients. The event was also live-streamed on various online platforms for the NAVSEA workforce.
Congratulations to all the winners.