By John Higgins, PEO IEW&S Public Affairs
April 2, 2019
Every year, the Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Cyber Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (C5ISR) community selects ten outstanding personnel for recognition. Four personnel under Program Executive Office Intelligence, Electronic Warfare & Sensors (PEO IEW&S) stood well apart from their peers to receive nominations.
Laurence Mixon, Special Assistant to the PEO, endorsed the nominations. “All of these personnel have shown not just leadership, but an important understanding of balance between what we need right now and what we’ll need in the future,” said Mixon. “Securing contracts, streamlining procedures, finding the right people for the right jobs and so much more ensures that PEO IEW&S will be ready for the coming decades.”
Gerald Edelblute, an Assistant Product Manager was nominated for his work for Product Director Tactical Exploitation of National Capabilities (PD TENCAP). Edelbute was cited for having a “unique ability to identify emerging requirements, future capability insertion opportunities and programmatic needs to ensure that the Warfighter stayed ahead of a rapidly evolving threat and unique theater requirements,” according to his award nomination.
Edelblute led Field Service Representatives across five combatant commands between several major defense contractors in efforts to synchronize and streamline equipment and systems generating a cost savings of roughly $500,000 by consolidating storage facilities and using government transportation in place of higher cost commercial support. Other efforts saved an additional $850,000, creating a savings to the government and the tax payers of over a million dollars.
Donald Rhoads won the award for his working as both a Security Manager and the Acting Deputy Project Manager for Project Manager Positioning, Navigation and Timing. Rhoads assumed this dual hatted status during a very chaotic time for the PM, when they were not only rejoining PEO IEW&S, but also had 51 new personnel authorizations and their Project Manager had recently departed. Rhoades first took the lead in fulfilling those personnel authorizations as fast as possible. Next, Rhoades consolidated 12 different contracts for PM PNT’s contractor personnel to a single, $100 million, 5-year, systems engineering technical assistance contract.
These achievements are just the tip of the iceberg, however, as Rhoades worked tirelessly to build supervisory rating chains, forge partnerships with allies and industry, according his award nomination.
Mike Trzeciak, who served with Rhoads during the same challenging time as the Acting Project Manager for PNT for six months. Trzeciak served as an anchor for PM PNT, focusing not just on future capabilities, but the best way to support the warfighter “today.” Trzeciak secured a $5.1 million contract to provide mission critical software for the Army’s ubiquitous Defense Advanced GPS Receiver, (DAGR).
The Deputy Project Manager for Distributed Common Ground System-Army, Lindsey Jones, was recognized for a range of achievements. Jones manages over 100 personnel with a portfolio valued at over $7.7 billion in lifecycles costs. Jones and her team directly support Warfighters at all echelons. Under Jones’s supervision 1,715 units have been trained on DCGS-A. Further, in December 2018, Jones successfully led the largest software transition in United States Army Communications-Electronics Command (CECOM) history. Jones also spearheaded the “Capability drop” system, which recognizes the nature of software as a whole and the Army’s need to adapt accordingly by breaking down development efforts into seven increments. This ground breaking strategy required comprehensive market research to determine the commercial market’s ability to deliver. Jones saw that these changes were executed and implement in record time. She also championed the launching of the DCGS-A Help Desk, a support call center manned by personnel with DCGS-A know how and experience.