By M. Scott Bortot

On April 30, family, friends, and colleagues honored James Ashworth during his retirement ceremony at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, in recognition of his four decades of service to the U.S. Army as a Soldier and federal civilian employee.

During the ceremony, Forrest Church, Product Manager for Biometrics, described Ashworth’s work ethic and dedication to the mission.

“It does not matter how hard or frustrating it might be. If it is the right thing to do, then his attitude is just let’s get it done and have some fun,” Church said. “A servant leader in word and deed.”

Ashworth joined Product Manager for Biometrics (PdM Biometrics) in 2016 as the Deputy Product Manager for Biometrics Enabling Capability, and most recently served as Deputy Product Manager for Biometrics.

PdM Biometrics became a subordinate organization within Project Manager, Terrestrial Sensors (PM TS) in 2023. PM TS procures, fields, and supports numerous state-of-the-art ground sensor systems globally, including within the United States at the southwestern border and in the National Capital Region.

Ashworth said he enjoyed his PdM Biometrics colleagues’ professionalism.

“They are good people to work with. Smart, professional, and good at their jobs,” he said, acknowledging the importance of people to support the mission. “Protecting our troops and our country, and the Interagency work we did with the FBI, Homeland Security, it is clearly a very important mission.”

PdM Biometrics mission is to deliver, design, engineer, acquire, deploy, and sustain enterprise biometric solutions that enable identity dominance for the Department of Defense.

Church said mentorship is a major part of Ashworth’s legacy to PdM Biometrics.

“We have people that he’s helped develop that were junior folks and he’s helped to really take them to the next level,” he said. “Talking to them and building that team cohesion, where to really motivate them and make them feel that they’re part of something.”

Ashworth learned about leadership from his 21 years in the Army as a commissioned officer. After his Army career he worked in the Pentagon for over 10 years where he gained experience briefing senior officials.

Armed with decades of knowledge Ashworth took pleasure in empowering those around him.

“I’ve been around a while. I try to pass a lot of knowledge from these experiences to younger folks on the team to help them understand the big picture,” he said. “We are working at a PdM office, but what you do is important at all levels and gets fed to higher leadership levels that makes a difference.”

Prior to joining PdM Biometrics Ashworth served as Acting Deputy Project Manager for Soldier Sensors and Lasers, Acting Deputy Director with Combat Sustainment Systems Directorate, and PEO Pentagon Representative for PEO Ammunition for the ACAT 1 Excalibur Program.

Ashworth began his Army career in 1980 when he joined ROTC. He earned his commission in 1984 and retired from Active Duty in 2005 when he worked as a contractor until 2010 in support of the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology) ASA (ALT). For the final leg of his career, he joined the Federal Civilian Service in August 2010.

Church described Ashworth as the glue that held together the PdM Biometric team. He helped steer PdM Biometrics during Covid, even inspiring other to go on runs when it was safe.

“He’s always been the leader of what we call the Fort Belvoir Trail Running club, where he was getting people out at 6:30 and 7:00 o’clock in the morning once or twice a week to run the trails at Belvoir,” Church said.

In retirement, Ashworth will spend time with his family, wife Karen and their children, Jenna, Jessica, and Jake. He’s also a grandfather to Henry and Lincoln. For the immediate future, he will help care for his two-month-old grandson, Lincoln.

“I’m the grandpa daycare right now.”

Later this summer, he and Karen will embark on an RV tour of the eastern half of the U.S. with their labrador retrievers, Chili Dog and Queso. Along the way, he looks forward to visiting an RV park on Florida’s Gulf Coast.

“You can set your chairs out there and watch the sunset, it’s pretty amazing.”