OCR Text |
Show 7 HJmpTroes April 11, 2002 ervices nominees win by Beth Young - Hilltop Times staff honors command-leve- l zi"'L - This year Hill AFB has won seven Air Force Materiel Command Services awards, the most awards won by a single base in the command. They will now compete at Air Force level. Col. J.C. Dodson, 75th Support Group commander, commended the winners by presenting them with a commander's coin. Hill AFB competes annually with other Services divisions from 12 AFMC bases. The individual nominees are judged in the areas of leadership and job perforand base or community involvement Supervisors are mance, rated by supervision, customer focus and satisfaction and other accomplishments. Innovation, management, customer focus and satisfaction and operational results are the areas that the programs are judged by. "We put in nominations in every category. I have a board that locally selects the individual and the program (nominees). They have a board at AFMC Headquarters that goes through every one of the categories. They have functional spe cialists in each of the areas," said Thomas director of Services, on the selection. Wat-ter- s, Watters has been the services director since (i September 2000. As director, he oversees all the Services areas on base such as lodging, base restaurants and recreation. "I have the functional I "7y oversight of most of the quality of life facilities on base. There are 700 people who work for us. We have 130 facilities and we're the largest real estate owner on base. It is a very large and complex organization," he said. Watters is credited with superior management and supervision through flight chiefs, activity managers and officers by planning 'get well' The Outdoor Recreation staff Includes Eddie Castillo, financial plans for the child development center, Thomas Watters Beck Anthony. clubs, base restaurants and trie Morale, Welfare and Recreation fund. Many programs went from last to first or second in the AFMC, his nomination said. "We took losing activities, like the club lost money for 30 years, and now they are financially successful, No. 1 in the command. We applied good business management practices," Watters said. Among Watters' many accomplishments that earned him this award, helping with the Olympics is one that he is most proud of. "We have space on base in our lodging for 220 and we retrofitted all the rooms and put 800 " people in lodging. By putting them on base and saved it we the $3.7 government restructuring, ?.-- , million in travel expenses," he said. "I'm always happy to win this award," says Watters who has won this award four times , "because it brings recognition and credibility to the base. What really makes our division successful is that our senior leadership General Bergren, Mr. are Resource Management Flight staff members are Tech. Sgt. Eric Garnett, Cathy Jaeger, Jim Miner, Col. Beecroft and Col. Dodson super supportive of services. Without them we Kuralt, Tom Dodson, Mike Rumsey, Kay Sarazln, Sam Magee, Celly Muehr, Bob Morris, would not be as successful. It is the best chain Theresa Schutt, Rose Crawford, Juanita Dunn, Kitty Jhampathong, Luz Castro, Terrl Lindsay, Edna Lyons and Richard Ridley. of command I have seen in my 27 years." m l (f Howeth started as a front desk clerk at the Hill AFB's Mountain View Inn in 1998, within three years she was the assistant lodging manager. She now acts as general manager. Among the many accomplishments that earned her this award, the one she is most proud of is taking on the unofficial job as room designer to redo more than 265 rooms for Hill AFB lodging. "We are a hotel, it's pretty bad when your facility is a little shabby when it comes to your interiors. What was really nice is that I was actually able to help Hill get almost $2 million in capital replacement money in our Command Lodging Fund project We really improved our facilities and just did a 100 percent turnaround. We've actually made it so that we are now the leaders in AFMC, where other bases are trying to take our lead in what we've done," said Howeth "We did a review to see how old our furnishings were and we put together a design package of the items we wanted to purchase, but instead of doing the standard replacement that you normally see, we went another route: This is Utah, we're so diverse let's show them all the different things that you can get when you are in Utah. We have a building that is your fishing and lakes building. We have two sister buildings that are like ski lodge buildings and we have one that is like the national desert parks. The themes are reflected by the decor from the bedspreads, carpets, and drapes and the artwork and the furniture. It was really fun. We had to piece everything together ourselves because at that time we didn't have an AMFC designer to put our packages together for us, so I had to go to the vendors and get the samples. The compliments and the raves that we got have just been amazing," she said. Airman of the Year: Senior Airman Jennifer L. Smith Smith serves as the assistant for Plans and Readiness Services for the 75th Support Group, where she trains people to be ready for deployment, mortuary affairs, search and rescue "We went to Al Jaber AB in Kuwait last year. I worked night shift at the dining hall there, and I had a lot of responsibility. I did my job, I think, pretty good. I was nominated for senior airmen below the zone and I got that, so I was promoted six months early," she said of some of her accomplishments. Smith has also received the Look Sharp-BSharp award, Service Airman of the Quarter for the second quarter and ear ned an Air Force Achievement Medal for her contribution to Operation Southern Watch. Along with these awards, other accomplishments include demonstrating motivation and a can-dattitude by seeking out problem-solvin- g techniques to improve front desk operations and she received 15 customer comment cards for outstanding service. Her community contributions include volunteering to be 'Bruce the Moose' during the base's annual Summer Bash Week and being a child protection and safety advocate for Laytoncity. e o . 5 COPY 'fiYfr r-'7- 'iJ " , M;- If I Photo by Beth Young Erin Fish, Steve Penhorwood, Corded Ferry, Chris Breck, Jerry Betts and 0m0i& J Civilian Supervisor of the Year: Iliia Howeth f! If Lv fj f L. if j Senior Chilian Manager of the Year: Thomas Waiters pf ''ffi :Sy. i''4':'''C .lwpT Hlia Howeth - Staffing Club Hill are Donnle Davis, Mike McCoy, Kim Yost, Jill McQuIrk, Harold Rivera, Robert Lofqulst, Ned Wall, Fernanda Klos, Mlcha Crawford, Danny Kirch, Scott Lawson, Dolly Marino, Sun Williams, Sung Lee, Levi Rease, Jesse Johnson, Noot Bauer, Richard Lofqulst and Warren Jones. "I am really proud that I received it I feel that if I didn't have the supervisors and the good leadership pushing me, making sure I am doing my job, and noticing that I am doing my job to the best of my ability 0 would riot have received it) ."Smith said. Officer of the Year: Tech. Sgt. Erica Shipp Non-Commission- ed Shipp is has been working at the Hess Fitness Center as the Noncommissioned officer in charge and as a certified personal trainer since February. Before that she was working as the NCOIC of Readiness for the 75th Support Group for two years. It was her work in this department that merited the award. "I definitely think it was the deployment to Kuwait That was a demanding deployment We worked 12, 13, 14 hours a day. I was the manager of the dining facility there. We fed 1,500 people per meal and 5,000 meals a day," she cited as one of the reasons she received the award. She also provided outstanding leadership, mentoring, and direction to 60 diverse military and civilian personnel while deployed to Ahmed Al Jaber AB, according to her nomination. "I think it is a great honor (to win this award) . I was totally shocked to find out I had won it I think it is the good people that work around me, my peers as well as my subordinates that made that happen," Shipp said. Outdoor Recreation Program of the Year AFB's outdoor recreation program has something for everyone, from the Equestrian Club and the FamCamp RVpark to the archery range and Rod & Gun Club. They also rent outdoor and sporting equipment for just about , Hill every activity. However of all its amenities, Cordell Ferry, the Outdoor Recreation director, is most proud of the trips available. "On our white water rafting trips, the rivers we run are the Snake River out of Jackson Hole, Wyoming. We also run the Green River at Flam ing Gorge Reservoir. We do Parade Rest Ranch; it is a dude ranch out of Yellowstone. You get to stay in cabins, and ride horses all you want," he said Tech. Sgt. Erica Shipp Senior Airman Jennifer Smith describing favorite activities. In additional special functions the past year 1,000 customers enjoyed adven- door to handle a year; adding new and special event programs ture tours such as these in the past year. to the club calendar to attract more customers In addition to adventure programs Outdoor of all ages and nationalities. Recreation also sponsors classes. They intro"We were really excited (to win the award) duced five new classes: snowboarding, fly castbecause we have been working hard combining ATV. rock basic In ing, climbing, camping, and addition to teaching important skills these classes the two clubs. It is not easy but we are doing brought in new customers and almost $8,000 well, so anytime anyone gives us kudos it is always in revenue. This year was the most financially a feather in our cap," said McQuirk. successful in history for the program the nomResource Management Flight of the ination stated. Year "The staff (makes it the best), we work well Winning this award is nothing new to this group together. All it is, is basically teamwork, if somewho has won it three times in the last four years. body needs help someone else helps them," said For this flight accounting, is the task that they Chris Breck, Outdoor Adventure director. excel at. Club of the Year "We're responsible for all the accounting for While the Enlisted Club and the Officers Club funds, as well as all the conhave only been joined for four months, the new tracting, all the data automation which includes Club Hill is doing award winningly well. Even about 150 desktops and three file servers. We do with the task of combining not only the two clubs all the logistics for funds and together, but also 35 employees from each all of the deliveries and ordering of appropriated club and constructing a new building, Club and funds supplies," said Bob Hill still managed to win Club of the Year. Resource Morris, Management Flight chief. "We have a great team here that works well Some of their achievements listed on their nomtogether. We try to help the customers, espe- ination include negotiating one of the best air . We came cially at this time (with the show contracts in the Air Force, publishing a out with 'ask me' buttons, since we knew that 'NAF Council Member Electric Handbook' which everybody who was coming into the club would proved to be a great asset to the NAF councils ask Svhere am I going?' We want to take care of and exceptional management skills and g our customers' needs," said Jill McQuirk, acting capabilities enabling the RMF to achieve manager for Club Hill reductions, streamlining operations The club has also had a complete turnaround and increase the profitability and effectiveness financially. It ranked Number 1 in the entire comof the three funds they manage. mand for 2001, after 30 years of losing money, Morris says it is the people he works with that said Thomas Watters, Services Director. enable them to win the award saying, "It's all due Other improvements listed on the nomination to teamwork; we're a good team just doing more include renovating the Community Center next than what is required of us." 40-8- 0 Co-locat- network-buildin- cost-cuttin- i 9,Mf&)l'4Wp-- fHJfiU 'Wdfcil |