NAVFAC recognizes standout employees in Pacific

PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM—Naval Facilities Engineering Command Pacific announced last April 17 the winners of the NAVFAC Pacific Area of Responsibility Employee, Supervisor and Team of the Year Awards Program for 2017.

The award recipients include: Dean Johnasen, employee of the year from NAVFAC Hawaii; Kristopher Tom, supervisor of the year from NAVFAC Pacific; and the NAVFAC Marianas Operations Team, team of the year from NAVFAC Marianas.

“There were many qualified nominations and the competition was fierce, but I am very pleased with the selections that were made for these three award categories,” said NAVFAC Pacific Commander Rear Adm. John Korka. “Dean, Kristopher and the entire NAVFAC Marianas Operations Team represent the best of NAVFAC and I congratulate them all on this well-deserved recognition.”

The NAVFAC Pacific AOR Awards Program creates an opportunity within the Echelon III and IV commands to nominate personnel who best represent NAVFAC’s professionally diverse organization. The program continues to recognize employees who exemplify the NAVFAC culture, encourages innovation and excellence, and reinforces pride in the NAVFAC organization.

Employee of the Year
Dean Johnasen serves as an engineering equipment operator at NAVFAC Hawaii’s Public Works transportation motor vehicle operations. He operates excavators, backhoes, bobcats and assists in repairing broken water lines, road repairs and demolition of buildings and warehouses. He also loads trucks, operates on the shorelines removing mangrove derbies, and drives and hauls heavy equipment to job sites. Johnasen was recognized as the lead operator during the force sewer main replacement project and his technical expertise in trenching was critical to this complex, time sensitive mission. He demonstrated a high degree of integrity and drive while working vigorous hours throughout the week to ensure the project remained on schedule without disrupting traffic flow. The attention to detail and can do attitude Johnasen demonstrated played a key role in the success of various projects he was involved with.

Supervisor of the Year
Kristopher Tom is a supervisory contract specialist at NAVFAC Pacific’s Acquisition department. He demonstrated exceptional leadership to develop his employees and interns through an emphasis on training and mentoring to improve knowledge, capabilities and gain efficiencies in executing mission requirements. Tom also showcased exceptional collaboration skills with the NAVFAC Pacific and Hawaii environmental staff, the Guam Program Management Office and the Headquarters acquisition staff to execute an extensive workload through the year expeditiously. Due to his leadership and contracting office responsibilities, his team executed 427 actions in fiscal year 2016 with a staff of seven employees. He rapidly responded to urgent and high visibility projects to ensure they were executed timely, while ensuring the other mission requirements were met. Also under his leadership and guidance, he awarded contracts valued at $125M.

Team of the Year
The NAVFAC Marianas Safety Explosive Team of the NAVFAC Marianas Operations department consists of the following team members: Cmdr. Warren Lebeau; Craig Guth; Cmdr. Adam Perrins; Lt. Kathryn Gutierrez; Lt. Greg Kemper; Lt. Cmdr. Fede Perez Romero; Lt. Jesse Pruneda; Lt. Cmdr. Henry Sutter; Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Mattivi; Lt. Kevin Kasczmarski; Jacob Punzalan; William White; Kenneth Gould; Janalyn Rosario; John Masterson; Jay Lewis; Lt. Michael Bozek; Andrew Orr; Troy Orender; Robert Simpson; Lee Enzastiga. The team challenged existing processes and leveraged innovative planning to address the major challenges and significant financial impacts associated with the implementation of the Munitions and Explosives of Concern (MEC) program on Guam and in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). Working together, the team continued to pursue risk-taking, flexibility in integration of the munitions clearance, site planning, engineering, construction and acquisition processes to gain efficiencies and continued effectiveness, which led to the achievement of the Chief of Naval Operations Explosive Safety (CNO ES) Exemption. The CNO ES Exemption is anticipated to reduce the munitions response impact with a cost avoidance of $1.7 billion over the course of the next 10 fiscal years, which equates to a 16 percent reduction of total construction schedule.

NAVFAC is the Systems Command that delivers and maintains quality, sustainable facilities, acquires and manages capabilities for the Navy’s expeditionary combat forces, provides contingency engineering response, and enables energy security and environmental stewardship. Additional updates and information about NAVFAC can be found on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Like our NAVFAC Facebook Page at www.facebook.com/navfac and follow us at www.twitter.com/navfac, or visit our Photostream on Flickr at www.flickr.com/photos/navfac. (PR)