JWAC members recognized at quarterly ceremony

The Joint Warfare Analysis Center (JWAC) held its quarterly awards ceremony April 19, honoring more than 20 employees for achievements made during both the first and second quarter of FY 2012 as well as during all of 2011. Included were both quarterly and annual awards.

Kevin W. Graham and Amy M. Colgan both received the Joint Civilian Service Commendation Award for their direct analytical support to a joint task force in Afghanistan. Graham deployed in theater from April to August 2011 and Colgan from September 2010 to January 2011.

For his part, Graham's outstanding analytical ability directly contributed to the success of combat operations he helped support. Colgan, too, supported both task force and strike force senior leaders, ensuring each received timely and critical intelligence to ensure the success of military operations.

Colgan was also presented with the Warfighter Support Award, an annual honorary awarded presented by JWAC that recognizes an individual whose dedication and excellence in support of the warfighter made a significant contribution to the command's operational goals and objectives, improved its support to the Global War on Terror, and upheld its charter mission.

A research analyst with JWAC's Operations Department, Colgan significantly improved communications, coordination and collaboration between deployed employees, JWAC headquarters, and other support staff.

She worked directly with JWAC's customers in Afghanistan where she developed a network of professional relationships that directly resulted in higher quality JWAC products.

Air Force Master Sgt. Lakisha Adams was chosen JWAC's annual Military Member of the Year, Senior-Tier, for 2011. Assigned to JWAC's Military Personnel Branch in its Human Resources Division, she completed a difficult reconciliation of the command's military manpower documents and led the validation of personnel moves as a result of the command realignment ensuring 100 percent of the positions were advertised and filled.

In addition, Adams coordinated with service components on billet management issues concerning the command's organizational structure. As a result of her efforts, JWAC retained 100 percent of overage personnel despite billet cuts, thus lessening the impact of manning reduction while at the same time strengthening the command's ability to support war-time operations.

Air Force Tech. Sgt. Steven L. Hanan was chosen the Military Member of the Year, Mid-Tier, for 2011. He prepared and presented several intelligence briefings that highlighted many engagement options and courses of action to senior leaders and fellow employees. He also created more than 400 intelligence products and supported many other intelligence analysis and related projects, which directly helped the warfighter.

Navy Intelligence Specialist 3rd Class James Cardoza was selected the Military Member of the Year, Junior-Tier, for 2011. Among his accomplishments, he provided support and course of action development that allowed for many engagement options for several combatant command projects, thereby giving them more contingency options for planning.

Navy Chief Intelligence Specialist Matthew Spears received his sixth Good Conduct Medal for faithful, zealous and obedient naval service.

Natalie Ernst received the Global War on Terrorism Civilian Service Award, which recognizes the contributions and accomplishments of Department of Defense civilians who directly support the Armed Forces in a combat theater. Ernst deployed to Afghanistan for nearly four months beginning last November and returning in March. Altogether, she spent 117 days in theater.

Earlier in the week, Navy Intelligence Specialist 1st Class Matthew Reed received the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal. Reed was cited for meritorious achievement as an analyst at JWAC from October 2010 to September 2011, which led to his selection as the Sailor of the Year for U.S. Strategic Command. Among his accomplishments, he displayed keen leadership and teamwork, verified the creation of 1,500 imagery products, helped develop solutions for forward deployed commanders and combat forces engaged in operations, and provided quality control for eight other analysts by reviewing more than 2,000 products.

People of the Quarter

Navy Lt.Cmdr. Mark Monahan was chosen the Field Grade Officer of the Quarter for the first quarter of 2012 for his outstanding support as the command liaison officer to a regional command headquarters as well as a combatant command. In this capacity, he effectively collaborated in the development of task requirements, prioritization and the release of many analytical products and developed the framework in support of crisis action planning.

Navy Intelligence Specialist 2nd Class Nathaniel Wilson Jr. was chosen the Military Member of the Quarter for developing and presenting several intelligence briefs to senior leaders, which provided them with insightful situational awareness. He also volunteered more than 35 hours for the YMCA and led fundraising events that raised more than $500 for poor families.

Five civilian employees were chosen the civilian Employee of the Quarter for the second quarter of fiscal year 2012: Bonnie Behnke, Karian Smith, Stacey Smith, Victoria Tanenbaum and Judith Thompson.

An analyst, Behnke worked on both strategic and tactical tasks that oftentimes required quick turnarounds. For this reason, she arrived early, stayed late, and worked weekends to meet tight deadlines.

Smith was recognized for her technical excellence and natural mentorship skills. Her outstanding ability to train and mentor junior analysts resulted in overall team improvement and frequent requests for consultation from analysts across the command. As a team lead, she balanced project management without impact to analytic requirements or production and consistently delivered high-quality products.

In addition, Smith assumed additional duties in support of JWAC's registry office due to personnel losses while continuing to maintain primary responsibilities. Her positive attitude and flexibility enabled continuity of quality support during a time of major work such as inventory, transitioning to new software, and inspections.

Tanenbaum demonstrated exceptional teamwork and strongly impacted the expectations of a model project lead. Her leadership style, resource management, project planning and personal sacrifice were integral to the success of a challenging project in support of a high-interest customer. Her ability to overcome the difficulties of this project, to foster an innovative environment, and to engage senior management ensured successful project delivery.

Thompson displayed leadership and versatility across many tasks and development efforts that were instrumental to contingency planning as well as real-world operational missions. As an acting branch head, she had significant involvement in five separate tasks across multiple combatant commands.

Professional Accreditation

Christina Byrd was recognized by the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations for earning the Security Fundamentals Professional Certification. She successfully demonstrated understanding of the concepts and principles deemed critical to protect Department of Defense assets.

Length of Service

Length of Service awards were presented to the following employees:

* David Johnston, 20 years

* Wendy Luttrell, 20 years

* Harold Ferenz, 25 years