The morning of September 8th, the Aeronautical Center’s headquarters auditorium was filled with hundreds of employees. The theme of the Town Hall was “Team MMAC” mirroring an Olympic feel with a video showing a variety of faces of AMC employees.
Terry James, an employee in the Contracts and Program Administration Branch (AMA-260) treated everyone to his rendition of the Star Spangled Banner singing a cappella. Michelle Coppedge, Aeronautical Center Director, emceed the program and conducted a brief on stage interview with the Center’s new Deputy Director, Kevin O’Connor. Kevin shared stories about his career path, his family and hobbies, and what surprised him about working at the Aeronautical Center.
Michelle then spoke about recent changes in leadership from the MMAC level up to the AFN level. She also stated that the Aeronautical Center is being realigned to the Office of Finance and Management (AFN), instead of operating under Region and Center Operations (ARC).
Most of the change will be seamless to employees reaffirming that everyone’s work will remain the same while upper approval channels may be slightly different. She also reinforced the Aeronautical Center’s commitment to the stated Strategic Objectives:
Michelle then invited her Direct Report Team (DRT) to the stage. Sherry Reese, Director of the FAA Academy (AMA-1) joined the team live via broadcast from one of the Academy classrooms. Sherry talked about some of the Academy courses that are being converted to virtual training, where an instructor can operate the equipment while teaching and students can join in the training from any physical location by merely having the proper uplink. Keith DeBerry, Deputy Director of the FAA Academy (AMA-2) was on stage and elaborated on several topics happening in the Academy like achieving strategic partnerships with key customers, the Academy becoming a Center of Excellence, and the implementation of providing a Safety Management System with the FAA’s Flight Program. The microphone was then passed to Robyn Burk, Director of the Enterprise Services Center (AMK-1) who spoke about AMK’s delivery of financial and informational services, what is being delivered today and what kinds of services are proposed for delivery in the near future, describing those tools that enhance mission execution such as web expenses, ESC PRISM 7.2, COTS web services, Delphi 12.2.5, and DP2 implementation.
Jerald Wolf, acting Director for the Logistics Center (AML-1) talked about his organization providing parts to over 64,000 different systems operating within the National Airspace System (NAS). He also talked about the success of the Air Traffic Control Tower Cab Glass program where a designated team of trained technicians are replacing cab glass hundreds of feet off the ground in several air traffic control facilities. Following Jerald was Charles Sullivan, Director for the Office of Facility Management (AMP-1) who spoke about the various accolades that the Center has received this year (e.g. Sustainability Awards, Designated Agency Safety Health Official (DASHO) Awards, including PEL graduates and emerging enrollees.) One favorite Town Hall topic among employees is having Charles provide construction status and anticipated growth around the Center. Charles spoke about the Systems Training Building (STB), Common Air Route Surveillance Radar (CARSR) relocation project, the Stafford Building exterior replacement, and future renovations for the Multi-Purpose Building. He ended his segment by talking about proposed charging stations for employees and their electric vehicles.
The last third of the program was devoted to Employee Engagement and the Center’s remarkable survey results in having 79% participation in the recent Q-12 survey. This is one of the largest participation rates for the entire federal government! Tim Hibner, President of the AFGE Local 2282 Chapter and Kim Sheppard, Program Manager of the Quality Systems & Business Resources Staff (AMC-3) co-presented this topic as each of them serve as Co-Chairs for the Center’s Employee Engagement Committee. Tim talked about those “crucial conversations” that are necessary for change to occur and encouraged employees to share what is working in their organizations, as well as what isn’t working. Kim Sheppard reminded everyone about the new icon on their desktops, indicating that employees have immediate access to make recommendations for improvement and to learn what’s going on at the Center. She reiterated that the on-line results for the survey will be available toward the end of September but analysis of the results will not occur until October. Every team will have an opportunity to discuss results and decide if they are meaningful to them while identifying issues and proposing or implementing actions to address situations or eliminating them entirely. The Town Hall concluded with a brief question and answer period from employees.
