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SURFACE WARFARE SUMMER 2020
Commander, Naval Surface Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet (COMNAVSURFPAC) and Commander, Naval Surface Force U.S. Atlantic Fleet (COMNAVSURFLANT) announced their 2019 Civilian of the Year (COY) award winners, recognizing their commands’ top civilians who have demonstrated the highest standards of performance and excellence throughout the previous year. COMNAVSURFPACs, Bruce Acton, N7 deputy assistant chief of staff, was named the senior COY and Karen Diaz-Pellot, a paralegal specialist, was named the junior COY. “Bruce and Karen are truly deserving of this recognition, and exemplify all of the civilian workforce accomplishments,” said Jeff Klein, executive director, Naval Surface Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet. COMNAVSURFLANT named Todd Dirks, comptroller financial management analyst, as their COY. By Mass Communication “Mr. Dirks is a Financial Management Analyst Specialist 2nd Class Alex responsible for providing timely and accurate financial Millar, Commander, budgeting, accounting, allocation, and execution of Naval Surface Force, U.S. resources in support of the Surface Force Atlantic Pacific Fleet Public Affairs (SURFLANT) mission to deliver combat ready ships and crews,” said David Volonino, SURFLANT executive director. “He has been a role model of professionalism by ensuring SURFLANT financial accounting systems were both accurate and available, as he led the command through the Navy’s challenging transition from the Standard Accounting and Reporting System to the Standard Accounting and Budgeting Systems. His hard work and dedication to mission accomplishment were vital to SURFLANT’s ability to sustain continuous financial operations.” The COY award recognizes the accomplishments of civilian employees who have made significant contributions to the overall mission and day-to-day operations that allow the naval surface forces to function at their highest levels while executing the man, train, and equip functions of the surface Navy. “I was extremely surprised and deeply honored to receive such an award,” said Acton. “There are many dedicated, hard-working people that work with me and I was fortunate, and perhaps a little lucky, to be selected from such a distinguished group of professionals.” Acton also said that the award is an acknowledgement of his entire organization and that it offers an opportunity to show how valuable an asset the Naval Surface Forces civilian team can be to the collective. Dirks shared similar sentiments to Acton. “Being chosen as the COMMNAVSURFLANT’s COY is a great honor considering the number of other amazing civilian employees that I have working around me,” said Dirks. Diaz-Pellot provided a unique take on the importance of the relationship between civilian and military personnel and how vital their relationship is to one another. “Civilian personnel are very often the backbone that provide consistency and
balance in the work environment since the demands on our military personnel leaves them away from home so often,” said Diaz-Pellot. “Civilian personnel provide critical corporate knowledge and experience, as well as mentorship and guidance to junior civilians and Sailors alike, to ensure mission success.” Karen O’Connor, principal assistant to the executive director and civilian program manager for COMNAVSURFPAC, said that there are hundreds of civilian employees that work throughout the command. The competition was tough to select the winners, but all are true examples of merit. “The COY nomination packages we receive include exceptional performance across the entire year,” said O’Connor. “They include significant impact statements on the employee’s contributions to provide warships ready for tasking.” While the nomination packages demonstrate on paper what these high-performing civilians have accomplished, the work they have put in during the past year is helping make a difference in the daily lives of not just the COMNAVSURFPAC staffs, but in also in the fleet. “Programs such as the Civilian of Quarter and COY highlight the important work our civilians are doing and acknowledging them is a way to thank them for all for their hard work and dedication,” said O’Connor. “Our government civilian employees are an essential piece of surface force readiness and our ability to meet operational tasking.” Many of the civilians that receive these awards are often previous service members themselves who have received good mentorship and pass along that mentorship in their current civilian roles. “There are so many people throughout my career who have helped me earn this recognition, and I have the eternal support and encouragement of my family, especially my remarkable husband, who himself is a retired veteran and now a civil servant,” said Diaz-Pellot. “I’m extremely grateful to the staff I work with, especially my immediate supervisor and the other personnel in the office who allow me to use my experience to contribute to our team’s success. Teamwork and cohesiveness are essential to mission accomplishment.” *
