Souda Spotlight: Tess Anderson, Installation Accountable Property Officer

Tess Anderson is Team Souda’s accountable property officer who tracks all assets purchased with Commander, Naval Installation Command funds. She arrived at NSA Souda Bay in 2019 with her husband, Roger, who works in the IT department, and has been part of the team for almost five months.

How do you keep track of accountable property?

Anything classified, anything sensitive – that gets inventoried annually. All noncapitalized accountable [general equipment] … $1 million and below threshold and the accountable [general equipment] is $5,000 and below, those are inventoried triannually, so every three years. And all [general equipment] … must be inventoried upon change of custodian. All property must be inventoried anytime there is a suspected loss, or at the request of the … commanding officer.

Were you prior active duty?

Yes, I was in the Navy for 8 years, 1 month, and 13 days – from February 1998 to March 2006. I was in disbursing … so in Finance. I did the whole nine yards – doing PCS, doing travel. My last duty in the military, I was the deputy disbursing officer for CNA U.K., that is Commander Naval Activity in London. That was my last position in the Navy. I was a DK2. That was a disbursing clerk, [which] has switched to or migrated to PS, personnel support.

What do you like to do outside the office?

Visit all kinds of beaches! Like last Sunday we were in Almyrida and [we were] so lucky that we were there the last day [the restaurant] was open. It is just so nice going around Crete so far.

Do you have a favorite beach on Crete?

Ah yes! Falasarna … and Elounda … Of course, Marathi is my favorite. That is my first beach. I swam there March 21, 2019. It was about 17 degrees, but it’s okay. I was the first crazy to swim there that year! The sun was up and the background was still snow, that was so beautiful and you’re swimming and the snow on the background was awesome. You cannot get that anywhere else.

What you do want Team Souda to know about accountable property?

Everything that we have here we must keep in good condition. We have to care for (it) because it is our tax dollar money. We have to care. It doesn’t matter how small or how big. If it goes to waste, that’s a no-no. It is actually my responsibility to make sure that it doesn’t go to waste, not abused, and not going to fraud. That is my responsibility … to avoid those fraud, waste and abuse (issues).