ALCOAST 079/21 - MAR 2021 2020 COAST GUARD CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER (CFO) AWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE WINNERS

R 021530Z MAR 21
FM COMDT COGARD WASHINGTON DC
TO ALCOAST

UNCLAS
ALCOAST 079/21
SSIC 1650
SUBJ: 2020 COAST GUARD CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER (CFO) AWARDS
FOR EXCELLENCE WINNERS
A. COMDT COGARD WASHINGTON DC 201030 NOV 20/ALCOAST 425/20
B. Recognitions Programs Manual, COMDTINST M1650.26 (series)
1. The Coast Guard Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Awards for
Excellence recognizes individuals and teams who demonstrated
outstanding performance, innovative thinking, and improved
methods in financial management..
2. I am honored to announce the 2020 CFO Award Winners:
    a. Enlisted Personnel E-6 and below: YN1 Sean Stumpf,
Pay and Personnel Center, Topeka, KS. YN1 Stumpf streamlined
the Concurrent Retirement and Disability Pay (CRDP) process,
creating a database and automating the associated Audit Error
Worksheets, seamlessly integrating data from Veterans Affairs
and Direct Access. These efficiencies improved processing times
by 67%, facilitated clearing a year-long backlog, saved more
than 10,000 work hours, and made it possible to complete over
4,400 cases totaling over $35.5M.
    b. Enlisted Personnel E-7 and above: SKC Mitchell Robison,
Aviation Training Center, Mobile, AL. As Acting Senior Field
Contracting Officer, SKC Robison earned appointment as a
Contracting Officer with a $250K warrant, enabling continuity
of critical ATC acquisitions at the local level. Overseeing 11
procurement professionals, he ensured proper stewardship in the
annual expenditure of over $5M in contracts and service maintenance
agreements, and accountability of $800K in supplies and materials.
    c. Chief Warrant Officer: F&S3 Jason Drzewicki, USCGC HAMILTON
(WMSL 753), North Charleston, SC. CWO Drzewicki executed a $1.5M
budget, and flawlessly oversaw $2.9M in accountable property, $160K
in subsistence inventory, and $3.5M in spare parts. Leveraging CG
Attachés, Department of State representatives, and local officials,
he expertly moved parts around the world resolving 43 casualties,
and ensuring continuity of operations. His innovative procedures
provided a cost effective world-wide ships husbandry framework
implemented by Coast Guard and Navy units.
    d. Civilian Employee GS-8 and below: Charity Whitfield,
Finance Center, Chesapeake, VA. Ms. Whitfield played a key
role in preparing TSA and the Coast Guard for migration to
the new financial system. As a key participant in TSA's User
Acceptance Testing for the Accounts Payable and MarkView modules,
she identified and documented four system defects, ensuring proper
functionality within key aspects of the system. Ms. Whitfield also
authored multiple job aides, facilitating end user training prior
to system implementation.
    e. Civilian Employee GS-9 to GS-12: John Lukondi, Base
Portsmouth, VA. As the lead Base Senior Field Contracting
Officer for the D5 Regional Support Team, Mr. Lukondi led
a team of 14 personnel, executing $68M in operational funding,
and personally executing over 3,700 procurement actions, worth
$4.5M to support operations across District 5. His risk-based
acquisition strategy fully integrated information from customers,
financial managers, Base leadership, and procurement professionals
and drove decisions on processing Backlog requests worth $2.6M.
    f. Civilian Employee GS-13 and above: Jennifer Schiferl,
COMDT (CG-82), Washington, DC. Ms. Schiferl was the key architect
of the Coast Guard’s transition to the Common Appropriation
Structure. She assembled a team of subject matter experts from
the Coast Guard and DHS to assist with the massive undertaking
of shifting over $8.7B in operating funds from eight Program,
Project, or Activity (PPAs) to three PPAs with ten sub-PPAs.
Her leadership and ingenuity resulted in an expedited realignment
in less than two months despite lack of access to a full suite
of tools and personnel.
    g. Commissioned Officer up to O-3: LT Brian Hill, Sector
New York, Staten Island, NY. LT Hill expertly oversaw financial
operations for three CG Sectors, and managed all Military
Interdepartmental Purchase Requests for Base Cape Cod to include
$6.1M in operational funding, $400K in energy/fuel funding and
$500K in housing funding. As the Accountable Property Officer,
he instituted extensive inventory procedures, improving asset
reporting and audit compliance for $10M in Real Property and
General Purpose Property.
    h. Commissioned Officer O-4 and above: CDR Chad Brick, FMPS-I
Team, Washington, DC. As the Coast Guard’s Financial Management
and Procurement Service, Organizational Change Management Lead,
CDR Brick created a real-time COVID-19 pandemic reporting system
for medical equipment, testing kits, and personal protective gear
used globally by 872 operational units. The system managed 6.1M
units of COVID-19 supplies and saved DHS/USCG 54,000 work hours.
He also created an integrated solution for Permanent Change of
Station transfers, accurately and transparently tracking over
14,000 moves, including quarantine requirements.
    i. Team Award: FSMS Integrated Project Team, FINCEN, Chesapeake,
VA. This team's contributions to the TSA's migration to the new DHS
financial system represents a critical milestone in achieving the
Coast Guard's successful implementation in FY22. They played a key
role in readiness efforts for TSA's migration to include data
clean-up, training, business process gap remediation and system
testing. The FSMS IPT documented all business processes in 41 job
aids that detail step-by-step instructions for performing all major
financial and accounting transactions in the new system, enabling
over 600 people to support TSA immediately upon migration.
The team consists of:
       (1) John Melchers (FINCEN)
       (2) Paula Kitchen (FINCEN)
       (3) Christie Long (FINCEN)
       (4) Mike Carroll (FINCEN)
       (5) LCDR Jordan Boghosian (FINCEN)
       (6) Deborah White (FINCEN)
       (7) Candace Mianulli (FINCEN)
       (8) Sharease Jackson (FINCEN)
       (9) Ronald Couture (FINCEN)
       (10) Naveen Kumar (FINCEN)
       (11) Davinder Rajpal (FINCEN)
       (12) Taromba Smith (FINCEN)
       (13) Susan Ablet (FINCEN)
       (14) Courtney Thompson (FINCEN)
       (15) Latasha Girdy (FINCEN)
       (16) Patricia Donahue (FINCEN)
       (17) Atul Kumar (FINCEN)
       (18) Kristina Estebo (FINCEN)
       (19) John Snyder (FINCEN)
       (20) LCDR Holly Deal (FINCEN)
3. I heartily congratulate all nominees and award winners
on their accomplishments. I commend the entire financial
management community for all ongoing work that is improving
delivery of CFO services, and finding better ways to support
operational commanders and mission support professionals.
The innovative and dedicated financial management efforts
conducted every day throughout the Coast Guard were reflected
in all of the nominations submissions. Thank you for all you
do to ensure our Service is Ready, Relevant and Responsive.
4. COMDT (CG-81) POC is Dianne Trawick, Dianne.S.Trawick@uscg.mil
or (202) 372-3722.
5. RDML Mark J. Fedor, Assistant Commandant for Resources and Chief
Financial Officer (CG-8), sends.
6. Internet release is authorized.