Deputy garrison manager brings experience, heart to Baumholder community

BAUMHOLDER, Germany -- It takes a strong person to lead a strong community -- someone who is ready to take on the many challenges involved with taking care of a garrison installation, its people and the mission.

When she arrived last fall at the USAG Rheinland-Pfalz, Debra Jordan was ready -- ready for the strong mission of enabling readiness, and ready to care for troops and their families and ready for her role as Baumholder deputy garrison manager.

"Here at Baumholder, we have a strong sense of community. We are rock strong, community strong. There is no doubt about that. There is a strong history between our military community and the Baumholder community proper," said Jordan, a Lawton-Fort Sill, Okla., native. "This relationship has been nourished for years and years, and so the relationship flows. We have several different programs in place that constantly connect host nation and Baumholder MILCOM, and I plan to continue to nurture that strong bond. I spend invaluable time with the district mayors and mayors throughout the area so that on- and off-base relationships are blended seamlessly."

What is truly seamless is her blend of leadership style, common sense and vast experience to take care of and lead the Baumholder Military Community in 2017.

"I am a collaborative, fact-based decision maker. Many of the decisions I make are based on facts and empirical data. I'm not the type to just go off the top of my head to make a quick decision because it's important to know and understand second-, third- and fourth-order effects," Jordan explained. "That is one of the reasons I make collaborative decisions consulting the team. I don't want to make decisions that fix one thing and break another. I also don't want to make permanent decisions that will be changed later because certain facts were not considered or an assumptions were wrong. That's why it's important to collaborate."

The Baumholder team also includes a wide variety of tenant organizations that call Smith Barracks home, Jordan said.

"We understand the importance of our installation support to their operational missions, which enables the Army to respond globally, as well as provide quality of life locally," she said. "The unit commanders and troop input is valuable as I unite the Baumholder team to ensure we provide the best in-garrison support to all Soldiers and families here."

Jordan's professional insight came from years of serving at various jobs and through great mentors in her life.

"I pick mentors of character, heart and integrity. It's important to surround myself with visionary people who are servant leaders. I am a servant leader. When you look at me, you can count on my integrity and commitment to Army Values. I will serve everyday -- no job is too small or too large," she said.

Her first mentors were her parents, who guided and believed in her all their lives. Later, as she studied for her bachelor's degree in accounting from Cameron University, she worked for the first female budget officer at Fort Sill, Dorothy Gray, who was also one of the first women to attend Army finance school.

"She was ultra-professional, focused and personified excellence. She started as a GS-1 and made it all the way to become the installation budget officer. That job was normally filled by males. At that time female advancement was a big hurdle, and she wore that badge of leadership with pride and purpose," Jordan said.

During the eight years working for Dorothy, Jordan heard stories of the sacrifices and the harassment her mentor endured to break down barriers so many other women could follow behind her.

"Recently while interviewing before a Senior Executive Service panel I thought, 'I've grown up to exude the same characteristics. I'm like Dorothy now!'" she said. "I wish I could still thank her now, but she knew back then how much I appreciated her."

As she continued her career at Fort Sill, she came across another mentor in Jim Russell, the deputy garrison commander. From Jim, she received the opportunity to learn a strong and effective leadership style.

"He was a leader of action -- that was how the mission got done. He told me that leaders don't always get things right, so they have to listen to their people to make good decisions," Jordan said. "He also said if you're the leader -- lead. Don't drop the ball, don't pass your leadership down and don't take the credit. He was the greatest."

People may not see it, but under Jordan's professional exterior beats the heart of a true sports enthusiast.

"I'm a sports fanatic. I love watching sports -- from pee-wees all the way to the pros. I love, love, love sports. It's about the strategy and the team camaraderie. It's watching to see how the team will gather, put their heads together and use their talents to get the mission done," said Jordan, a "Boomer-Sooner" fan. "So for football, every week you get to see their strategy play out to accomplish their "win" mission. I like how it makes people rehearse and train so they can hone their skills, build their strength and endurance so that they can accomplish the mission. That is overall how I think of teams in general."

Teamwork takes dedication, and part of Jordan's leadership style is surrounding herself with like-minded team players.

"I think part of my leadership regimen to keep me encouraged is knowing there is a group of professionals on the team that commits. I'm fortunate because when I came here to Baumholder, I found that group -- no doubt about it. They are committed here at Baumholder to accomplishing the mission, and they do a lot of service behind the scenes to make sure they bring the mission home to the Soldiers and their families. They gave me an early Christmas gift when they gave me this team here. They are awesome -- they really, really are."

During her career, she's served on teams at every Army level from installation, region, core and Department of the Army.

Jordan said one of the toughest things she accomplished in her previous position as the business transformation chief at Headquarters, Installation Management Command was developing IMCOM's first strategic plan, where she incorporated elements of Army Community of Excellence principles in every strategic objective.

She said that as well as her education at the Eisenhower School National Defense University is what made her knowledgeable about all the activities going on at the garrison level. Although the plan has since been updated, it still serves as the major foundation. Since becoming the deputy garrison manager four months ago, she's doing exactly what she wrote about strategically.

So what can people expect of Jordan as a leader? She wants Soldiers, civilians and families to know that it is important they are treated with human dignity and respect. Many people may know "The Golden Rule" -- Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. When servicing customers executing policies and procedures, she likes to follow what one of her mentors called "The Platinum Rule" -- Do unto others as they would have you do unto them.

"There is a difference," the deputy garrison manager said. "That is a way to satisfy their needs. When I look at a situation, regulations and policy, the Platinum Rule runs through my head when I'm trying to deliver customer service."

It's all about defining customer expectations, she said. The tone for customer service should be set and demonstrated to serve, meet and satisfy customers. To know what customers need, she and her team have to listen to learn their expectations. Within Jordan's first 100 days here, she put herself in many places so she could listen firsthand to Soldiers, civilians, families, young people and commanders.

Although she never wore a military uniform, Jordan has served with her military counterparts for the better part of 35 years.

"It's been a joy every day of my 35 years. I've been happy to be a part of this Army team, and I've made it my priority to give the mission everything that I have to make sure that the team wins. It's been my pleasure."

Concurrent to her government civilian service career, Jordan has also been involved in public service as a community organizer, youth activist, motivational speaker, business mentor and served as a board of directors' member.

Her civil service awards include the Stalwart Award, two-time recipient of the Commander's Award for Civilian Service and two-time recipient of the Civilian Superior Service Award. Her community honors include Woman of the Year, Citizen of the Year and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Humanitarian Award.

Jordan was also selected to attend the Office of the Secretary of Defense's Senior Leader Development Program, serving a Pentagon leadership development rotational assignment as the special adviser to the Principal Military Deputy, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology. She also graduated from numerous leadership development training programs to include the Harvard Senior Executive Fellow Program with the Kennedy School of Government, Civilian Education for Senior Leaders Curriculum with Army Management Staff College and the Headquarters, IMCOM Centralized Mentoring Program.