Sponseller named AMC Dellamonica Award winner

SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Illinois -- Air Force Lt. Col. Hugh Sponseller, the former chief of International Movement Operations (Surface) for the Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command (SDDC), was recently named as a winner of the Louis Dellamonica Award for Outstanding U.S. Army Materiel Command (AMC) Personnel of the Year for 2016.

The award was established to recognize outstanding work accomplishments that have significantly contributed to AMC's mission and overarching goals and objectives. Each year, AMC selects employees, both military and civilian, below the rank of General Officer and Senior Executive Service level, who meet the established criteria.

Sponseller was one of 11 recipients this year.

"During 2016, Lt. Col. Sponseller was directly responsible for the planning and execution of over $500 million of commercial international surface transportation costs in the support of 19 million square feet of cargo," wrote Army Maj. Gen. Kurt Ryan, commanding general of SDDC, in his letter of endorsement.

"He is a superb supervisor, focused on ensuring that this command maximizes its resources in support of the Warfighter and the delivery of Army combat readiness," he added.

Sponseller's nomination packet noted that he made critical force-enabling contributions in the development and implementation of SDDC's improved Command Operations and Intelligence Center, which was a direct reflection on his work ethic and his focus on people and mission accomplishment.

He also stood out as a model worker among his fellow employees, and "served as a positive motivator and inspiration to other AMC employees to become more actively involved in efforts to improve the quality, increase the productivity, and expand the operational impact of their assigned work responsibilities," according to the required criteria for the award.

"Lt. Col. Sponseller was the right person at the right time to take on a significant increase in SDDC operations across the globe," said Tye Beasley, SDDC's chief of Movements Integration.

"Hugh not only executed these critical movements to near perfection, but also ensured that many of our daily roles, responsibilities, and processes were well documented and embedded in command-level standard operating procedures and instructions impacting our brigades," he added.

In addition to the award, Sponseller will also receive an AMC certificate of achievement and a personal letter from Gen. Gustave Perna, commanding general of AMC.

This award was named in honor of Louis Dellamonica, a general engineer with AMC's Hawthorne Army Depot in Nevada. Dellamonica was both the oldest and longest-serving Department of Defense employee before retiring in January 2007 at the age of 94 with more than 65 years of government service.