FORT KNOX, Kentucky -- A trio of civilians were awarded 2014 Army Human Resources Command Civilian of Year honors in a ceremony conducted at the HRC Headquarters, the Lt. Gen. Maude Complex, on Fort Knox, Feb. 11.
Maj. Gen. Richard Mustion, HRC commanding general, and Command Sgt. Maj. Charles Smith, HRC command sergeant major, presented the awards to Mr. Thomas McKnight, for Senior Civilian of the Year; and Ms. Sarah Rowley and Ms. Roxana Nasir, co-awardees for Civilian of the Year.
McKnight, the deputy of the G3 Directorate, was nominated for his efforts while spearheading the development, planning and execution of the G3 realignment plan. While he ensured the plan was feasible, flexible and executable, another part of the plan's execution included coordinating several supporting functions such as individual work space moves, rating scheme changes, and position description adjustments. In addition, concurrent to this plan several other necessary changes were made to include the stand-up of a separate Policy and Programs branch while other like functions were aligned in the other branches to ensure the correct leadership and expertise were in each branch to be most efficient and responsive. Through the entire process he continued to provide overall leadership by keeping G3 personnel informed with the facts about the status of the plan.
In his position as deputy, McKnight provides the daily senior leadership and guidance to almost 100 civilian and military employees working in six different branches in the G3 Directorate, and serves as a critical liaison and coordinator for the 15 HRC staff sections and four directorates, the Fort Knox installation, and other agencies outside of the command. He is a tireless and dedicated leader who ensures critical events within the command are executed above the standard with no detail overlooked.
Mcknight served in the Army for 21 years, and has been in the federal civilian workforce for 12 years.
Both of the Civilian of the Year awardees were acknowledged for their work in the human resources field in HRC.
Rowley, a human resource specialist, works in the Finance and Incentives Branch, Army Continuing Education System Division, The Adjutant General Directorate, and has more than 29 years of federal civilian service.
She was acknowledged for her work in creating a working group that successfully addressed how to streamline the process of validating active duty service for Reserve Soldiers. Her diligence and leadership of the group ensured that Reserve Soldiers are granted eligibility for the appropriate GI Bill and prevent unnecessary debt related to inaccurate active duty data being used by the Veteran's Administration.
Dr. Pamela Raymer, Chief, Army Continuing Education System Division, and Rowley's supervisor said that Ms. Rowley is one of the most dedicated workers an organization can hope to have. She is an extremely effective leader as evidenced by her and her team taking on huge additional workload with no increase in manpower. She continually remains enthusiastic and manages to motivate her team to excel under these difficult circumstances. She has great initiative and is continuously working to improve processes. She is a valuable asset to this office and the organization.
Nasir, an employee in the Nominative Branch, Readiness Division, Enlisted Personnel Management Directorate, was nominated for her work which far exceeded the expectations of her duties as an administrative assistant. Nasir is an Air Force veteran with 12 years of federal civilian service.
Due to a hiring freeze and unexpected personnel losses within the division, Nasir was detailed into the Equal Opportunity Advisor manager position, a complex human resources specialist position. In this position she had direct responsibility for assigning, tracking, controlling the training and distribution of over 300 EOA managers throughout the entire Army. She took it upon herself to standardize the business practices of processing equal opportunity packets in order to streamline the process. She demonstrated great pride in taking care of our Soldiers, and through her no-nonsense approach and ensuring mission accomplishment she achieved 90 to 100 per cent fill rate for the EO program throughout the Army.
According to Ms. Cindy Holst, Deputy Chief of Readiness Division, Nasir did all this with very little supervision and training. She was quick to master and manage the Army's Equal Opportunity program flawlessly. She routinely demonstrated an ability to identify both future opportunities and challenges, and, as a matter of routine, the valuable ability to capitalize on opportunities and mitigate problems. The value she adds to this organization far exceeds the scope of her duty description, and her genuine care for the mission and her teammates is evident in her enthusiasm and willingness to tackle any task.
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