Pete Hunter is an assistant director for small business programs at the Mission and Installation Contracting Command headquarters at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, Texas. He was recently named MICC Headquarters Civilian Employee of the Month for April.
Describe your current position:
Small businesses provide critical supplies and services that contribute greatly to the Army mission. The small business program helps preserve free competitive enterprise, and maintains and strengthens the overall economy of the nation.
What attracted you to work for the Army?
While the opportunity to serve my country and give something back had always been in my mind, I decided to enter federal service while I was watching television in the law school library on Sept. 11, 2001.
Where do you call home? Do you have family?
Home is where my wife and children are. I have a wife, Kathryn, and two children, Jay, age 6 and Margaret, age 5. No part of my day is wasted. Whether at home, work or church, I try to keep busy with things that matter. I am a father, and doing that job well takes a lot of patience, hard work and energy. Kathryn and I are active in the church and also in a program called "Imagine no Malaria," which endeavors to eradicate this 100 percent preventable disease which, in Sub-Saharan Africa, still kills a person every 60 seconds.
What is your greatest satisfaction in performing your job?
It is always satisfying when, as often happens, the items provided by a small business cost less, are of higher quality, and have better customer service after the sale. One DOD customer told me, "When I call a small business on the weekend, I get the president of the company on a cell phone that he or she answers. That person is eager to make my situation better. When I call a large business, I get 'the machine' and instructions on when I should call back."
What would you like others to know about you?
I support a great team of MICC headquarters small business specialists who are spread all around the country. Many people in the headquarters don't always get a chance to know these great people or understand their hard work with individual small businesses who call and drop-in for advice. One leader asked me recently, if we took out most of the small business coordination forms at that office, what would be left for the small business specialist to do? I just laughed and said, "All of the rest of their work."
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