PICATINNY ARSENAL, N.J.--When Anthony Sebasto became the newest member of Senior Executive Service in August 2015, he said that the military business "is a team sport."
Now, as the head of a key organization at Picatinny Arsenal, Sebasto wants to extend the team concept to increase his organization's value and how it does business. Sebasto is Executive Director of the Enterprise & Systems Integration Center, or ESIC. The center is a directorate under Picatinny's larger organization, the U.S. Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center, or ARDEC.
Its mission is to plan and guide all ARDEC programs by ensuring that each project performs beyond expectations, satisfies customers, arrives ahead of schedule, and remains under budget. The organization is responsible for key independent functions, such as quality engineering, systems engineering and financial management.
"I love the thrill of doing great things for the Soldier and having my organization and ARDEC as a whole recognized for doing those great things," said Sebasto. "What an opportunity to have a sense of accomplishment that you're doing something great for the nation, especially as the world continues to change, and still balance it with home life. It's almost like you can have your cake and eat it too."
To accomplish its mission, ESIC relies on Integrated Product Teams (IPTs), a multidisciplinary group that is responsible for delivering a product or service. These IPTs will often crossover with the other ARDEC directorates, such as the Munitions Engineering and Technology Center (METC) and Weapons and Software Engineering Center, (WSEC) which have the design and engineering personnel to complete different projects and programs.
"Most of the time, projects can't get done without the competencies resident within all three organizations" said Sebasto. "We have to work together as an enterprise and respect what we each bring to the table."
As the Executive Director of ESIC, Sebasto is responsible for establishing and guiding these IPTs and measuring the progress of all their ARDEC programs. Many of these programs support the research, development and production of small, medium, and large caliber weapon systems, and directed energy weapons for both air and ground combat systems, as well as the individual warfighter, employing lethal and/or non-lethal effects.
Sebasto is also the lead of the U.S. Army's Subterranean/Megacities Materiel Developer Working Group, which examines future challenges of fighting in subterranean and dense urban environments (also known as megacities).
Sebasto and a group of ARDEC employees initiated a Materiel Developer Working Group in the U.S. Research,Development and Engineering Command, or RDECOM, in 2014. Today, the working group is comprised of personnel across the Army, including RDECOM, Engineer Research and Development Center, the Medical Research and Development Center, and other Department of Defense agencies addressing current urgent user needs and helping shape future requirements and new materiel solutions. The efforts of the working group led to RDECOM being assigned by the Chief of Staff of the Army as the Army's lead for developing materiel solution for megacities.
"I've always been someone that goes 50 miles per hour," Sebasto said. "Now, what I need to work on, is taking more time to think strategically and spend time articulating that plan to the workforce," said Sebasto. "Not that I'm busy all the time. I just need to partition more time to projecting key strategic messages to the workforce."
GAINING PERSPECTIVE
A resident from Lawrenceville, New Jersey, Sebasto's interest in working with military equipment and systems started at a young age. Some of this interest was inspired by his father, Anthony L. Sebasto, a U.S. Marine who served during the Korean War and fought in the battles of Seoul and the Chosin Reservoir.
However, Sebasto's connection with Picatinny originated in college, when he submitted an application to interview at the arsenal and "won the lottery."
"When I was at the University of Delaware, their job fairs were based on a lottery system. I had put in a ticket for an interview for Picatinny and I got it," said Sebasto. "Then, it got cancelled--in the early eighties, the job market was very tough."
"But, because I had put my name in the lottery that first time, I eventually got a letter in the mail from Picatinny that asked me to come up and interview," Sebasto recalled. "If I had not put my name in that hat, I have no idea where I would be today."
Sebasto graduated from the University of Delaware with a bachelor's in mechanical engineering in 1982. Later that year, he started at Picatinny as a mechanical engineer. This was when he met John Slivosky, his first supervisor, who taught Sebasto the importance of communicating technical material to the customer.
"He [Slivosky] taught me to not tell a customer necessarily what they want to hear, but rather tell them what is technically correct," said Sebasto. Sebasto's early technical career focused on aircraft armaments (e.g. AH-64 Apache), small arms (e.g. Advanced Combat Rifle), and Armored Vehicle Armament Systems.
Since that period, Sebasto's experience at Picatinny has leaned more toward managerial and senior leader positions rather than hands-on engineering, which Sebasto says provides him with a "strong and stable foundation" for management roles.
For example, prior to his current position, Sebasto served as the Director of METC, where he managed research and development personnel, resources, and facilities for lethal and non-lethal joint service munitions, such as gun and shoulder-launched munitions, demolitions, area denial munitions, and munition components.
In addition, he served as the Director and Senior Technical Executive of the Armaments Engineering Technology Center, or AETC. AETC was one of three major ARDEC organizations from October 2003 to March 2008. The organization was responsible for training a workforce that could support the program executive officer and program, product and project manager materiel developers.
Its main directorates were Weapons Systems and Technology; Munitions Systems and Technology; Fire Control Systems and Technology, Fuze and Precision Armaments Technology; Energetics, Warheads and Environmental Technology; and Explosives Ordnance Disposal.
TAKING RESPONSIBILITY
For his achievements in these positions, Sebasto has received awards for his superior civilian service and, in 2004, earned the National Defense Industrial Association Picatinny Chapter Firepower Award. The Firepower Award is given to persons whose outstanding service in the areas of management, technology, development, and/or production have been deemed as a major contribution to the national defense.
"My experience goes across munitions and weapon systems for my entire career," said Sebasto. "I don't know everything--nobody knows everything--but no matter how we're organized, I know where to go to find out what I need to know."
Sebasto has also expanded his formal education. He obtained a master's degree in management from the Florida Institute of Technology. He also graduated from the Senior Executive Program at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, and is a member of the Army Acquisition Corp, certified in engineering, science and technology management, as well as in program management.
"They are as challenging, or more challenging, than the engineering type of disciplines," said Sebasto about managing positions. "You have to consider many aspects--the engineering and technical aspects, costs, performance and schedule and then presentation--and a lot of leadership skills are something that you grow through over time."
Still, Sebasto says that one of his most memorable Picatinny experiences was in the early years of his career, when Sebasto worked on aircraft armaments, specifically the 30 mm gun on the Apache helicopter and its transition from development to production.
"There were a lot of challenges and issues with the aircraft at the time," said Sebasto. "We were working issues on the development, and then an aviation officer said to me 'you really need to understand what the gunner has to go through,'" said Sebasto."So, I ended up getting a front seat ride in the Apache at Fort Rucker, Alabama for about an hour. That was like a rush and certainly gave me perspective on the gunner's control station and its functionality."
This kind of an eagle-eye view has taught Sebasto to consider and balance some key career lessons, including not being afraid to make mistakes, but also being mindful about what does and doesn't work. Sebasto also notes that career management is as much your responsibility as it is your organization's responsibility.
"If you feel like you're getting stale in what you're doing, don't be afraid to move," affirmed Sebasto. "In other words, when some people start a job in an organization, they'll say 'I better stay here because that's what's going to advance my career.' Or, they'll think 'If I move, the organization won't like me anymore.' That's the way it was ten or fifteen years ago--you work some place for forty years.
"But, today, it's very important to have various degrees of experience, working not just different things, but working with different people. It makes dealing with career change so much easier."
When asked how to work with different people and still cultivate strong teams, such as with IPTs, Sebasto stresses the importance of a unified understanding, commitment, communication, remembering each individual's kwnowledge and strengths, and providing support and recognition.
THE FUTURE OF ESIC
With these teamwork skills, Sebasto plans to underscore the value of ESIC to the ARDEC enterprise, as well as enhance how ESIC does business internally and externally. Typically, ESIC works on IPTs with employees from other ARDEC groups, such as METC or WSEC. However, these IPTs can also work with larger military organizations, including RDECOM and the U.S. Army Research Laboratory, or external customers, who may not entirely understand every project or program.
"I aim to take the technical work that we do and articulate it to our users," said Sebasto. "In other words, I try to make sure that my teams and I can explain 'what's the importance of this and what's it going to mean for you?' to our customers."
In addition, Sebasto says that a common misconception about ESIC is that it's an "oversight organization," a group that supervises like a 'watchdog' over projects and programs. While it's true that ESIC oversees ARDEC's projects and services, Sebasto explained that the organization tries simply to lead and orchestrate the integration of hard-core engineering and science skills to accomplish a mission, not be an "oversight organization."
Related Links:
U.S. Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC) homepage
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