REDSTONE ARSENAL, Alabama -- The senior executive leading U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command's technological efforts transitioned to a new position Dec. 12.
William Colson, Technical Center director, took the reins as the director of the Senior Service College Fellowship with the Defense Acquisition University last week.
USASMDC/ARSTRAT commanding general, Lt. Gen. David Mann, said in a statement that while the command says farewell to a remarkable leader, Colson's new position allows him to focus on one of his strong personal interests, developing and mentoring future senior leaders of the military and civilian workforce.
"Bill's leadership and vision have been instrumental in furthering the command's development in the fields of space, missile defense, cyberspace, directed energy and other related technologies," Mann said. "Join me in bidding a fond farewell, to Mr. Colson, one of this organization's greatest leaders and visionaries."
SMDC deputy to the commander, James Johnson, hosted a ceremony honoring Colson Dec. 9, and awarded him the Meritorious Civilian Service Award on behalf of Mann.
Johnson, who said he worked with Colson in the trenches several times throughout his career, said he was thrilled when Colson was selected by SMDC.
"First for selfish reasons," he said, "since I knew I was getting to work with my old friend again, and secondly, I knew he would take the Tech Center to the next level, and he absolutely has."
Colson's efforts, according to Johnson, refocused the Tech Center mission and established long-range strategic goals to achieve the vision of delivering technologies and solutions to enable Warfighter dominance.
"He may be leaving, but we'll reap the results of his work for years to come," he said.
During his closing remarks, Colson said how proud he was to have had the opportunity to be part of the command and see some of the successes achieved by Tech Center leaders and their teams.
"I've only been here a little over a year, but I've made connections and relationships in the command that are just as strong as ones I've built over a decade in other organizations," he said. "This is a family. It's been an absolute pleasure to serve this command."
Leaving the Army after serving as a civilian for 26 years was a difficult choice, Colson said.
"It's not the timing I would have picked," he said. "Two or three years from now would have been a good time to make that transition, but the job opened up, and when I started thinking about it, it was just meant to be."
Colson said he has a passion for leader development and the DAU position was the perfect fit.
"Now I'll have the opportunity to focus all my energy on developing leaders," he said.
Following Colson's departure, Thomas Webber, who serves as the director of Space and Strategic Systems Directorate, assumed the role as acting director of the Technical Center.
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