WEC manager named among Army’s best for COVID response efforts

By Karl Weisel

U.S. Army Garrison Wiesbaden Family and MWR

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced leaders to find new and unique ways to continue delivering first-rate services. In U.S. Army Garrison Wiesbaden that has meant dramatically altering food and beverage operations to ensure everyone’s health and safety while continuing to seek and find ways to enhance quality of life.

The Wiesbaden Entertainment Center has been at the forefront of that effort. Its manager, William Montgomery, was recently honored for his contributions as a winner in the 2020 U.S. Army Installation Management Command’s James A. Carroll, Jr., and Excellence in Management Awards.

“Mr. Montgomery has displayed initiative, resourcefulness and outstanding professional ability to improve on services offered even during mitigation measures as a result of COVID-19,” said Wiesbaden MWR’s Business Operations Division Chief Mark Smith. “The initiative to create a food delivery program, drive-through events and a mobile food truck were instrumental to our community during COVID-19.”

Besides a host of tailored efforts to feature a wide selection of healthy food choices and bowling at the WEC, Montgomery also oversaw the drive to make a wider range of food and beverage selections available for take out and delivery. He opened a new convenient eatery on Wiesbaden’s Clay Kaserne, the Silver Spoon’s Burger Bliss, and successfully managed his nearly 40-person workforce to ensure consistent adequate staffing at these facilities and the Shali Café, located in the Shalikashvili Mission Command Center on Clay Kaserne.

Other major projects on his watch have included free bowling for outstanding students and redeploying service members, a drive-through barbecue operation in celebration of the Fourth of July, MWR Customer Appreciation Day, host nation outreach, holiday support and much more.

“Mr. Montgomery and his staff put in long, hard hours, quickly adjusting to increased mitigation measures and finding creative ways to service the community,” said Smith.

“Under his leadership, this facility has become a more viable and beneficial source of morale, welfare and recreation,” Smith added, noting the financial success of his leadership.

“When the different mitigations started to come down, we had to find a safe way to serve our customers,” said Montgomery, who served in the military for five years and has worked in a civilian capacity with the U.S. Army for more than two decades.

While acknowledging the recognition, Montgomery said he was proud of his entire team – “the staff members who have already left and the new ones who have come in. The WEC is one team trying to provide the best customer service possible. … This is a great honor to receive this, and I am extremely proud of the team for everything that we have accomplished.”