ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. – The U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command supported a town hall event at APG’s Myer Auditorium, Feb. 9, 2023. Although the town hall was held in-person, a virtual component was broadcast live through Microsoft Teams.
EDCG Visit Introduction
The senior civilian executive for U.S. Army Materiel Command, Marion Whicker, in her role as the AMC executive deputy to the commanding general came to APG for the town hall and a scheduled visit. During the visit, Whicker, who is based at AMC headquarters in Redstone, AL, met with leaders from CECOM and its major subordinate commands.
The morning was spent holding office calls with CECOM commanding general, Maj. Gen. Robert Edmonson II and Deputy to the Commanding General, Liz Miranda. Whicker explained how she attempts to conduct monthly Management Business Reviews with Life Cycle Management Commands, and the importance of keeping in-tune with the entire AMC footprint. She added the touchpoints offer an opportunity for the sustainment community to review the details and metrics of how they deliver world-class readiness to the warfighter.
Whicker spent the rest of the morning interacting with the workforce, during an informal “Brown Bag” lunch session with several first-line supervisors from around CECOM.
“The lunch with Ms. Whicker was very informative,” said Vava Marcel, an operations division team lead for CECOM. “I, as well as the others in attendance had the opportunity to ask questions and pick the brain of a senior strategic leader in our quest to better hone our skillset and become even more effective supervisors. It was a pleasure meeting Ms. Whicker, and I am appreciative of her sharing her time and experience with all of us to aid in setting us up for future success!”
After the lunch, Whicker kicked off the town hall event for the rest of the command.
EDCG Town Hall
“Thank you all for being here today,” a grateful Whicker opened the town hall.
She began with a brief introduction about herself and described how the Army and AMC is where she gratefully belongs.
“This is where want to be,” Whicker exclaimed. “The Army is my passion. I’ve worked for the Army for 38 years now, and I’ve got the greatest job in the world. It’s a real pleasure to come here and talk to the people of CECOM, to get the opportunity to spend the day with you all if I can.”
She then offered encouragement and thanks for the hard work and outstanding support AMC and CECOM have provided our Nation’s allies and partners in Ukraine.
“We see it; you all are making a huge impact in helping that nation defend itself,” Whicker said. “Stay vigilant and motivated because it really is making a big difference.”
Transitioning from support to Ukraine and European allies, Whicker shifted focus to AMC and CECOM’s supply chain optimization efforts as well as organic industrial base modernization initiative.
“We’re looking to optimize the supply chain to make it work better for the Army,” she said providing a history of the SCO concept as well as a timeline of its implementation. “We change only for a reason, and I wanted to personally reiterate to you all the importance of this initiative.”
She expressed her gratitude specifically for the collective team’s flexibility through the transition.
EBS-C Brief
Whicker then spoke about the significant role AMC and CECOM will play in Enterprise Business Systems Convergence, or EBS-C. Dr. Daniel Parker, AMC’s Chief of Supply Integration, joined Wicker on stage to brief EBS-C.
Parker described how the EBS-C will modernize, simplify and streamline Army logistics, finance processes and underlying systems, enabling the Army of 2035 in a potential multi-domain operations environment. “EBS-C transforms the Army of the future,” Parker said.
Parker went on to add that EBS-C will provide a modernized warfighting capability that enables integrated and auditable sustainment operations from the strategic support area to the tactical edge of the battlefield. This permits decision making by Soldiers, the civilian workforce and other leaders in echelon.
Parker explained that a goal of EBS-C is to engage users early, utilizing a demonstration, prototype, deployment and improvement strategy.
“This puts the decisions in the hands of the experts, and progressively develops and deploys the capability as needed,” Parker said.
Parker also announced that EBS-C has a target of FY26 for initial deployment, with a target of FY32 for full deployment.
He ended his portion of the town hall with some suggestions for CECOM’s workforce on preparing for EBS-C, including individual expectations and responsibilities, as well as how EBS-C plays into existing OIB modernization and SCO efforts.
Interactive Q&A portion
Whicker went on to field questions and answers from the audience. Questions regarding the importance of workforce employee appraisals, both from a subordinate and supervisory aspect, telework and remote work policies, and legacy and enduring systems considerations were all asked and answered during this interactive portion of the town hall.
In closing, she had the chance to give her personal thoughts on an audience-submitted question about mentorship, to which she spoke on the importance of mentorship not only throughout her career, but for anyone at any given point in their respective career.
“It’s a long-standing relationship,” she said. “And be sure to know, or figure out, what you want to bring to the mentorship and what you want out of the relationship. Be ready to communicate that as well.”
About AMC’s senior civilian leader
Marion Whicker assumed duties as the Executive Deputy to the Commanding General June 19, 2022. Whicker was appointed to the Senior Executive Service in June 2018. As AMC EDCG, Whicker is responsible for materiel life cycle management, acquisition support, personnel and resource management, industrial base operations and enterprise integration for a globally reaching command with 175,000 military, civilian and contractor employees, impacting all 50 states and 152 countries.
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