WASHINGTON -- The Secretary of the Army recognized the service’s top civilians with a ceremony honoring those selected for the Presidential Rank Awards, the most prestigious recognition given to career civilians.
Among the honorees were four Army Materiel Command senior executives, including the command’s top civilian Marion Whicker, executive deputy to the commanding general.
“At all levels of the Army, our civilians keep this organization running, and they provide expertise, experience and leadership. These recipients epitomize that lifetime of service,” said Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth. “The work I’ve seen our career civilians do continues to inspire me, challenge me and leads me to have great expectations, and all of you are raising the bar to new heights each and every day.”
The Presidential Rank Award is the highest recognition that can be awarded a civil servant and only bestowed to the very select few, for lasting impact in their government civilian career.
“The people that we're honoring here today have strengthened our country's infrastructure, building our plans to repair our nation's ports and waterways, maintaining our dams and modernizing our hydroelectric power plants,” Wormuth said. “They've developed new approaches to identifying toxic chemicals in our water, new methods of airfield and port repair and even led the efforts to produce and distribute the COVID-19 vaccines as part of Operation Warp Speed.”
Wormuth highlighted the group’s wide range of contributions to the Army and the nation, including Whicker and others’ contributions to the country’s response to COVID-19. In 2020, Whicker was selected to serve as the deputy chief of Supply, Production and Distribution for Operation Warp Speed, which produced and distributed more than 300 million doses of the vaccine.
“Looking in the rearview, the vaccine was a game changer, and I am particularly proud of the work the Army did,” Wormuth said. “You can see the impact of the work of our career civilians touching our Army, our Soldiers and the broader population in very direct ways.”
Whicker, who started as a GS-5 at AMC’s Tank-automotive and Armaments Command and has risen to the ranks of a Tier-3 SES, said she never expected all the places her career would take her.
“If I could talk to myself as a GS-5, I would say to get ready for a great adventure,” said Whicker. “The Army is truly the land of opportunity, and you can do absolutely anything you want to do.”
Along with Whicker, Bryan Samson, former deputy to the commanding general at Army Contracting Command, was recognized posthumously in-part for his role in the nation’s response to COVID-19. ACC was designated as the lead contracting organization for high-priority and high-visibility programs using innovative contract vehicles to produce more than $90 billion of vaccines, therapeutics and enabling medical supplies.
In addition, Samson was recognized for leading Army contracting activities that directly supported operations in Ukraine with more than $5 billion in contracts, as well as the command’s response in supporting the movements and hosting of thousands of Afghan refugees.
“All of these accomplishments contribute in very important ways to the Army's ability to defend the nation,” Wormuth said.
TACOM’s deputy to the commander Brian Butler was also recognized, in part, for support to operations in Ukraine. Butler executed 56 short-notice Presidential Drawdown directives to provide more than $1 billion in critical combat systems and equipment to support Ukraine. In addition, he led efforts to increase cannon tube production at Watervliet Arsenal, New York, to enable a 100% increase in production in just months to sustain Ukrainian defense efforts.
Daniel Gallagher, deputy to the commanding general ACC, who previously served as the executive director for ACC Detroit Arsenal, directed more than 750 civilian and military personnel located at seven geographic sites and led the Army Contracting Command in annually executing over 15,000 contracting actions totaling $10 billion in obligations.
“Life as a civilian isn't always easy, but our civilians are so often the bedrock of our organizations,” said Wormuth. “Each of the recipients that you see here today have committed themselves to a lifetime of service to our country and to our Army and their impact has been tremendous.”
Samson received the 2023 Distinguished Senior Executive Rank with only two other Army senior executives. Whicker, Butler and Gallagher received the 2023 Meritorious Senior Executive Rank with five other Army senior executives.
“It’s an absolute honor to not only receive this award but to receive it alongside Brian Butler and Dan Gallagher, who I’ve known since TACOM, and also honoring Bryan Samson who was a consummate professional,” said Whicker.
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