FORT LEAVENWORTH, Kansas — A Fort Leavenworth engineer was recently named Installation Management Command’s top Directorate of Public Works engineering and planning executive for 2023.
Jason Wendel, chief of the Fort Leavenworth DPW Engineering Division, was awarded the DPW Engineering and Planning Executive of the Year for 2023. Recipients can only receive the award once in their career.
Wendel, who has been working for DPW since January 2003 and in his current position since March 2018, shared that he was humbled to be the recipient of the award.
“It was cool to get recognized, to get the award, but I also know there's just a ton of really good engineering division chiefs out there, and so that's why I was really surprised that I won,” Wendel said. “I thought maybe there was a good chance, but I also recognize there (are) just a lot of other good installations out there that do a lot of good things.”
Nominations for the award are made following each calendar year and then reviewed and awarded a year later, making the award nomination and reception a two-year long process.
Wendel was first nominated for the 2022 award for his work developing BUILDER Vision.
“The Army has a program called BUILDER that is a data-intensive software that the DPW use to manage their facility — facility maintenance items, if you will,” Wendel said when describing his project. “So, every roof, every HVAC system, every bit of carpet, all the materials that make up a building in all the facilities on Fort Leavenworth are in that software. What I developed is the ability to see that data better and easier… We worked with our next-level region to develop the ability to use and to see the data across all the installations, so now all the installations have a capability to be able to see the data better.”
He was re-nominated in 2023 after the impact of BUILDER Vision became more apparent.
“BUILDER Vision had gotten so much interest (in 2023), where when it was a little bit newer in 2022 it wasn't completely out to everyone,” Wendel said. “When we submitted for the 2023 (nomination), I think it was a lot more known, and I think at the headquarters level they understood the benefits it could have across all the Army.”
Wendel said the project took more than a year to complete and required several hands to assist in getting his idea off the ground.
The idea was mine, of what I wanted the capability to be and how I wanted to do it,” Wendel said. “But BUILDER Vision was actually performed by an Army individual named John Brosius (at IMCOM Directorate-Training) when we got to the point we were putting this in place. John's the one that programmed it and took my vision, if you will, and got it out, because it really came down to my idea of what I wanted. We worked with ID-T to develop the Army Vantage software that we created, BUILDER Vision, so that it can go across.”
Currently, BUILDER Vision is primarily supported by Army Materiel Command.
Wendel’s nomination also noted his work in various areas apart from BUILDER Vision, such as leading the Common Levels of Service/Installation Status Report for Service 411. This project focused on organizing maintenance requirements for the Army.
“The scope of this task was enormous, requiring extensive research and analysis over a 24-month period,” Wendel's nomination packet read. “He thoroughly and painstakingly researched all available laws, DoD and Army regulations that impacted each category, directly lifting all requirements word by word into one document. This required numerous legal reviews to determine the scope and effect of each of the statutory requirements as they were all unique.”
For the 2023 nomination process, Wendel was selected for the award over 70 other individuals from various military installations.
“All the Army installations essentially submit out of the DPW for this category, and it goes up and a board decides based on what they performed over their career. And so when I was selected, I was super excited, because it is a career award,” Wendel said.
Wendel, who was born and raised in Leavenworth, added that he’s proud of the award because of the representation it has given the Leavenworth and Fort Leavenworth community.
“Leavenworth, although we're small, we have always done some really good things for the Army. We've always tried to look forward thinking, you know, at Leavenworth. And I think that's not just in the Garrison. That's the entire mission that we do in (in the Combined Arms Center) and or that CAC performs as well,” Wendel said.
Colleague Storm Reynolds, chief of the DPW Design Branch, said Wendel has demonstrated several leadership qualities in his current role.
“I've known him for almost 10 years,” Reynolds said. “He's extremely smart, (and) has a vast knowledge of Fort Leavenworth in terms of past construction.”
Reynolds went on to share that not only is Wendel good at his job, but he’s a great leader in the workplace.
“It's a big, professional team. He's big on keeping us up to date on technical knowledge. He's a great problem solver. Oftentimes, he can come up with multiple solutions to a problem. He applies value engineering — essentially, what that is is getting the most value out of something for the lowest cost,” Reynolds said. “He also looks long term. Sometimes we go after a project, and we can solve the immediate issue or concern, but he'll look longer out and say, ‘Well, if we invest just a little bit more and broaden the scope of the project a little bit more, let's get it while we're there, and then the facility or building will be in better shape for the next 20 or 30 years.’ So that long-term look and focus really helps.”
Wendel gave credit for this achievement to his colleagues and the rest of the engineering team.
“I want to recognize my team, the Engineering Division, who does the best they can with the resources and manpower we have. They do an amazing job.”
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