FORT JACKSON, S.C. -- Jesus RosaVelez, director of the Fort Jackson's Network Enterprise Center, was recognized Thursday by the Columbia Chamber of Commerce with the Palmetto Pillar Award for his outstanding leadership in the field of technology. The NEC provides Internet and communications services for nearly 100,000 Fort Jackson users.
Scott Nahrwold, deputy garrison commander, said RosaVelez and his team have drastically improved the network capabilities of Fort Jackson and allowed the post to take advantage of new opportunities.
"The fact that we have much greater bandwidth is what stands out the most as the greatest improvement. It allows us to leverage our social media outreach resources here," Nahrwold said.
The Palmetto Pillar Awards were created in 2000 by the Columbia Information Technology Council to create awareness and recognize achievements of people and organizations in the IT community. RosaVelez, who has been directing the NEC since 2007, said he was not expecting to receive the award.
"I was surprised to see a camera crew come here to film me one day. I knew that I had submitted my team for an award nomination but didn't know anything else," RosaVelez said. "I was told that I was being filmed because I was finalist in one of the award categories. This is really an award for all of my people. If I could divide it up into 48 pieces for each of them, I would."
When RosaVelez arrived at Fort Jackson, the communications systems were old and outdated. He quickly set goals to bring the installation up to date.
"Our main priorities were a strong partnership with people on the installation, customer service focus, and network security updates, to make sure that things could run smoothly," RosaVelez said. "There was old technology at the enterprise and user levels that had to be replaced because we had a lot of old machines."
One of RosaVelez' responsibilities is to find the resources to make changes in the network.
"There are programs that exist to help us get new equipment o we had to find those resources and work with what we had to mprove this network and provide the best service to our customers. If the customers are not happy then we have serious problems," RosaVelez said.
The NEC manages to address customer needs with a limited staff. RosaVelez has discovered ways to keep people happy while working hard.
"This is a great working environment and a great learning environment," said Aretha Williams, an IT specialist at the NEC. "There is such great camaraderie here, I really enjoy it."
RosaVelez gained his networking and team building experience during 20 years of Army service and retired as a warrant officer 13 years ago. He says that each member of his staff works well together and performs multiple duties.
"It's like one person does the work of 10 people around here, and they have such passion," RosaVelez said. "They are truly committed to what they do."
Even though the NEC has created new opportunities in communications for the installation, Rosavelez said there is still work to be done.
"In the future we are looking toward enterprising email to make it all seamless and getting cellular towers on the installation," RosaVelez said. "My people understand the future needs of the customer, and they are the ones who make things happen here. I'm just here to give some directional guidance."
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