PEO Perspective: April 2022

Spring Greetings from PEO EIS! We have had some significant leadership and organizational changes recently, with more on the horizon with the coming summer change of charter season.  

LEADERSHIP CHANGES

In mid-February, our Chief of Staff Marty Zybura stepped up to serve as acting deputy program executive officer (DPEO), enabling Lee James to return to his permanent role as project director for Enterprise Services. Ken Wojcik, our director of operations, is filling in as acting chief of staff until the permanent DPEO role is filled. A big thank-you to all EIS teammates who have completed developmental assignments or worn different hats in recent months — your subject matter expertise is invaluable, and your contributions to the mission are critical to our success.

Project Manager Defense Communications and Army Transmission Systems (DCATS), one of the oldest project offices within the DOD with origins tracing back to 1960, has been renamed on several occasions over the years to better reflect its mission at a given point in time. Our increasing level of support for the Army's unified network priority over the past year necessitated a re-designation of the project office, which is charged with helping modernize the Army's enterprise network and integrate it with the tactical network. DCATS officially changed its name to "Integrated Enterprise Network" (IEN) — and introduced a new logo — in a ceremony on March 16. Under the continued leadership of Col. Jay Shell, the mission of IEN is to enable information dominance from the tactical edge to the home station for the Army, DOD and international partners by acquiring, implementing and sustaining strategic satellite and terrestrial communication systems and by leveraging technologies to meet current and future requirements. Look for further discussion of IEN support of Army priorities in several upcoming engagements.

Last year, you may recall that our Installation Information Infrastructure Modernization Program (I3MP) changed its name to Global Enterprise Network Modernization – Americas (GENM-A) to better reflect the nature of its enterprise network modernization work within the continental United States. Now, our Power Projection Enablers (P2E) product office —part of the IEN portfolio — has changed its name to align with its network, information and infrastructure modernization mission outside of the continental United States (OCONUS). Global Enterprise Network Modernization – OCONUS (GENM-O) is led by Product Manager Tom Dunaway. As always, you can keep track of organizational and leadership changes on the latest version of our organizational chart on our website leadership page.

Tom Dunaway recently briefed our industry partners on GENM-O's top priorities and latest activities at the AFCEA Belvoir luncheon on March 30. Among other recent successes, GENM-O successfully implemented the first-ever SIPR modernization in Hawaii, which will serve as the model for the rest of the Army enterprise network over the next two years. Great job team!

Wrapping up our recent activities, I’d like to spotlight a special guest who visited EIS headquarters last month. It was a pleasure to welcome the new principal deputy assistant secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology, Mr. Young J. Bang, to EIS for an overview of our organization. We briefed Mr. Bang on several programs in our Business Mission Area portfolio, and we look forward to having him back at EIS for a deeper dive into our Networks, Cyber and Services portfolio.

UPCOMING EVENTS OF NOTE

The first week of April promises to be a whirlwind as we are actively participating in several DOD/Army and industry events:

• Mike Underwood, assistant program manager for Global Combat Support System – Army’s Increment II Enterprise Aviation, will speak at the Army Aviation Association of America’s Army Aviation Mission Solutions Summit in Nashville. Our Computer Hardware, Enterprise Software and Solutions product office will be exhibiting there as well.
• John Howell, our assistant program executive officer for Networks, Cyber and Services, will present at TechNet Fort Bragg. The conference theme is “Enabling the Warfighter with Effective Technology.”
• Dan Joyce, our assistant program executive officer for Business Mission Area, will provide an EIS overview at the Association of the U.S. Army’s 2022 Artificial Intelligence + Autonomous Systems Symposium & Exposition in Pittsburgh.
• Col. Don Burton — our recently named Fed 100 award winner and project manager for Defense Integrated Business Systems — will provide the opening keynote on “The Role of Cloud in IT Modernization Efforts” at the 2022 FCW Cloud Summit.
• EIS will host the quarterly PEO Cross-Service Summit, a forum where PEOs across DOD can share lessons learned, discuss common challenges and identify best practices to support their related organizational missions and joint ventures.

April Observances: 

Month of the Military Child

In commemoration of Month of the Military Child, we’ll be spotlighting on our social media platforms several members of our workforce who had a parent in the military. Children and families support our Army through their patriotism, dedication and enduring support for their Soldier’s well-being, aiding in readiness. Make sure you’re following our PEO EIS page on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter to check out some of the featured stories.

Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month

This year’s theme is “Prevention Starts with You,” and the Army is reinforcing the role and responsibility of every member of the Army team to prevent sexual assault, harassment and associated retaliation. At EIS, we have a zero tolerance policy toward this egregious, corrosive behavior, as well as strong mechanisms in place to report it.

Days of Remembrance for Holocaust Victims

Held from April 28 to May 5 this year, this observance is for remembering the millions of victims of the Holocaust and honoring the resiliency of survivors. We at PEO EIS will reflect on our Army Values, which embody a moral responsibility to treat everyone with dignity and respect.

Wishing you a blessed and healthy month ahead.

Ross R. Guckert, Program Executive Officer, PEO EIS

Connecting the Army. Working for Soldiers.