VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Virginia Secretary of Veterans and Defense Affairs Carlos Hopkins, Maj. Gen. Timothy P. Williams, the Adjutant General of Virginia, and Walter L. Mercer, Chief Operations Officer for the Virginia Department of Military Affairs, recognized and thanked DMA employees at a State Employee Recognition luncheon May 22, 2019, at the State Military Reservation in Virginia Beach. DMA previously conducted a State Employee Recognition luncheon May 9, 2019, at Fort Pickett.
“Thank you for all of your hard work,” Williams said in Virginia Beach. “I’m extremely pleased with where we are and what we’ve done this year.”
“No matter what you do, you’re supporting the commonwealth, you’re supporting our citizens, you’re supporting our young people and you’re supporting our military,” Mercer explained. “And it matters.”
“Two days ago Virginia was named the number one state in the nation for military retirees,” Hopkins said. “How did we get to that point? It’s because of all the work you do to support our military members and their families. It’s because of the work of our state employees. It doesn’t matter what your job is. Every single person in this agency is important to the mission of the agency. We want to make sure we respect that and honor that. So I enjoy the opportunity to come down whenever I can to say thank you for what you do.”
During the luncheon the agency recognized individuals who have reached five, 10, 15 and 20 years of service with DMA. They also presented agency-wide awards to DMA employees.
“This was an opportunity for us to thank our employees for their hard work and dedication,” explained Michelle Claiborne, human resource manager for DMA. “These employees are always willing and able to support the mission of DMA.”
Claiborne offered a special thank you to the staff members who served on the Employee Recognition Awards Committee – Phyllis Robinson, Timothy White, Harlow Sullivan, Tanisha Roberts, Angela McGhinnis, Christopher Parr, April Wright, Nikia Jones, Houston Crayton, Susan Corrigan, Michael Hall, Allen Liszeski and Lt. Col. Timothy Pillion.