FORT BARFOOT, Va. –
Maj. Gen. Timothy P. Williams, the Adjutant General of Virginia, and retired Brig. Gen. Walt Mercer, Virginia Department of Military Affairs Chief Operations Officer, presented awards to DMA employees as part of a state employee recognition luncheon May 11, 2023, at Fort Barfoot, Virginia.
Williams and Mercer both spoke at the event, thanking the state employees for their hard work over the last year.
“It’s important for us to get together here, take a few moments out of our busy schedules to come together in fellowship and really celebrate each other and say thank you for what you do,” said Williams. “Let me just say that this is an incredible team. You make people realize how close-knit and how important every single person here is.”
“Thank you for what you do, said Mercer. “When I look at what we as an organization do to support the Virginia National Guard, I’m pretty proud.”
The luncheon marked the last DMA recognition Williams will attend as the Adjutant General at Fort Barfoot before his retirement, scheduled for early June. To mark the occasion, employees from different staff sections presented Williams with keepsakes and thanked him for his leadership and his support to DMA over his nine years as the AG.
“I always tell people for many years as a senior military officer in the Guard, I had no clue about the DMA team. I didn’t know that there were about 400 state employees that were the foundation supporting the Guard,” said Mercer. “It was a mission for me having come from the uniformed side and realizing no one knew about us. So, I said I’m going to get DMA on the map with the green suiters and the blue suiters so they would understand and appreciate us. I probably couldn’t have been successful as I have been had it not been for Maj. Gen. Williams. Now we have a seat at the table and the state team is appreciated. It’s a whole different world from where it was.”
“We go way back to when you were a captain,” said Michelle Claiborne, the DMA Human Resources manager. “You will be missed, sir, and we are very appreciative of all the things you’ve done for this agency, and for bringing us to the table and letting us know our voices matter.”
“Nine years go by fast, and the one place that was always a constant was this installation,” said Williams, who has served as the AG since 2014. “Here we are today, fast forward nine years, and the things you have done are absolutely remarkable. There’s no way for me to touch on everything, but suffice it to say, you have done magnificent work over the nine years, and everyone across the organization has called you out, in a good way, to highlight and celebrate your successes.”
The following agency level awards were presented during the luncheon:
DMA STAR AWARD – Tanisha Roberts
DMA NEW EMPLOYEE AWARD – Melinda Miller
DMA CUSTOMER SERVICE – Kathleen Thomas
DMA INNOVATION AWARD – Russell Greggs
DMA COMMUNITY SERVICE AND VOLUNTEERISM – William Bradford
DMA WORKPLACE SAFETY AND HEALTH AWARD – Charles Flippen
DMA CAREER ACHIEVEMENT AWARD – Ruth Coleman
DMA TEAMWORK AWARD – DMA Human Resources (Julie Corley, Daphne Norton, Kyle Kidd, Deborah Elliot-Dix, Katheryn Holte, Terri Stallings, Lindsay Glass, Michelle Claiborne)
The following state employees were recognized for notable service anniversaries, and presented with a keepsake to mark the occasion:
25 YEARS: Phillip Armes
15 YEARS: Harlow Sullivan, Robert Waugh
10 YEARS: Matthew Thompson, Benjamin Haug
5 YEARS: Tracey Fisher, Timothy White, Cassandra Russell, Sabrina Ramey
Read more about the Department of Military Affairs at https://ngpa.us/25482.