FORT BARFOOT, Va. –
Participants in the Virginia Department of Military Affairs Workforce Development Mentoring Program graduated during a ceremony Feb. 28, 2024, at Fort Barfoot, Virginia. The mentors and mentees began their partnership early in 2023 and successfully completed a year of mentoring and learning from each other.
During the year, the program saw DMA employees paired up with supervisors and leaders in the organization meeting on a regular basis to discuss their careers, overcoming challenges and growing as employees.
“The Department of Military Affairs promotes and facilitates a professional mentorship and emerging leader development program in order to build and retain a bench of staff who are better qualified, to enhance future growth of upward mobility as well as networking opportunities and allowing employees of DMA to reach their full potential,” said retired Col. Everton E. Nevers, the DMA Chief Operations Officer. “I very much support a mentorship program to help build the bench and build future growth.”
The program began with its first class in 2020 after a working group identified the need for a mentoring program and began designing the program’s structure, in part based on a similar program at the University of Virginia. Led by retired Brig. Gen. Walt Mercer, the former DMA COO, and retired Command Sgt. Maj. Tim White, the DMA instructor and trainer, the program has continued to grow as it enters its fifth iteration.
“Of the many initiatives we came up with over the years, we realized we needed a mentor program where we can build future talent and help folks reach their full potential,” said Mercer, who retired at the end of 2023. “It’s cool for me to come back and see this, that it’s still going. I’ve seen so many people benefit from this and grow and improve DMA. We’ve had a lot of success stories.”
Those successes are tangible, according to White.
“After analyzing the groups of mentees that attended the DMA Mentorship Program over the past 4 years, the output was that 60 to 70% had moved up to higher positions within DMA, and sometimes outside agencies,” said White.
Even within the program itself, the growth of some DMA employees is evident, as many who started as mentees are now mentors themselves, including Tanisha Roberts, the Virginia Army National Guard retirement services officer.
“As I look around the room today it reminds me of how excited I was for graduation. I knew I had put in the work; I had been given the tools to success and I had a great mentor to challenge me and encourage be to be open to any opportunities that came by way,” said Roberts, who was Mercer’s mentee in that first class in 2020. “Fast forward four years and I am standing here as a mentor to Ms. Stefanie Bean, the Human Resources Administrative assistant. I am so proud of the accomplishments and goals that she has been able to meet thus far. She is a jewel with an abundance of potential.”
In addition to one-on-one mentoring sessions, the group also welcomed the commander of the Virginia Air National Guard, Brig. Gen. Catherine M. Jumper, as a guest speaker in October 2023. She shared her lessons in mentoring and being mentored, and lessons learned in leadership over her career.
The next class of mentors and mentees is being formed, with a kick-off event planned for late March. DMA employees interested in being a mentee or mentor should reach out to White for details.
Roberts said she encourages anyone in the DMA to consider taking part.
“I challenge the graduates today to tell your DMA peers how impactful this program has been for you, tell them how you were challenged and overcame the challenges, how you have become a problem solver and how your work performance has increased,” said Roberts. “Tell them how you were able to obtain goals that you have set for yourself, how your confidence has increased and, lastly, how you have won by joining this program.”
For more news about the DMA, visit https://ngpa.us/25482.