LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. –
The U.S. Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Agency recently awarded Langley Air Force Base's 480th ISR Wing with five awards at the 2013 Financial Management and Comptroller Annual Awards.
The individual award winners are:
The Maj. Gen. Frank R. Faykes Financial Management and Comptroller of the Year
Jeremy Taylor
The Chief Master Sgt. Larry P. Gonzales Superintendent of the Year
Master Sgt. Patricia Helderman
The Financial Management NCO of the Year
Tech. Sgt. Marina Lopez
The Financial Management Civilian of the Year
Shelly Alestra
The wing also won the Maj. Gen. Alfred Flowers Financial Management and Comptroller Organization of the Year Award.
The greatest challenge for the financial office was managing sequestration across a global wing, said Taylor. The wing experienced a $6 million budget cut in the second quarter of 2013 and did not receive further funding until the third quarter was nearly over.
Additionally, the wing had to navigate through a myriad of new sequestration policy and spending guidance as well as civilian furlough during the busiest time of the year.
"There were definitely some stressful times during the fiscal year," said Taylor. "But, my folks never wavered and persevered through all of the challenges that came our way. At the end of the day we were able to provide the commander with resources and decision support necessary to accomplish the operational mission and posture the wing for success next fiscal year."
Unlike most Air Force units which focus on organizing, training and equipping Airmen to support the combatant commanders through air expeditionary force construct, the 480th ISR Wing is an operational intelligence wing directly engaging in COCOM-tasked missions from distributed stations around the globe.
"Every day I get to see the impact we have on our Airmen and warfighters in Afghanistan and across the globe," said Taylor. "As a financial manager, it is very gratifying to be able to see how the hard work my team puts in translates into the operational results we accomplish."
After winning the awards at the major command level, the 480th ISR Wing financial management office will compete at the Air Force level.