ARPC employees receive Rocky Mountain Eagle Award

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Rob Hazelett
  • Air Reserve Personnel Center Public Affairs
Three employees from Headquarters Air Reserve Personnel Center were selected to receive the annual Rocky Mountain Eagle Award during a ceremony held in conjunction with the Colorado Federal Executive Board Professional Development Seminar May 17, 2012, in Denver.

These annual awards are one of the most important forms of non-monetary recognition available to Federal government employees in Colorado providing federal agencies the opportunity to share with the public the outstanding achievements of employees who have dedicated their careers to public service.

"Mr. Hannan, Ms. Rotenbury-Melton, and Ms. Castillo exemplify the best of ARPC - our people: people serving people who serve," said Col. Pat Blassie, ARPC commander. "These awards not only recognize outstanding civil servants, they validate ARPC's leadership in providing human resource services to generations of Airmen."

Nominations for the Rocky Mountain Eagle Awards are selected from all civilian, military and postal agencies and are open to federal employees within the State of Colorado at all grades of service from entry level through senior executive service.

The 2012 ARPC award winners are:

Stephen Hannan, Executive of the Year.

Hannan is the ARPC director of staff who masterminded the massive ARPC building move for more than 400 military and civilian personnel in minimal time with zero lapses in customer service to more than 980,000 Citizen Airmen worldwide. He flawlessly built, tracked and executed a 300-line Air Force Integrated master schedule, bringing a seemingly insurmountable Total Force Service Center milestone to fruition.

In addition, Hannan played a critical role in the Center's reorganization, merging four directorates into two and eliminated paper-based records, digitally imaging more than 132,000 record sets. Hannan also oversaw 1,300 high profile visits and effortlessly disseminated and operated within a $100 million budget for the world-wide global mission of the United States Air Force.

"Hannan's leadership is unmatched," said Blassie, "putting people first to ensure mission accomplishment for nearly one million customers."

Diana Rotenbury-Melton, Employee of the Year.

Rotenbury-Melton is a policy advisor with ARPC, who, as an advisor to the ARPC promotion board, used her decades of experience to guide the successful execution of 122 promotion and service continuation boards on 8,750 Air Force commissioned officers. She reviewed 776 "letters to the board" and counseled more than 200 officers, imparting crucial career-impacting guidance to aid future promotion opportunities.

As such, Rotenbury-Melton became the first civilian, lead recorder personally lauded by the Secretary of the Air Force. Rotenbury-Melton thoroughly researched and resolved more than 550 complex customer case queries with unmatched enthusiasm, diplomacy and care.

"It's indicative of her ability to provide high customer satisfaction," said Blassie. "She is also a pillar in the local community teaching self-defense and rape prevention awareness skills."

Ms. Melissa Castillo, Outstanding Customer Service.

Castillo is the Headquarters ARPC communications focal point manager who took the lead to finish a 600+ system-tech refresh closing the task two months early while completing more than 500 Tier II Help Desk trouble tickets. Castillo led a critical 11th-hour desktop client install for 250 users providing necessary on time tech capability. She edited and verified more than 700 account changes in less than 12 hours to meet the Air Force Reserve Command deadline during the move to Buckley last year.

Moreover, she developed a needed solution to a virtual private network impasse allowing senior leaders to reach critical information while traveling. She was instrumental to the operational success of the ARPC network, maintaining 100 percent integrity for more than 750 users daily.

Blassie observed that Castillo is "a proven leader who places her team above herself working more than 600 hours overtime to fill vacancies created by deployed members." All this while managing a 1.2 million directorate inventory, perfectly accounting for more than 3,000 Information Technology products.

"I am more than proud of their service," said Blassie. "I absolutely rely on their extraordinary talents to accomplish ARPC's TFSC mission."