JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. — The perfect bookend to January’s National Mentoring Awareness Month, Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) presented its first-ever Mentor of the Year award on Jan. 29 here to a Lakehurst, N.J., employee with nearly 20 years coaching and guiding others’ careers.

Kathleen Donnelly, director of NAVAIR’s Support Equipment and Aircraft Launch and Recovery Equipment Engineering Department based at Lakehurst, presented Greg Heller, head of the Advanced Technology Projects Branch, with the award before a base “speed mentoring” event.

“I’m honored to be nominated…and grateful I was chosen,” said Heller, who is responsible for the hiring and professional development of his branch personnel. “I’ve always been involved in hiring and mentoring, and helping to build our organization for the future. Mentoring brings us awareness of issues going on that we might not hear of.”

A panel judged nominees on delivery of professional-development advice, how they promoted organizational awareness and their participation in mentoring activities within and outside NAVAIR’s mentoring program.

Heller is a member of the Lakehurst engineering recruiting team and has been an informal mentor since 1997. He was also a co-founder of Lakehurst’s Professional Development Group, an intern-run organization that provides entry-level NAVAIR employees with the networking, knowledge and career development tools and opportunities they need to succeed.

James Sargianis, a design engineer and Heller’s protégé since 2012, nominated him for the award.

“He had a diverse background in NAVAIR,” Sargianis said. “He really helped to integrate me into the NAVAIR community.” Sargianis said Heller shared career opportunities with him. Most recently, Heller helped Sargianis obtain a rotation into a high-visibility program. “I’m very happy for [Greg Heller],” Sargianis said. “He’s well-deserving of the award.”

From new hires to seasoned leaders, Heller’s protégés run the gamut of experience levels. But he doesn’t discriminate. He invests the same level of dedication to their development.

“One of the big things I focus on…is how to get you through your development plan and into meaningful rotations,” said Heller of his work with recent hires. For more senior-level personnel, Heller said he focuses on “leadership and making sure they are taking on opportunities that come their way, even if it scares them.”

Mentoring is critical to the development of the workforce and beneficial to the mentors, Heller said, adding that it provides mentors the opportunities to expand their network of information gathering while using the concerns of protégés to implement improvements.