By Staci Mathews
NAWCWD Public Affairs

NAWCWD Commander Rear Adm. David Dunaway and Deputy of Research and Engineering Brad Harlow gathered with the China Lake graduates from the Senior Executive Management Development Program (SEMDP) and the NAVAIR Leadership Development Program (NLDP) during a NAVAIRwide graduation ceremony broadcast via video teleconference Nov. 28 from Patuxent River, Md.

“We are graduating 81students from across the command who took great steps to gain knowledge and skills to improve the quality of work and reliability at NAVAIR for the Sailor and Navy,” said Vice Adm. David Venlet, NAVAIR commander.

Venlet told the graduates that “it will take leaders with courage” to make the hard decisions that will confront them as they advance in their careers. “Courage comes from preparation,” he said, “preparation that comes from continual training and practice — that builds upon discipline and hard work — that gels in your heart, mind and body creating courage to face any challenge and succeed.”

China Lake had five graduates in SEMDP and NLDP. The SEMDP graduates included Andy Corzine, director of Unmanned Systems Technical Project Office, Pamela Smith, head of the Organizational and Workforce Planning and Analysis Division, and Susan Park, project manager for Test Resource Management System and Integrated Frequency Deconfliction System. The two graduates from the NLDP were Dr. Renee Lesniak, program manager for Infrastructure Business Operations and Bill Sumners, Level I deployment champion for AIRspeed Continuous Process Improvements.

Upon completion of the program a plaque was presented to each graduate. These graduates were rewarded for their experiences in learning through course requirements, developing and expanding their networks, establishing new relationships and personal leadership styles.

“I really enjoyed the classes and the ability to broaden my vision of what goes on in the world, it was very enlightening,” said Park. “I felt I was able to get the best of both worlds, since I was able to complete the NLDP prior to SEMDP.”

“This was a valuable experience; the best part of it was having the ability to network, shadow assignments and get involved with the various rotational assignments,” said Smith.

“It was great to have the opportunity to be exposed to a broader perspective of opportunities and to meet a variety of people,” said Corzine.

The programs are similar, yet they vary in degree of continuous process improvement training. SEMDP was created in 1980 as a leadership program, which allows participants three to five years to complete course requirements. NLDP was established in 2005 as a two-year leadership development program integrating the critical elements of SEMDP, continuous process improvement training including Black Belt certification.

“It gave me a view of the Navy as a whole and broadened my perspectives on how congress works,” said Lesniak.

“I thought it was an outstanding program to enhance Black Belt skills with continuous process improvements within Lean Six Sigma,” said Sumners. “I felt my career and leadership has been enhanced with each of these processes.”

PHOTO CUTLINES

Photo by Staci Mathews
NAWCWD Commander Rear Adm. David Dunaway and Deputy of Research and Engineering Brad Harlow gather with graduates from the Senior Executive Management Development Program and the NAVAIR Leadership Development Program following the graduation ceremony Nov. 28. Pictured from left are Dunaway, Andy Corzine, Susan Park, Dr. Renee Lesniak, Pamela Smith and Harlow.

Vice Adm. David Venlet congratulates NAWCWD’s Bill Sumners for completing the NAVAIR Leadership Development Program during the graduation ceremony hosted at Patuxent River Nov. 28.