SPAWAR SYSTEMS CENTER CHARELSTON, S.C. –
Team Charleston members were recognized at the Greater Charleston Area Federal Executive Association's annual Employee of the Year awards luncheon June 21 at the Naval Weapons Station Redbank Club.
Nearly 325 people gathered to honor federal civilian employees and uniformed military members in nine different categories.
Team Charleston had three category winners and two runners-up.
Featured speaker, Mayor Keith Summey of North Charleston, S.C., noted that the military and federal civilian employee presence is still strong in the Lowcountry, despite the closure of Charleston Naval Base in the 1990s.
"Most people in the Lowcountry, especially those in leadership positions, recognize the impact they make in their jobs and in the community," said Mayor Summey of the approximately 17,000 area military and federal civilian employees.
Winners of this year's Employee of the Year awards were:
Norman Moore Jr. of the 437th Airlift Wing, Charleston AFB, won the Managerial/Executive Employee of the Year. Mr. Moore, responsible for the maintenance of 51 C-17s and 800 aerospace ground equipment items, was lauded for enabling the movement of 169,922 passengers, 242,000 tons of cargo and many critically wounded soldiers to and from the war theater.
Cindy Lundhagen, an environmental engineer at Charleston AFB, was named Employee of the Year in the Scientific/Professional category. Ms. Lundhagen is responsible for air and hazardous material programs for the 437th and 315th Airlift Wings. She also led Charleston AFB in an Environmental Protection Agency pilot project testing a Web-based program for submitting annual Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act Toxic Release Inventory Reports.
Tech. Sgt. John Adams, 315th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, Charleston AFB, was named runner-up in the Technician/Assistant Employee of the Year category.
Runner-up in the Clerical/Administrative Employee of the Year category was John Griffin of the 437th Airlift Wing at Charleston AFB.
The Heroism/Valor award went to Staff Sgt. Michael Williams of the 437th Airlift Wing. As part of an explosive ordnance disposal team in Iraq, Sergeant Williams completed 828 EOD missions, including nearly 600 involving improvised explosive devices, preventing blasts that could have killed thousands of people. On July 7, 2006, he risked his life to rescue a wounded soldier from a vehicle that had been hit by an IED. Threatened by secondary IEDs and small arms fire, Sergeant Williams ran to and extricated the soldier just moments before the vehicle burst into flames.
The FEA Employee of the Year plaque will reside at the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Charleston until next year's awards ceremony.
Since 1967 the Greater Charleston FEA has been sponsoring the Employee of the Year program as a means of publicizing the high caliber of civilian and military employees of the federal service. Tom Crawford, chief meteorologist for WCIV News, emceed the ceremony for the fifth year in a row.