Award Winners Recognized at the Last Event of the Year

The chapter closed out its last luncheon of the year at the Scobee Education Center. The chapter recognized the 2021 Chapter Award winners in various categories, from the Distinguished Award for Excellence in Information Technology awarded to Joshua Bladen to the prestigious General James M. Rockwell AFCEAN of the Year awarded to Rick Lipsey, chapter president. We also recognized Rob Licciardi, former chapter vice president of programs, for his dedication to one of the most demanding board positions as he passed the torch on to Col. Lamont Atkins, USAF, the new chapter vice president.

The chapter's guest speaker was no stranger and was welcomed by members and attendees alike. Alexander Smith, A1 Digital Transformation Activity, Department of the Air Force, explained how any new technologies that the Air Force considers will go through his office. As data centers faced shutdowns, Smith's office had quite a few hard decisions to make. "We were the first ones to do something like this and to this magnitude within the A1 community." The estimated cost savings by the closures were a rough estimate of $5 million. Smith explained that closing a data center means modernizing with respect to cutting technology that just isn't in use anymore. Modernization allows for reliability within the cloud, along with transparency and flexibility to shift approaches that have never been utilized before.

Regarding the user experience, the data might not be right, and the member is hand-carrying physical records, which is something that the information technology folks should be doing, Carlos Davila, chief technology officer, A1 Digital Transformation Activity, explained. "When you're the person that has to make sure all of the boxes are connected, it's a bit different when it comes to data," said Smith. In the end, Smith explained, there must be a need for communication to support and execute realistic timelines. The chapter concluded the luncheon by presenting a $2,500 check to the Scobee Education Center for their STEM programs.

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