GARDEN CITY, N.Y. –
My DCMA showcases the Defense Contract Management Agency’s experienced and diverse workforce and highlights what being a part of the national defense team means to them. Today we meet Henry Stewart.
My name is Henry Stewart, and this is “My DCMA.”
I am a quality assurance team supervisor at DCMA Garden City.
My job duties include managing a team of quality assurance specialists at the contract management office and providing quality assurance support to critical and complex acquisition category, also called ACAT, rated programs and for non-ACAT related supply procurements for major buying activities. I supervise personnel who are responsible for all of the quality assurance matters at facilities where the contractor is designing and building new components for major defense programs.
I have been a part of the DCMA team for three and a half years.
I like working at DCMA because while serving in the Marine Corps as a naval aircrewman and aviation life support system QA, it always interested me on how the manufacturers went about their everyday business of manufacturing and shipping products to our military around the world. From drawings to an actual product as the final output, I discovered that there are several items with different processes during the manufacturing and production phase that can have an effect on the quality of product. Also, I learned a great deal about on time delivery for each transaction and the importance of it being at a delivery point on time.
DCMA is important to America’s warfighters because we understand that when a unit of the armed forces is set for deployment, there’s a level of capability that each command officer is expecting his or her unit to function. The standards, which we help monitor and maintain, are put in place for the operational requirement and sustainment in order to continue the fight.
My favorite hobbies include golfing, tennis, and now learning to play the violin.
My future career goals include continuing to grow within DCMA and to become competitive and considered for the various centralized development programs, including attending the Naval War College.
Something unique about me is that I was appointed as the Tier II leadership program manager in November 2015. I embrace the program’s philosophy of discovering and nurturing future leaders. My role is to help program participants set goals, create the best conditions possible for them to achieve success, and then coach them throughout the process. By helping to identify the strengths of their leadership abilities, I hope to encourage them to perform beyond their own expectations.
I enjoy working at DCMA Garden City in Long Island, New York. Long Island is the home of Navy aviation manufacturing, so it gives me great pleasure to be responsible for a QA team that conducts product examinations of critical safety items to ensure they meet certain requirements. I also remember that it wasn’t too long ago in 2010 when I was the end user in a flight suit performing a prep-flight walk around prior to flight to ensure all parts and systems operated as advertised on the aircraft.
I describe this phase of my career as awesome. This is a second chapter to my career because now I’m part of the front end of the process, which includes verifying specifications prior to shipment.