2013 AUSA Award Winners
2013 AUSA Award Winners
The General Creighton W. Abrams Medal for exceptional service to the United States Army is awarded to Gen. Louis C. Wagner Jr., USA, Ret.Wagner served more than 35 years in the United States Army before retiring in 1989.Upon graduating from West Point, he selected armor as his branch and served in Germany. He served two tours in Vietnam and held command and staff assignments at every level from platoon to armor brigade.He served as commanding general, U.S. Army Armor Center and commandant, U.S. Army Armor School and chief of armor. Key Department of the Army staff positions included assistant deputy chief of staff for operations and plans, force development, and deputy chief of staff for research, development and acquisition.Wagner’s Army career culminated with service as commanding general, U.S. Army Materiel Command.For his service, Wagner was recognized with a Distinguished Service Cross, the Distinguished Service Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Legion of Merit with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart.Since his retirement, Wagner has stayed active in the military community. As a senior fellow with AUSA’s Institute of Land Warfare, he has contributed greatly to the organization over the years. He has also served as chairman of the board of the Military Officers Association of America, president of the Army Retirement Residence Foundation and director of the AFBA 5Star Fund, Inc.Often sought after for his expertise on Army technical and acquisition matters, Wagner has sat on the President’s Advisory Council of the Advanced Technology Institute, has served as a member of the Army and Defense Science Boards and was recently cochair of the Secretary of the Army’s Army Acquisition Review, where he helped reform the increasingly inefficient and ineffective Army acquisition process.This report has given the Army a strong framework from which to achieve meaningful improvements to the acquisition process.Few can even approach Wagner’s knowledge and expertise when it comes to the Army acquisition process; it shows in the work he has done on this study and in the advice he has dispensed to Army and industry leaders over the years.Biddle MedalThe Major General Anthony J. Drexel Biddle Medal is awarded to Col. David A. Beckner, USA, Ret., for his outstanding contributions to the Association of the United States Army.Beckner enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1946 and served in Japan before serving in the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard, where he achieved the rank of master sergeant. In 1950, Beckner was commissioned a second lieutenant of infantry and served as an officer in the regular Army until his retirement in 1980. During his career, Beckner served overseas in Germany, England, Vietnam and Cambodia.For his service, Beckner received the Silver Star, the Legion of Merit with three Oak Leaf Clusters, the Bronze Star with V Device with three Oak Leaf Clusters, and two Commander’s Award for Public Service.He is also the recipient of the prestigious Staufermedaille from the Minister President of the State of Baden-Wurttemberg in recognition of his contributions to German-American relations.Following his retirement, Beckner became a manager at the U.S. Cooperation in the Defense and Aerospace Business Division of Alcatel SEL in Stuttgart, Germany, where he served until 1990.While residing in Germany, Beckner made exceptional contributions to AUSA and to the Stuttgart military community. As the immediate past president of the Stuttgart AUSA Chapter, Beckner served the chapter for more than 15 years and is the primary figure responsible for the chapter’s persistence in the face of repeated drawdowns of U.S. Army personnel in Germany. For his dedication to AUSA’s mission, Beckner was awarded the AUSA Distinguished Service Award in 2011.Beyond AUSA, Beckner is active in the Stuttgart military community.He was a founding member of the Stuttgart Garrison Retiree Council, has been active in the Stuttgart United States Organization Council since 1977, is president emeritus of the Stuttgart German-American Community Chorus and is a longtime volunteer with the American Red Cross, for which he received the Clara Barton Medal for Volunteer Excellence.Cribbins MedalThe Joseph P. Cribbins Medal is awarded to Scott J. Davis for his exemplary service to the U.S. Army and his significant contributions to its soldiers.Commissioned as a U.S. Army Reserve officer in 1985, Davis began his career as a Department of the Army civilian mechanical engineer.Today he is a member of the Senior Executive Service and is the PEO of Ground Combat Systems, TACOM Life Cycle Management Command, where he oversees more than 1,200 military and civilian personnel and the $18.5 million budget of the primary combat vehicle fleet.Under his leadership, the department has implemented a number of initiatives in support of soldiers, while also streamlining performance.Within one year of conception, the Stryker Brigade Combat Team Project Management Office provided to the Army the highly successful Double V-Hull to better protect soldiers from mines and improvised explosive devices.Davis also oversees the Army’s efforts to create the Ground Combat Vehicle – the next-generation infantry fighting vehicle – which is one of the Army’s top modernization projects. He has also overseen the modernization of the Paladin weapon system and the upgrade of the armor systems for the Bradley fighting vehicle and the Abrams tank for urban combat.Davis has also established a number of programs in the organization to increase productivity and staff engagement.He started a weekly "Lunch and Learn" training session, "Brown Bag" sessions where teammates discuss their ideas candidly with the PEO, and a formalized reward and recognition program.He also led the development of the Capability Portfolio Analytical Tool, which provides a method for identifying optimum approaches to portfolio investments. Under his leadership, Ground Combat Systems has completed 33 continuous performance improvement projects, resulting in a total cost savings/avoidance of more than $136 million in one year.A volunteer in the community, Davis has been active in AUSA’s Arsenal of Democracy Chapter where he has served on the chapter’s advisory board for more than 10 years and has been a guest speaker and presenter at numerous chapter events. This year he was named AUSA Second Region’s Department of the Army Civilian of the Year.Dixon AwardThe John W. Dixon Award is awarded to Linda P. Hudson, chief executive officer of BAE Systems, Inc., for outstanding contributions to national defense by a member of the industrial communityHudson joined BAE Systems in 2007 as president of its Land and Armaments Division. In this role she led the organization in a $4.5 billion acquisition and integration, more than doubling the size of the group – making it the world’s largest military vehicle business and elevating it to one of the top five contractors to the U.S. Department of Defense for the first time.In 2009 Hudson became the CEO of BAE Systems, Inc., and quickly began reorienting the company to a more agile footing in the face of inevitable defense spending cuts.Restructuring senior management and internal services, as well as expanding BAE Systems’ offerings in services, smaller-scale products such as night-vision technology, soldier protection systems and cybersecurity, she has made BAE Systems a more efficient operation with more capacity to pursue defense contracts today and tomorrow.While she has drastically shifted the company’s business to focus on services, security, electronics and intelligence analysis, BAE Systems’ vehicle unit remains an important element of its portfolio – it delivered prototypes of an urgently needed Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle 43 days after winning the contract and built more than 6,000 MRAPs within the next two years.In addition to the strong innovation and materiel support Hudson has provided to soldiers at the helm of BAE Systems, she has also given back to the military community through philanthropic endeavors on a professional and personal level.The company participates in multiple Wounded Warrior hiring and support programs, including its in-house Warrior Integration Program, and also supports a number of other causes relevant to the community. Personally, Hudson has served on the boards of Blue Star Families, the USO, Aerospace Industries Association Executive Committee and three years on the AUSA Council of Trustees.Hudson has been lauded as the "First Lady of Defense." She began her career as an engineer in the defense industry in 1972; in a field and in an industry dominated by men, her drive and exceptional abilities elevated her to become one of the most powerful defense executives in the world.Hudson has received numerous accolades for her achievements, including the 2011 USO Woman of the Year Award, the 2011 C200 Corporate Innovator Luminary Award and the NDIA Firepower Award; she has made the list of Fortune’s 50 Most Powerful Women in Business from 2009 to the present.McLain MedalThe Lieutenant General Raymond S. McLain Medal is awarded to Brig. Gen. Richard S. Miller, Indiana Army National Guard, Ret., for his outstanding contributions to the advancement of the Association of the United States Army’s goal of a seamless and component-oriented Army.Miller attended the Indiana Military Academy Officer Candidate School program and graduated in 1982 as an infantry second lieutenant in the Indiana Army National Guard.As a career National Guard officer, Miller has served in a variety of roles from platoon leader to battalion commander.In 2004 he deployed to Kandahar, Afghanistan, where he served as commander, Regional Command South as part of Task Force Phoenix.While there, he commanded all embedded training teams in southern Afghanistan and was the senior U.S. adviser for the 205th Corps of the Afghan National Army. Prior to his retirement in 2012, Miller served as deputy commanding general of training, headquarters and headquarters company, 38th Infantry Division.For his exemplary service, Miller received the Bronze Star Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster and the Army Commendation Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster.Miller has been active in AUSA for many years and has been a strong supporter of the Association’s missions and values.While serving in the Army National Guard, Miller was AUSA’s state president for Indiana.He currently serves as the state president for Michigan.He has also served on the AUSA Resolutions Committee.Recently concluding a term on the Reserve Component (RC) Committee of the Advisory Board of Directors, Miller cochaired the RC "Tiger Team" that developed the AUSA RC Recruiting Program currently endorsed by the RC Committee and Lt. Gen. Roger Schultz, USA, Ret. For his service to AUSA, Miller was awarded the AUSA Exceptional Service Award in 2010.National Service AwardThe National Service Award is awarded to PenFed (The Pentagon Federal Credit Union) Foundation for exemplary service and demonstrated enduring support to the American soldier and the United States Army community.Founded in 2001, the PenFed Foundation has focused on helping veterans, wounded warriors and their families to establish and maintain financial stability, combining support programs with financial management education and assistance.Since its inception, the foundation has assisted more than 6,600 servicemembers, granting more than $6.4 million in financial support.PenFed’s Military Heroes Fund provides grants to help wounded servicemembers with their unmet needs, assisting with childcare during medical recovery, providing laptops for wounded soldiers and their families staying in Fisher Houses and providing emergency financial support to families in crisis. Their Asset Recovery Kit program helps military families avoid predatory payday lenders by partnering with local credit unions to offer small interest-free loans alongside financial counseling, saving military families fee costs. Helping military families become more financially stable, the PenFed Dream Makers program offers matching grants to military first-time home buyers for down payments.PenFed’s latest program is focused on raising private donations to help build the Defenders Lodge, a public-private partnership with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to offer free hotel service for veterans undergoing medical care at the VA hospital in Palo Alto, Calif., thus saving servicemen who are undergoing treatment the cost of housing expenses.Construction has begun, and the facility is expected to be completed in late 2013.The PenFed foundation has been a strong partner of AUSA’s George Washington Chapter – they assist with each other’s programs, working together for the benefit of servicemen and their families.PenFed and AUSA also cohosted an annual holiday party for all families of wounded warriors at Walter Reed Army Medical Center from 2005 until it closed.Rudder MedalThe Major General James Earl Rudder Medal is awarded to Command Sgt. Maj. W. Douglas Gibbens, USAR, Ret., for his outstanding contributions to the advancement of the Association of the United States Army’s goal of a seamless and component-oriented Army.Gibbens began his military career in 1966, enlisting in the Army after graduating from the University of Illinois.After completing stateside training, Gibbens was released to the Army Reserve where he served in a variety of unit roles, including quartermaster, chemical, combat engineer, field artillery and others. He retired in 2001 after 35 years of service.For his exemplary service, Gibbens was awarded the Legion of Merit with Oak Leaf Cluster and the Army Commendation Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster. He has also received the Order of Saint Barbara from the U.S. Field Artillery Association and the deFluery Medal from the U.S. Army Engineer Association.Since 1993, Gibbens has been an active member and volunteer with AUSA. Over the years he has served in a variety of chapter offices.He is the current Indiana Chapter secretary, as well as the Indiana state president and Second Region vice president; he also serves on the Reserve Component Committee of the AUSA Advisory Board of Directors.At the national level, Gibbens has served five years on the Resolutions Committee, acting as chairman from 2011 to 2012. In addition, Gibbens was appointed to the AUSA Reserve Component Advisory Committee in 2013. As co-chair of the Reserve Component Committee’s "Tiger Team," Gibbens helped develop the AUSA Reserve Component recruiting program currently in operation.Gibbens also remains very involved with Army and reserve issues in the Indiana community.His many contributions to the Indiana military community include serving as Indiana’s U.S. Army Reserve Ambassador.He has also developed strong working relationships within the Army Reserve, as well as with the Indiana National Guard, especially the adjutant general of Indiana, Maj. Gen. Martin Umbarger. Gibbens also served for more than four years as the executive director of the Indiana Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve and is the current vice chair.