Incoming Engineering director no stranger to ESC, Hanscom

  • Published
  • By Chuck Paone
  • 66th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
HANSCOM AFB, Mass. --  The Air Force last month named a new director of Engineering for the Electronic Systems Center, but many in ESC already know him well.

Steve Wert, who while on Air Force active duty served two previous tours at Hanscom, the most recent ending in 2004, is expecting to begin his new job here sometime next month. At that time, Mr. Wert, who retired from active duty as a colonel last summer, will become a new member of the Senior Executive Service.

"I'm excited to have the chance to serve at Hanscom for a third time. The mission is important. The challenges are complex and extremely motivating," he said during a recent interview.

In his previous Hanscom assignments, Mr. Wert managed the AWACS Radar System Improvement Program and later the Air Force's Distributed Common Ground System. He also served as executive officer to the ESC commander.

While some of the people he served with at ESC have moved on, many remain. "Others are leaders in the greater Air Force acquisition, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance or command and control communities, and I'm looking forward to working with them again," he said.

Mr. Wert currently works for SRA International Inc., where he supports the Air Force A2 (Intelligence) office in capabilities management and on developing the first Air Force ISR concept of operations.

"There are truly dedicated people working in the Pentagon and the Air Force ISR Agency every day to transform the Air Force ISR mission area, and it's a big job," Mr. Wert said. "My experience working in industry, although short, has been eye-opening. Industry leaders are experienced, focused, and constantly looking ahead in our mission areas. Industry expertise - what we ultimately draw on to shape and actually build capability - is absolutely impressive."

After leaving Hanscom in 2004, Mr. Wert served as deputy director of the Engineering and Technical Management Directorate for Headquarters Air Force Materiel Command, Wright Patterson AFB, Ohio, for nearly three years. There he served as deputy to both Jon Ogg, the current AFMC Engineering director, and Dr. Steve Butler, now the technical director at Warner Robins Air Logistics Center, Ga.

Mr. Wert said he found the policy and corporate perspectives gained from working at a major command headquarters and the Air Staff invaluable. At this point in his career, however, he looks forward to working more closely with the wings, groups, and individual programs at ESC.

"Before retiring from the military, I did the research and talked with many of my mentors and colleagues," Mr. Wert said. "I was able to develop a range of options and positions in both industry and the federal government. Of all of these, the best match to my qualifications and experience was this position as director of engineering for ESC. I also saw this position as perhaps the most challenging."

Among those challenges is the need to ensure systems engineering principles are fully incorporated into all aspects of ESC's acquisition mission.

"In this complex acquisition business, everyone's job is important. It's not that systems engineering is more important than program management, contracting, or other functions -- it's more that engineering is integral to all primary acquisition functions," he said. "I don't believe that program management, contracting, and systems engineering are cleanly severable whenever there are complex technical objectives."
Systems engineering, Mr. Wert said, deals with integrating the technical strategy and activities in a business context. The majority of engineering activities are in fact performed by industry, so "our primary technical management tools are things like acquisition strategy and contract provisions or incentives."

"System engineering is important because it is the integrating function shaping all aspects of our technical and business approaches. It's also important that we ensure that the right engineering fundamentals are accomplished at the right time."

Program deficiencies or delays don't happen overnight, he noted. As the Government Accountability Office recently found, delays and overruns are typically the result of neglecting fundamental engineering rigor early in the life of a program.

Mr Wert said he looks forward to learning more about how the Engineering Directorate can best partner to serve ESC wing and group leaders.

"Ultimately we're intently focused on a compelling objective: to deliver warfighting capability that works as rapidly as possible," he said.