ES and EC Change of Charter Ceremonies

On May 13, 2016, in a dual Change of Charter ceremony, Mr. Thomas Neff was officially named the Project Director, Enterprise Services (PD ES), a project office within the Army’s Program Executive Office Enterprise Information Systems (PEO EIS). Additionally, Mr. Dennis Kelly, who officially started in his role on April 3, 2016, formally received the charter as the Product Lead for Enterprise Computing (EC) within the PD ES organization.

During the ceremony held in the Heroes Auditorium on Fort Belvoir, Mr. Neff was joined by Acting PEO EIS Ms. Terry Watson and Mr. Douglas Haskin, who served as Acting PD ES since August 2015.

Mr. Neff was selected for the ES position by the Army Director, Acquisition Career Management- sponsored selection board in February 2016. In his role as PD ES, Mr. Neff will manage a project office responsible for acquiring, fielding and performing life cycle sustainment of enterprise level services supporting many of the Army Chief Information Officer’s high priority initiatives. He will provide leadership to a staff of more than 300 military, civilian and contractor personnel across five product offices, in three geographic locations.

Prior to accepting the role as PD ES, Mr. Neff served as the Product Lead, Computer Hardware, Enterprise Software and Solutions (CHESS) from July 2014 to May 2016. In that role, he was responsible for delivering, implementing and managing commercial information technology contracts that provide enterprise-wide, net-centric hardware, software and support services for the Army. CHESS is one of the five product offices within PD ES.

Ms. Watson, who presided over the ceremony, had this to say about Mr. Neff: “Tom did great things in his time at CHESS, his sense of leadership is incredible and he has a great relationship with everyone. I’d like to congratulate and thank him for his time and continued commitment."

In his remarks following the charter hand-off, Mr. Haskin echoed Ms. Watson’s sentiment. “I can’t think of a better, more qualified person to take over the reins of PD ES than Tom,” said Mr. Haskin. “It’s a leader’s job to look to the future, to not only think about the day-to-day but, the long-term future of the organization. I have no doubt Tom will do just that.” Mr. Haskin will return to his role as Deputy PD ES reporting to Mr. Neff.

After thanking his wife and family for their support, Mr. Neff touched on his government service. “I’d like to thank everyone at PEO EIS,” said Mr. Neff. “To my colleagues at CHESS you have done so much hard work and it was an honor to have been a part of your team. In the military I learned to lead by example, and it is without a doubt the most important lesson I have ever been taught. My promise to ES is to never stray from that lesson. I want you to hold me to that commitment. Thank you all and Godspeed.”

Immediately prior to the change of charter for Mr. Neff, a ceremony was held for Mr. Dennis Kelly, who officially accepted the charter for EC from Acting Product Lead, Mr. Keith Baylor, who served in the acting role from September 2015 to April 2016. As the head of EC, Mr. Kelly provides future-focused solutions that modernize and optimize enterprise information technology activities through cost effective and policy-compliant delivery of cutting edge infrastructure and services. Mr. Douglas Haskin presided over the event.

Before taking on the role of Product Lead for EC, Mr. Kelly served as a project officer with EC since its inception in 2013. As the Army Enterprise Service Desk Worldwide (AESD-W) lead, Mr. Kelly managed three service desk locations that handled one million incidents at 44 installations, as well as supporting the 1.5 million users of Army Knowledge Online and Enterprise Email. For Army Private Cloud (APC2), he facilitated the provision of cloud software as a service and infrastructure as a service for DOD customers.

“Dennis did great things at AESD-W and I have no doubt he’ll do great things at EC as we continue to support our Soldiers around the globe,” said Mr. Haskin.

Following Mr. Haskin’s remarks, Mr. Keith Baylor spoke to his continued support of Mr. Kelly, “I’d like to thank Dennis for all his support as leader of AESD-W. I look forward to supporting you in the same capacity that you supported me in my previous role.”

In his remarks, Mr. Kelly expressed gratitude for his selection and optimism for the future of EC. “I’d like to thank Keith and Doug for all their hard work, my wife and many mentors, some of whom are in this room,” said Mr. Kelly. “EC’s mission is to support the Army in its modernization effort. The EC team that Keith and my other predecessors have put together is up to the challenge. I’m honored to bring my experience, my faith, the examples of my mentors and family to support Tom and Ms. Watson as we move forward.”