CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Deputy District Engineers for Programs and Project Management from across the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers gathered for a two-day Deputy Forum in Charleston, S.C., April 26-27. Twice a year, all 43 USACE DPMs meet in person to tackle challenges, share best practices, and seek opportunities to develop forward-moving strategies for the organization.
Several USACE headquarters representatives, including the Army's 55th Chief of Engineers, Lt. Gen. Scott Spellmon, spoke to the group about the record level of USACE workload nationwide, recruiting initiatives, acquisition strategies, and other topics of interest.
During the meeting, the DPMs focused on five main areas: workload/workforce, project delivery business process, affordability, technology challenges, and employee retention. Each subgroup synthesized the discussions and information into summary documents. These documents are being finalized by the DPM Forum Co-Chairs Donny Davidson, Memphis DPM, and Lindsay Harbour, interim Nashville DPM, and will be shared with the group shortly.
This information will also be presented to the Chief at an upcoming senior leader meeting to include civilians and military leaders, where high-level decisions about the organization's future will be made. The DPMs will continue quarterly virtual meetings between now and the next DPM Forum, scheduled in San Antonio in late fall.
"The recent DPM meeting in Charleston was very productive. The facility, the SAC staff, and the beautiful city led to an outstanding meeting," said Chris Brayman, the Wilmington District DPM. "These meetings always recharge my batteries, get me thinking about new ways to solve SAW challenges and strengthen my peer relationships. I look forward to it and this meeting did not disappoint."
This executive meeting is crucial to the enterprise successfully delivering robust engineering solutions for the nation's toughest engineering challenges. USACE thanks these civilian leaders for positively contributing to critically important missions that USACE executes for the nation.