News From USJFCOM: Senior civilian of the year announced


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Senior civilian of the year announced

U.S. Joint Forces Command(USJFCOM) has selected one of its force provision managers as USJFCOM 2008 Senior Civilian of the Year.

By Susy Dodson
USJFCOM Public Affairs

(NORFOLK, Va. - March 18, 2009) -- U. S. Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM) selected John Burdon of USJFCOM's Operations, Plans, Logistics and Engineering Directorate (J3/4) as the command's 2008 Senior Civilian of the Year recently.

"The strength of this organization is the young men and women who we attract to work here on the staff, both uniformed and civilian," said USJFCOM's J3/4 Director, Army Brig. Gen. Karl R. Horst. "Jay Burdon absolutely represents the very best of the civilian workforce inside JFCOM."

Burdon is chief of the Global Force Management Processes and Resources Division (J38) in the J3/4. He is responsible for managing the process used by J3/4 to provide conventional forces for all joint force operations worldwide.

He also is the lead of the Force Management Integration Project (FMIP), operational manager of the Joint Deployment Center (JDC) military construction project, and is part of the senior leadership of the directorate's business management office.

Horst nominated Burdon for his work with the FMIP, a series of automated tools to assist the global force management process.

"He has been the project lead since the project's inception back in May / June 07 and has pretty much single-handedly walked this through and made this program work," said Horst. "He has represented JFCOM with the other combatant commands (COCOM). He is universally recognized on the OSD [Office of the Secretary of Defense] and Joint Staff as being the go-to guy at USJFCOM for this particular project."

According to Burdon, one of the challenges facing USJFCOM as the joint force provider for all conventional forces was the need to develop a consolidated, web-based capability to submit all requests for forces to support immediate, rotational, exercise, individual augmentees and contingency plans and then process those requests for forces in the most efficient way possible.

"The department needed to have a method for consolidating all those requirements to be able to understand the total stress on the force," Burdon said. "That requirement resulted in the FMIP, developing and delivering the Joint Capabilities Requirements Manager tool . That tool is now fully implemented as the system of record for submitting force requirements for all combatant commanders."

Burdon's experience and leadership allowed his team to source 191 requests for forces resulting in the deployment of more than 86,500 personnel to meet COCOM's emergent force requirements. He also scheduled more than 400,000 personnel supporting global COCOM requirements.

"Part of my job as the global force management processes and resources division chief is to continuously review the GFM [global force management] processes, identify opportunities for efficiencies and effectiveness improvements and pursue solutions," Burdon said. "It's very rewarding… to be able to provide tangible improvements to the process in the near term, that really benefit the warfighter end user, making his orher job easier and the process more effective at an efficient price and in a very short period of time. ."

Burdon also co-manages the JDC military construction project. He was instrumental in the design, procurement, construction and outfitting of the JDC facility.

"He went in and looked at the facility [and] a number of other facilities and said 'We want to make this a state of the art facility,'" said Horst. "He went out procured and purchased cutting edge technology. He did it in a very fiscally conscious way."

For Burdon, this award is a result of his team's work.

"A leader is defined by the number and significance of successful leadership events," Burdon said. "Being a good leader is easy when you have the right support and a team of dedicated employees who want to do their best. I would have to say, the way I define my success and received this recognition as senior civilian of the year is really a reflection of the entire staff here in the J3, because I couldn't have done this by myself."

Burdon's excellence in service continues in his off-duty hours. He served as the president of his homeowner's association for five years, and also is a dedicated community organizer who was asked to run for Suffolk City Council last year - an honor he declined.

An avid hunter and fisherman, Burdon also is infamous in the J3/4 for his keen sense of fashion.

"He's been singled out as a "GQ" kind of guy amongst the team," Horst said.

Burdon's inspiration comes from his wife Cindy and his late father, retired Navy Capt. Bob Burdon.

"My wife has inspired me through my entire career; you can't put that kind of stuff in words," Burdon said.

In honor of his father, Burdon sponsors the Bob Burdon Memorial Scholarship. The annual scholarship awards $1,000 to three high school students, who attend St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Hobe Sound, Fla. The scholarship funds their attendanc at either a prospective college or vocational and technological school.

"My dad was very proactive in getting young people focused in the right direction and a staunch supporter in continuing education," Burdon said. "I just thought it was the right thing to do."