JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND AFB, Texas --
The Air Force Civil Engineer Center gained a new director during an assumption of leadership ceremony here July 16.
Before introducing Randy E. Brown as the organizations incoming director, Maj. Gen. Theresa C. Carter, Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center commander, recounted some of AFCEC's achievements since the center formed in 2012, and outlined goals and challenges ahead under AFIMSC.
"I think you can be very proud of where the organization is as you welcome in Mr. Randy Brown as your new leader," she said.
Brown's diverse background makes him ideal for the job, the general said. He most recently served as the director of the Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance and Requirements Directorate, headquarters Air Force Materiel Command at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. Before that assignment, he was director of the Armament Directorate at Eglin AFB, Florida, where he led more than 1,000 personnel executing a portfolio valued at more than $52 billion.
"He started out spending four years as an enlisted Airman in the Air Force, so he understands what it's like to serve and what it means to wear the uniform. He also worked in private industry for a few years, so for the contract partners that we have in the audience, he understands that perspective and has had a chance to see it on the other side of the negotiating table," Carter said.
"I am incredibly confident that both his time on the staff at AFMC as well as his time leading a big directorate down at Eglin, that he's got the leadership, he's got the technical expertise and the background to step in and continue the momentum that (former director) Mr. (Joe) Sciabica started as this organization came together," she said.
Sciabica, AFCEC's first director, retired earlier this month. With AFCEC now part of AFIMSC, the future holds excitement and opportunities for the organization, Carter said.
The general said she is confident Brown will build on the foundation of success built by Sciabica.
During his first public remarks to his AFCEC team, Brown talked about the value of having a champion in one's life and of being a champion to others.
"People who speak to you in your career, speak to you in your life, that speak hope to you, that speak a future to you, stick out to you and they are important to you, even if you are not around them all the time," he said.
"So the question in kind of a turn-around way is what do we do to champion others? I think in AFCEC, in the organizations that we work with, we have to also not only think about how we are championed, but how we champion," he said.
Champions figure out how to make things work, he said.
"We are going to figure out how to make things work. And we are going to retain our mastery for AFCEC and help (AFIMSC), because this is a team sport. We have to be able to take this new organization the Air Force has put a tremendous amount of responsibility into and basically said 'start running before you even have formed yourself into an organization.' It's like, get on with it. ... We are going to make sure and that (AFIMSC) is successful, and we are going to make sure that AFCEC is successful. And we're going to continue to be the best organization in the Air Force."
In addition to championing others, diversity and inclusivity will be key themes in his leadership, he said.
"When we talk about championing, I want us to know that we are talking about how we have diversity: diversity of thought and diversity of people; and how we are inclusive. How we appreciate the differences that there are. ... if we don't take diversity seriously and take inclusiveness seriously, we just perpetuate what we have."
"There's an Ethiopian proverb that says, when spider webs unite, they can tie up a lion," Carter said. "That's really what I think the (AFIMSC) has an opportunity to do, together with AFCEC. AFCEC, working with every other part of the organization, when we work in unison, there isn't a problem we can't tackle or a problem that we can't solve.
"And together, that's what's going to help the Air Force move forward," she said.