Croach optimistic about AFCEC future

  • Published
  • By Shannon Carabajal
  • AFCEC Public Affairs
JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas --  With a focus on people and building relationships, the new Air Force Civil Engineer Center deputy director is excited to be on board and looking forward to helping the agency finish its transition from initial to full operating capability over the next year.

Since joining the organization, Dr. Marilyn Croach has been getting to know the team, meeting people and receiving immersion briefings to better understand the organization. She said she is impressed with what she's seen so far.

"AFCEC is made up of incredible, talented people who are very passionate about what they do. People come to work excited about the work we do and they enjoy working with one another," she said.

So far, 13 two-hour immersion briefings have given Croach an inside look at AFCEC's teams and a glimpse at their capabilities, priorities and challenges. More importantly, she's been able to meet the people on each team.

"Organizations are not wiring diagrams, they are people," she said. "I am very focused on people and what they're saying and what they want me to know, because these are the most important things to them. We're all one team; we are one AFCEC. For now, my initial goal is to listen and get to know our people."

Next month, she will visit AFCEC's Detachment 1 at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla. Plans are also being finalized for her to spend a day in the life of a base civil engineer at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas.

"I think it's a fantastic opportunity to see what it feels like to walk in somebody else's shoes," she said. "When you are there, shoulder to shoulder with our base civil engineers, they're able to tell you how AFCEC impacts them. And I think it's a wonderful opportunity to have somebody contextualize for me what it's really like to work in Air Force civil engineering."

She believes AFCEC is a critical mission partner with base civil engineers and the Air Force civil engineering community. From base facilities and infrastructure, to runways and even environmental studies, everything an Airman touches has a link back to AFCEC, she said.

"AFCEC is a huge mission partner for making sure the Air Force has 100-percent mission assurance, so one of the things that I'm hoping can happen is there is increased awareness of the vital role AFCEC plays with its partners," she said.

Though this is her first time living in San Antonio, she is not new to Texas. As a child, Croach lived in Texas, spent time in the mid-1990s working in Austin, and in the early 2000s conducted doctoral research at Brooks City-Base. As an Air Force spouse and mom, she had strong connections with the Air Force even before joining AFCEC.

"Cut me and I bleed blue," she said.

She has enjoyed a diverse career across many government, academic and private organizations and consulted in a variety of areas including collaborative partnership building and change management. She believes her extensive experience building partnerships, managing change and working with different communities will be especially helpful as AFCEC continues merging components of three legacy agencies with new team members from major commands and installations into one effective unit.

As deputy director, she will also help AFCEC Director Joe Sciabica lead the organization through its final year of IOC toward FOC. She said it's important to take care of each other as the AFCEC team works together to achieve FOC while providing outstanding support to America's Air Force.

"Take care of your wingman. We're one team; we're all in this together. My role here is to take an outstanding, incredible organization and try to help it become even better. That's my purpose," she said.