# Leadership Spotlight: Natalie Coulson

/ Published July 17, 2023
Battle Creek, Mich, 

## Equipment Management Solutions Deputy DirectorNew Cumberland, Pennsylvania

**Can you tell us about yourself?** I live in central Pennsylvania and work in New Cumberland, Pennsylvania.  I started at DLA as a part-time intern while I was in college at Shippensburg University.  I have my bachelor’s degree in business with a focus on marketing and management information systems.  I also received my master’s degree in business administration.   I live with my significant other, Dustin, for over 10 years and we have one cat and one dog.  I am also a cancer survivor who has been in remission for over 15 years.

**Describe your job in a sentence or two.**  As the Deputy Director for Equipment Management Solutions division, I help oversee the division and one of my main focus areas is on customer service.  Specifically, supporting our DoD customers, the warfighters, we provide over 54,000 leased multi-function devices, as well as a fleet of Shipboard multi-function devices onboard Navy ships.

**How long have you worked for the federal government?** 19 years, all of which have been for DLA Disposition Services/Document Services

**What is your favorite thing about your line of work?** Supporting the warfighter.  Some may view it as just providing office printing devices to customers, but I look at it as we provide a supporting role so that the customers can focus on their unique mission.

**What is the best piece of advice someone has given you?** Sometimes you have to slow down to speed up.  There are plenty of times that we are focused on solving a specific problem that we often forget to slow down and take a step back to look at what is causing the problem and make adjustments so that we can speed up going forward.

**What would you like to accomplish as deputy?** I think all leaders probably have many items on their list to accomplish but I will share the top item on my list, which is to support the entire DoD with office printing devices so that we can save the DoD money by not only right-sizing their office device fleet but also lowering prices as we gain more efficiencies and economies of scale. 

**What is your message to the DLA Disposition Services workforce?** We are happy to be joining the Disposition family and appreciate the support and welcoming nature that you have already showed to us throughout the Document Services transition.  Since we have many of the same customers, I think there are great opportunities to share customer leads between the teams to benefit the overall organization.

**What is one characteristic that you believe every leader should possess?**An open mind and open ears.  It is important to take the time to listen to your team and be open to new ideas and change when something doesn’t work out as expected.

**Can you share a story when you realized your efforts were making a difference?**When I was only a couple years into my career, we performed an office print device assessment onboard the Navy aircraft carrier, USS Theodore Roosevelt.   We spent a few days walking the spaces of the aircraft carrier, gathering information about what office print devices they were currently utilizing, recording issues, and then we made recommendations for efficiencies and to provide savings to the customer.  The experience gave me a better appreciation for how what we do directly supports the warfighter since the Navy relied on these devices to print out important documents while they were out at sea. 

**What do you look for when evaluating top talent?**Different technical skills are needed depending on the job; however, some attributes are universal when looking for good candidates to fill a position.  I look for effective communication skills, teamwork, a positive attitude, willingness to learn, and creativity/innovation.

**What are your best practices for achieving goals or accomplishing tasks?**Hard work, time management and dedication.  When working to achieve a big goal, it is best to break it down into smaller goals (with dedicated time) to make it more manageable.  Achieving smaller goals gives you the motivation and momentum to keep going towards the bigger goal.

**Why is networking to build professional relationships so important in achieving success?**  Building relationships helps in good times and hard times.  Networking can help open doors for opportunities for new customer opportunities, career advancement, or to help generate creative ideas on how to deal with certain situations.  When dealing with different teams, I find it easier to work through issues that arise when you already have a good rapport with members from those teams and are open to varying opinions.

**Tell us something that most people might not know about you or your directorate?**  I have recently become a beekeeper.  Those around me are surprised when they hear this fact.  I find the various interaction of the bee colonies fascinating and when I learned how much of our food crops rely on bee pollination, I wanted to help the bee population by becoming a beekeeper.  Any honey that I manage to get from the bees is just an extra benefit!

**What was your first job?** I started working in a restaurant as a hostess and waitress when I was 16 and continued to work in restaurants for the next 10 years part-time.  My time working in a restaurant helped initially develop my customer service skills.

**What did you want to be when you grew up?** I wanted to be a Marine biologist so I could work with animals in the ocean and help preserve their habit.

**What are your hobbies?** I have a long list of hobbies.  Some include bicycling, gardening, beekeeping, swimming, spending time at the beach to include dolphin watching, painting (acrylic/oils/watercolor), creating collages, attending art classes and anything creative/crafty.

**What is your favorite quote?**I have many favorite quotes from Eleanor Roosevelt but one of my favorites is “The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.”