# Land and Maritime celebrates the career of Mark Brown 

/ Published May 26, 2023
COLUMBUS, Ohio, 
Defense Logistics Agency Land and Maritime celebrated the career of Acquisition Executive Mark Brown in a retirement ceremony at the Defense Supply Center Columbus Operations Center May 17.

Surrounded by his family, current and former co-workers, industry partners, colleagues and friends, Brown was lauded for more than four decades of service to the nation.

“He has been an integral part not only at Land and Maritime but to this entire agency as our uniformed acquisition executive and as a man who served in uniform here as a captain in the Navy,” said Defense Logistics Agency Land and Maritime Commander Army Brig. Gen. Gail Atkins.

                Defense Logistics Agency Land and Maritime Acquisition Executive Mark Brown offers parting advice to the workforce at his retirement ceremony in the Operations Center Auditorium May 17. Brown’s last day in the office is May 31.                            Retirement ceremony honoring Mark Brown                            Defense Logistics Agency Land and Maritime Acquisition Executive Mark Brown offers parting advice to the workforce at his retirement ceremony in the Operations Center Auditorium May 17. Brown’s last day in the office is May 31.            SHARE IMAGE:Download ImageImage DetailsPhoto By: Arthur Hylton/DSCCVIRIN: 230517-D-DM952-9174

As DLA Land and Maritime’s acquisition executive for the past four years, Brown directed various innovative acquisition initiatives that have helped produce improvements in material availability and reductions in backorders, ultimately resulting in enhanced support to the Warfighter.

Prior to that, he was the director of the Procurement Process Support Directorate, after several other management positions in the corporate sector following 27 years of service in the Navy.    

“Whether he served in his khakis or his coat and tie, he was a leader and mentor to all of us,” Atkins said.

And he was an avid innovator, DLA Land and Maritime Deputy Commander Kenneth Watson said.

“I’ve been extremely impressed by his tremendous foresight in confronting enduring uncertainty with agility and innovation which has been so important through the many challenges we face in our organization each and every day,” he said of Brown.

He mentioned several of Brown’s innovations from getting more National Item Identification Numbers on long-term contracts to speeding up the acquisition process by developing the special emergency procurement authority, giving DLA Land and Maritime a key tool to how critical parts get to the customer faster.

“Throughout his tenure, Land and Maritime has continued to provide innovative acquisition plans to address the increasingly complex and difficult logistics challenges we face,” Watson said.

“His deep institutional knowledge and stalwart leadership have been invaluable in how we do business,” he added.

Watson presented Brown with the DLA Exceptional Civilian Service Award and the DLA Gold Letter  signed by DLA Director Navy Vice Adm. Michelle Skubic. Atkins presented Brown with a plaque of appreciation and his official DLA retirement plaque and certificate.

“America is the land of innovation, opportunity, enterprise,” Brown said in his remarks. “You can go as far as your drive, determination and work ethic will take you.”

“In America, you can be a kid from a little town in Pennsylvania, whose dad was a schoolteacher; whose mother was a cafeteria worker in a high school; who didn’t do particularly well in school; who can become a Navy Captain and a SES,” he said.

“This has been an absolutely great career,” Brown said of his decades of service. “I have seen places that I never thought in my lifetime that I would see.”

Brown closed by offering parting advice to the DLA Land and Maritime workforce.

“Every day give it your absolute best,” Brown said. “Be relentless, be fearless, bend the rules when you have to bend the rules, push the envelope constantly, take reasonable risks. As long as you are supporting the Warfighter, you’ll never be wrong.”

DLA Land and Maritime Resolution Specialist Lisa Griffin rendered the National Anthem, Management Program Analyst Mary Moore delivered the invocation and Mary Shearer, deputy director of Procurement Process Support served as the event’s Mistress of Ceremonies. 

A reception immediately followed the retirement ceremony.

Brown’s last day in the office is May 31.

“I can’t think of a better way to have spent my life than doing what I did,” Brown said. “It’s been a great ride.”

                From left, Defense Logistics Agency Land and Maritime Deputy Commander Kenneth Watson, Acquisition Executive Mark Brown, Commander Army Brig. Gen. Gail Atkins and Chief of Staff Air Force Col. Craig Lowery at a post-retirement ceremony reception for Brown May 17. Brown’s last day in the office is May 31.                            Retirement ceremony honoring Mark Brown                            From left, Defense Logistics Agency Land and Maritime Deputy Commander Kenneth Watson, Acquisition Executive Mark Brown, Commander Army Brig. Gen. Gail Atkins and Chief of Staff Air Force Col. Craig Lowery at a post-retirement ceremony reception for Brown May 17. Brown’s last day in the office is May 31.            SHARE IMAGE:Download ImageImage DetailsPhoto By: Arthur Hylton/DSCCVIRIN: 230517-D-DM952-9432