# 2024 DLA Hall of Fame inductee: Twila Gonzales

/ Published May 10, 2024
FORT BELVOIR, Va., 
*Editor’s Note: This is one of five stories featuring 2024**DLA Hall of Fame**inductees. An induction ceremony will be held 2 p.m. May 21 at the McNamara Headquarters Complex auditorium on Fort Belvoir, Virginia. The ceremony is open to all DLA employees; invitations are not needed.*

A leader known for piloting Defense Logistics Agency Distribution through organizational structure changes and pushing for the modernization of aging warehouse management software is a 2024 DLA Hall of Fame member.

Twila Gonzeles’ 39-year career includes two tenures as deputy commander for DLA Distribution and one as director of DLA Disposition Services. She started as a clerk typist at Sharpe Army Depot, now part of DLA Distribution San Joaquin, California.

Gonzales’ technical expertise and leadership flair propelled her to Defense Distribution Region West, where she managed two rounds of Base Realignment and Closure decisions and played a central part in merging the west and east regions into one entity then known as Defense Distribution.

As deputy commander of DLA Distribution in New Cumberland, Pennsylvania, Gonzales oversaw 24 distribution centers spanning 20 states and eight countries and an expeditionary capability. She improved DLA support to U.S. Central Command by creating a Bahrain-centric distribution strategy that eventually included over 675,000 square feet of storage in Bahrain alone.

“This expansion is estimated to have saved the services over $50 million per year while meeting or exceeding the customer wait time incurred flying material from Europe,” according to her nomination.

Gonzales is also credited with DLA’s selection by the F-35 Joint Program Office to store retail parts at Air Force and Navy industrial sites.

“Offering the expertise of her command to craft the distribution pipeline of the premier joint fighter of our generation was a brilliant move by Ms. Gonzales that will pay enormous dividends to warfighters and the taxpayers,” the nomination reads.

DLA Distribution provided lifesaving humanitarian support under Gonzales’ leadership. Her team deployed to provide emergency supplies to the Federal Emergency Management Agency after hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria. During Hurricane Florence, DLA Distribution rerouted delivery trucks to over 650 Defense Department customers. And after Hurricane Dorian, Gonzales deployed 52 distribution workers to process over 1,000 trailers of supplies like water and meals.

Replacing dated warehouse management software was also important to Gonzales, and she oversaw the implementation of the initial Warehouse Management System pilot at DLA Distribution Corpus Christi, Texas.

At DLA Disposition Services, she promoted the reuse of excess property by military, state and federal customers looking to offset annual budgets. Gonzales created expeditionary remediation teams that embedded with warfighters in Iraq to help remove scrap, eliminating the need for forces to travel across dangerous terrain to turn in property during the force drawdown.

Gonzales’ nomination credits her with having a legacy of innovation, improvement and dedication to quality.

“She was the catalyst for modernizing the world’s most premier distribution network, providing efficient, cost-effective logistical support to the warfighter in all corners of the globe,” it reads.