# DLA Aviation recognizes 2023 January Employees of the Month 

/ Published April 6, 2023
RICHMOND, Va., 
Defense Logistics Agency Aviation December 2022 Employees of the Month Rebertha O’Neal and Donna Cruz have tackled additional tasks and challenges with success and demonstrated a superior ability to exceed expectations within their sections at DLA Aviation.

Employee of the Month is awarded to DLA Aviation non-supervisory civilian employees. Two recipients are selected based on individual general schedule pay levels – one from GS 1-9 (Category 1) and one from GS 10-13 (Category 2). Recipients receive a coin, a certificate of achievement and a cash award.

O’Neal is a material expediter in the DLA Aviation at Warner Robins, Georgia’s, Commodities Maintenance Group. She was selected as the Category 1 winner.

O’Neal’s solid performance, unmatched work ethics, and outstanding leadership during the month of January 2023 has elevated her above her peers, says Material Expediter Supervisor, Earnestine Joseph.

While doing her part of maintaining the operations of assets valued over $11.6 million, O’Neal took on the challenge of overcoming a personnel shortage by assisting her supervisor and team members in the training of eight employees to meet mission requirements.

O’Neal also maintained and monitored both weekly and daily reports to confirm 100% accountability of materials being stowed at the Air Force F-15 Wing and C-130 Prop shop service centers. 

In addition to her already substantial workload, O’Neal conducted thorough reviews of material quantities being sent out to the mechanics, thus guaranteeing the correct delivery of over 1,300 orders in an average time of 43 minutes each. This accomplishment greatly exceeded the DLA standard 90-minute requirement, as described in her nomination.

Joseph states that O’Neal has consistently shown willingness to step-up to challenges, the initiative to go above and beyond, and an unwavering dedication the vision of the agency.  

"I care about my role at DLA Aviation,” O’Neal said. “When I'm given a task, I view it as an opportunity to grow within and be part of the organization."

Donna Cruz, a lead contract specialist in the DLA Aviation, Richmond, Virginia Supplier Operations Commodities Directorate’s Post Award Division. She was selected as the Category 2 award recipient.

Upon her appointment as a lead of a post award team, Cruz created a new system tool that enabled the rapid sorting of massive amounts of data used to identify unfulfilled or ‘delinquent’ purchase order contracts. By compiling the data into a user-friendly format, Cruz was able to streamline the process by providing the information for her team of contract administrators.

When using this tool, Cruz’s team was able to request status updates on their open purchase orders quickly and efficiently using well-organized spreadsheets, a task that would normally take a contract administrator an estimated 1.5 hours of manual searching for each delinquent supplier. 

By January 2023, the tool was implemented into the entire branch of her post award division which enabled each administrator to track open purchase orders easily, as well as identify their top five delinquent vendors. 

Per the award citation, Cruz’s readiness and ingenuity had a direct impact on reducing purchase order delinquencies.

When asked how she feels about the success of her contribution, Cruz said “I’m lucky to have leadership that is open to new ideas and fosters a work environment that allows me to grow and motivates me to continuously improve and learn.”