DAU Board of Visitors welcomes six new members

Program Manager, May-June, 2003 by Kelley Berta

April 15, 2003, was a historic day for the DAU Board of Visitors (BoV). It was the first time a full day of orientation briefings was offered to a class of incoming BoV members. Dr. J. Ronald Fox, BoV Chairperson, and Frank J. Anderson Jr., DAU President, welcomed six new members to the advisory board: David J. Berteau, Syracuse University; Dr. Priscilla H. Douglas, PHDouglas and Associates; Nicholas W. Kuzemka, Lockheed Martin; John F. Phillips, Honeywell; retired Air Force Gen. Bernard P. Randolph; and retired Army Gen. William G. T. Tuttle.

Anderson opened the orientation day with an explanation of the transformation of DAU from a classroom-based institution of the 20th century to a customer-centric learning organization of the 21st century. With DAU's vision and mission aligned with the goals of the Secretary of Defense and the Under Secretary of Defense (Acquisition, Technology and Logistics), Phase 1 of the transformation focused on the organization and Phase 2 with processes. Phase 3 will be a period of harmonization, integration, and improvement.

Following Anderson's introduction, the members were provided a virtual tour of DAU's five regional campus facilities. The director of each staff component of the University presented an overview of the mission and functions of his or her component, and the Dean of the DSMC School of Program Managers discussed the executive and international training responsibilities of his organization.

On April 16, the current board members joined the new consultants for the standing quarterly BoV meeting. In addition to those listed previously, board members include: Charles E. "Pete" Adolph, SAIC; R. Stephen Ayers, SAIC; Dr. J. Ronald Fox, Harvard University; Stephen R. Mercer, Boeing; Robert J. Murray, The CNA Corporation; and James L. Sanford, Northrop Grumman. The board bid farewell to three longstanding members: Peter DeMayo, Consultant; James M. Gallagher, The Dayton Group; and Eric M. Levi, Consultant.

Since its inception as an academic institution, DAU has been subject to governance and guidance from the BoV on organizational, administrative, and curricular matters. All BoV members, past and present, have been invaluable to the foresight, planning, and progress of DAU as an institution. Although the departure of three longstanding members will leave an undeniable void, DAU and the remaining BoV members look forward to continuing their association with former members, and working with the new members on several challenging initiatives the University is undertaking in 2003.

Editor's Note: Berta is the Director, Outreach and Communications, Strategic Planning, Defense Acquisition University, Fort Belvoir, Va.