AFCEAN of the Month: Col. Arbie Turner Jr., USAF (Ret.)

Signal, Feb 2002

Montgomery Chapter

Col. Arbie Turner Jr., USAF (Ret.), is a Unisys customer relations executive for the U.S. Air Force. In this capacity, he analyzes the information technology (IT) requirements of Air Force customers, engineers solutions and facilitates their implementation. Prior to entering the IT private sector, Col. Turner served as an Air Reserve Forces adviser for the Standard Systems Group (SSG), Maxwell Air Force Base, Gunter Annex, Alabama. He was responsible for interpreting, appraising, coordinating and developing Air Reserve Forces communications and computer systems requirements to identify the impact on Air Force programs and systems. During this assignment, he also served as competition advocate and inspector general, and on two occasions served as the vice director and military commander for the SSG.

Col. Turner has been an active memher of the Montgomery Chapter. Having just completed a tenure as Montgomery Chapter president, Col. Turner continues to demonstrate outstanding leadership and unflagging commitment to major AFCEA events, especially those that advance AFCEA-related professions and those that fund the chapter's Educational Foundation.

During the colonel's presidency, 51 new members joined the association, including one corporate sponsor, three enlisted members, and eight Young AFCEANs. Under his leadership, chapter programs earned more than $70,000, which was made available to Educational Foundation beneficiaries. These programs include Partnership Day, which annually promotes cooperation among government agencies, and the Information Technology Banquet, which has proven to be the premier social event of the annual Air Force Information Technology Conference. The 2000 banquet achieved sell-out status with a record attendance of more than 450 people.

As a member of the Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce Information Technology Committee, Turner frequently demonstrates AFCEA's value to the community by coordinating activities of industry and government entities for the betterment of education and the professions that AFCEA represents.

In cooperation with the commander of Air University as well as community leaders, Col. Turner provided a representative to participate on the Montgomery Area Information Technology Awareness Steering Committee. Comprising the military, the City of Montgomery, the River Region Chambers of Commerce, and area IT industry members, the committee sponsors a series of community IT focus days. These events promote IT awareness and educate the community on the Internet, information technology careers and the basic uses of personal computers.