Employee of the Quarter - 2020 Second Qtr
Mr. Ron Stephens
Personnel Security Specialist
Employee of the Quarter
April – June 2020
As a Personnel Security Specialist for the Pacific South (PAC South) District located in Okinawa, Japan, Mr. Ron Stephens is responsible for ensuring all employees and applicants of the PAC South District are in compliance with security requirements for employment and continuous employment.
During the second quarter’s on-going COVID-19 crisis and in addition to his current case load, Mr. Stephens took it upon himself to launch a security reverification initiative which required his coordination of various stakeholders to include the Pacific Chief of Staff, the PAC South Chief of Staff, and the various School Principals. Mr. Stephens’s scope of responsibility includes DoDEA employees of 17 schools (13 on Okinawa / 4 on Guam), a district support office on Kadena AFB, and the Pacific Regional Office on Torii Station. This undertaking ensured that all employees of the PAC South district are in compliance with their investigations and childcare reverifications.
To date, Mr. Stephens leads the PERSEC Pacific Operations Team with completed investigations and has completed a whopping 337 reverifications; 102 investigations; and a total of 451 fingerprint captures. All of this work was completed in addition to his normal workload, which amounted to approximately 94 Notice of Incoming Personnel (NIP) actions, ensuring all incoming school-level and above-school level staff were able to meet requirements to be able to report on-time for the start of the 2020-2021 School Year.
During this time, Mr. Stephens also ensured the DoDEA Okinawa fingerprinting office was open throughout the pandemic when many other offices were closed or had limited hours, demonstrating Mr. Stephens commitment to excellence and his willingness to step up and take the lead. He continues to exceed his position expectations, and his contributions to the Security Management Division and PAC South are invaluable.
Accordingly, Mr. Stephens is most deserving of this award, as his sustained excellence, attentiveness and commitment to the DoDEA mission bring great credit upon himself, DoDEA, and the Department of Defense.