Eaker's Financial Management team honored with meritorious awards

Published June 26, 2009
By Senior Airman Melissa Copeland
Air University Public Affairs

MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. -- The Ira C. Eaker College for Professional Development's Defense Financial Management and Comptroller School, or DFM & CS, and deputy director were recently honored with meritorious awards by the American Society of Military Comptrollers, or ASMC, at the Professional Development Institute in San Antonio, Texas, for their contributions to the finance community.

The school was recognized with a meritorious award for their Defense Decision Support Mobile Training Team and Army Lt. Col. Karl Kraus, DFM & CS deputy director in the individual education/training and career development category.

Colonel Kraus was also the lead for the mobile training team. Other team members are DFM & CS director Col. Barbara Gilchrist, retired Col. Daniel Dunaway, retired Navy Cmdr. Jeffrey Bohler, Maj. Judson Fussell, Maj. Ted Wahoske, Maj. Edward Marshall, Desiree Murray, Diana Benoit, LaShunda Lewis, Jack Conroy, Keith Bell and Jim Lee.

"The Office of the Secretary of the Air Force FM asked us to take the course mobile in order to reach a larger portion of the FM community," Colonel Gilchrist said. "The team dramatically extends the reach and benefits of the training."

According to the ASMC, the mobile training team demonstrated outstanding team performance and incorporated study results or outcome of savings to ultimately "aid in the advancement of the profession of military comptrollership."

The training team teaches the same curriculum as its in-residence counterpart, the Defense Decision Support Course. The course is targeted to senior financial managers and focuses on developing awareness and enhancing current skills in using decision support techniques, understanding the impact of interpersonal skills on decision support roles and employing the decision support processes in organizations.

"The local mission, the Air Force, other services and the Department of Defense benefit because we are training financial managers to provide better advice and alternatives to senior leaders," Colonel Gilchrist said. "We also want senior leaders to use the power of their FMs by keeping them involved at the front end of the decision making process."

Since the mobile pilot course in June 2007, the training team has graduated more than 200 students.

"The mobile team is made up of three or four instructors from the DFM & CS faculty," said Capt. Kevin Stanley Jr., the school's operations officer. "The faculty rotates duties for traveling with the mobile course."

The team has traveled around the nation to Florida, California, Hawaii, Ohio, Washington D.C., Indiana, Missouri and Oklahoma, he said.

"The deployment of the team allows us to train 40 to 50 students in one week while paying travel costs for only about four instructors, compared to bringing those same students TDY to Montgomery," Colonel Gilchrist said.

With growing awareness of the team's services, DFM & CS leadership continue to evaluate "our capacity (instructors and time) to respond to the growing number of requests while also meeting our in-residence comptroller training mission here at home," the colonel shared.

Also Colonel Kraus received a meritorious award by the ASMC under the education/training and career development category. He was recognized for developing, promoting and executing a realistic and effective program, which directly supported the development and advancement of the profession of military comptrollership.

"Colonel Kraus is 150 percent dedicated to meeting the mission of this school," Colonel Gilchrist said. "He contributes across a wide range of needs including faculty development, curriculum development, course director and podium teaching. He is a true professional and does tremendous work."

Colonel Kraus is currently the course director for the Defense Financial Management Course and the DDSC. He was recently named the Montgomery chapter ASMC vice president.