#ICELEBRATEYOU NO. 10 – CELEBRATING MY MILITARY MENTORS -

For December’s #ICelebrateYou, especially in this season of giving thanks, I want to celebrate three of my close military veteran colleagues. While I did not serve in the military, I have the deepest admiration and appreciation for any man or woman who has committed service for the protection of their country. The relationships I have with the following 3 individuals are very special to me, as they serve as mentors, teachers, and key members of my “go-to” support network. Regardless of how I’m feeling at the start of a discussion or engagement with these folks, I know by the time we depart my energy level will be back at peak level.

For whom am I grateful this month?

1) I’m going to start by recognizing Brian Treanor, Agile Coach and Certified Scrum Master (USN, ret.). currently a Senior Sourcing Manager with GE Aerospace. Biran and I met at GE in Greenville around 16 years ago, and he’s one of my closest professional colleagues. He has served GE Aviation and GE Energy/Power in a variety of roles, always drawing upon his U.S. Navy background as well as his vast professional experience to bring a pragmatic perspective and success to each role.

Brian is the no-nonsense, “gets s**t done” type who is able to focus on the important aspects of any issue with blinding clarity. I’m constantly learning from his shared experiences, and we are mutual sounding boards for each other as we laugh and struggle and find solutions as we weave through the regular challenges and nonsense that is the corporate world. Brian is one of those folks who would be the first to show up if you needed a flat tire fixed at 3am in the morning, no questions asked.

2) I next want to acknowledge Joseph D. Cipponeri, MAOL/HR, LSSGB, PMP, PSM I (USAF, ret.), who joined Gas Power earlier this year as a Senior EHS Training Leader. Joe was introduced to me by Colleen Soppelsa, and is one of those high-energy people that you immediately connect with. I don’t think Joe ever takes his foot off the accelerator, and his mind is constantly seeing new opportunities and finding fresh ways to deliver learning and continuous improvement to help others. I was fortunate enough to partner with Joe to present “Post-Traumatic Stress: In the Office and On the Battlefield” at the October 8 Gas Power Global EHS Day event, which was a blast. Joe is like a high-energy sensei - ?always probing, dissecting, examining a situation, with humor, in order to arrive at a new or more effective solution. Among other projects, Joe and I are working with a couple of other like-minded GE colleagues to organically spread awareness of EHS topics in a new and fresh way.

3) Finally, I’d like to recognize Robert Amsler (USN, ret.) who I also met through Colleen Soppelsa. Until recently, Robert was a Sr. Project Mgr / Lean Coach with GE Aerospace. Robert is the one who helped me understand that the Post-Traumatic Stress experienced by many veterans is not just from battlefield experiences, but also from the sense of “abandonment” they have when transitioning from military to corporate life, leaving behind the support network of the military to the “every man for himself” realm of the business world. Which helped me to understand how Corporate PTS is so widespread, yet too often ignored or minimized. (And this knowledge helped inspire me to develop the PTS presentation with Joe for Global EHS Day.) Robert helped me understand (and continue to learn) the parallels between LEAN / Respect for People philosophy and the military environment, and how to share those lessons to try to improve the corporate working environment. ?Robert’s adult work experience life is completely different than mine, but it’s a treasured learning opportunity that we can share and learn from each other’s experiences.

I’m grateful to these three special colleagues, not just for their service to our country, but because they are amazing people to whom I'm thankful to be in their sphere of goodness.

“Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” – Marcel Proust