Mary Lou McHugh retires: Top DoD official praises MTMC work, people
They went to people, and processes and organizations that impacted the Defense Transportation System in the almost eight years she held the position.
However, one of her biggest compliments went to the Military Traffic Management Command and the Pentagon-based transportation staffs of the military services.
"(You) are where the hard work of implementing new ideas really gets done - my hat is off to you - always was and always will be," said the Senior Executive Service executive at a retirement dinner at Fort Myer, Va.
McHugh retired from 35 years of government service Aug. 31.
"With steadily declining resources, you nobly rise to the occasion," said McHugh. "Challenging what does not make sense in the operational environment and improving the process as a result."
McHugh is well known to MTMC transporters. She served at the command in three separate assignments beginning in 1969.
Her last assignment with the Military Traffic Management Command was from 1986-1993 when she served as Senior Transportation Advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations.
McHugh is now transitioning to her own future. She plans to move to Singapore with her husband, Bob Keltz, in early January and begin a new civilian transportation career. Keltz, who recently retired from government service, will go to work with Sikorsky Aircraft.
"This is a dream come true for the two of us," said McHugh. "There are some 1,500 American companies that have Singapore as their Asian headquarters. It is a huge transportation hub.
"I am starting a job search next week."
McHugh said the Asian work would parallel similar work she and her husband did in Europe. The two met on the job there in 1974 and remained until 1978.
McHugh first started in government service in 1967 as a General Schedule 7 computer programmer working for the National Guard Bureau at the Nassif Building, in Falls Church, Va.
One of McHugh's last official ceremonies was on Aug. 29 when she gathered with transporters who served past and present terms with the Transportation Policy Professional Enhancement Program.
"We expect great things from you," said McHugh, speaking to program participants in the auditorium of her Crystal City, Va., offices. "We were never disappointed."
McHugh said the interns brought new energy and life to transportation offices and programs.
"I do not know how we could have operated without you," she said.
Program participants developed "creative finding solutions," she said.
In a subsequent interview with "Translog," McHugh commented on the progress and results of many Defense Transportation System programs and processes.
PowerTrack Automated Payments
"Most gratifying to me was the outsourcing of the payment of transportation bills," said McHugh, describing the implementation of USBank's PowerTrack automated payment software for carriers.
An effective partnership between military and industry was essential, she said.
"The first part of the challenge was to get everyone on board and to commit to the resources," said McHugh. "That was more complicated than we anticipated - which is usually the case."
Although delayed in implementation, McHugh said the program is 95 percent complete today. The use of government bills of lading has been slashed. While 67,000 were processed in 1997 - only 1,200 will be used this year.
USBank processes about $83 million monthly to over 470 transportation carriers, said McHugh. Approximately 85 percent are paid in three days - another 10 percent within 10 days.
"Having the vision is the easier part of it," she said. "Making it happen at the working level is the hard part. My hat is off to the military staff who made it happen and especially at the Military Traffic Management Command.
"They made it work."
Personal Property Moves
"We will get to the point where the military services will pay for (quality service)," said McHugh. "There is never enough money to go around.
"When the services see this helps their people's quality of life and this helps with their families - they will come up with the resources."
McHugh said the military represents 17 percent of the business for the American moving industry.
"We have expectations of them," she said.
Ultimately, she predicted "a huge change in the way we do business."
"There will be dramatic changes in the way industry interchanges," said McHugh.
Moving relocation services will be a part of the future military moving program, she predicted.
"The carriers and relocation companies will work together - just like in the corporate world," said McHugh.
Full Service Moving Program
"We should stay the course in the Full Service Moving Program," said McHugh. "We should work through any problems.
"We have an opportunity to shape the history of the industry."
Defense Travel System
"We have had operational testing and good results," said McHugh. "We need to pull through on this. Inevitably there are issues.
"There will always be issues. We do not have the ability to see all the issues."
However, McHugh predicted that the system would be fielded this fall with the "military services managing implementation."
Advice to her successor?
· Be a consensus builder. You have to have all the services and multiple functional areas involved. You have to have people on board. At the end of the day, you have a better product.
· Risk Taker: There is a lot of support for the status quo. We are all real comfortable.
· Advance cause of change.
· Stay the course on the Full Service Moving Program.
· Complete PowerTrack implementation. Reduce the remaining Defense Finance & Accounting Service structure for the payment of government bills of lading.
· Foreign ownership of transportation assets: This represents serious issues. It exists in sealift. There is a potential for it in airlift. The Department of Defense needs to think through the issues. What are the consequences? There are critical issues involving our reliance on assets.
(FROM MILITARY TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT COMMAND PUBLIC AFFAIRS)
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