Dr. Linda Moorehead Gentle
Dr. Linda Gentle at the space shuttle controls. (Fantasia) |
Space and Missile Defense Acquisition Center
Notes:
• Acting Director of the Test and Evaluation Center (formerly the Space and Missile Defense Acquisition Center) from November 1999 - February 2001. - GPO
• "Don't let the name fool you
Gentle: dedicated, professional manager
Story and photo by LuAnne Fantasia
Huntsville, Ala.
Space and missile defense is a tough industry to delve into, and the Defense Leadership and Management Program is a tough venture to get accepted into. Dr. Linda Gentle is succeeding in both.
'I'm excited about being part of the Army's role in space and missile defense and about associating in a work environment with leaders who are focused on these roles for the Army After Next,' Gentle said. Last November, she became the deputy director of the Space and Missile Defense Command's Acquisition Center in Huntsville. Gentle is the only Huntsville member of the first DLAMP class, fiscal year '98. (See DLAMP related article below.)
'My professional career has been in the acquisition arena,' Gentle said, explaining that, with 27 years in civil service, her specialty has been contracting and program management. She's certified Level III in both fields by the Army Acquisition Corps. She also has an earned doctorate in business administration. In the DLAMP, Gentle's development program required her to broaden her perspective by seeking an assignment outside her occupational specialties.
'I interviewed with several military organizations. SMDC offered an opportunity my mentor and I considered to be the best and most exciting in the position of deputy director to the Acquisition Center,' she said.
Gentle reports directly to Brig. Gen. Steven Flohr, the command's deputy commanding general, and director of the Space and Missile Defense Acquisition Center.
Although the center's hub is here, it encompasses two test facilities, two project offices, and one program office across the command.
Gentle explained the acquisition center implements the command, Army, and Joint Visions 2010, as well as DoD's acquisition streamlining objectives, with its transition to a new flexible and adaptable way of doing business.
'The command's major subordinate elements work much closer than project executive offices I've been associated with, probably because we have more commonalties,' Gentle said.
'There is opportunity here for more program synergism, and I appreciate the command focus in pushing us [the MSEs] to work toward that goal. We can all be better together.'
Gentle urges SMDC employees to take advantage of the rotation opportunities provided by the Army Acquisition Center.
'Professional rotations lead to challenging, diverse assignments that offer growth, and broaden one's perspective while enhancing the goals and objectives of the command, the Army, and DoD,' she said.
A people person
Gentle advocates mentoring, and was one of the first official mentors for the graduate interns in the DoD and Army Acquisition Corps Graduate Program.
'When I previously worked for General Flohr, he spoke of his mentor, which was of particular interest to me,' Gentle said. 'The military does an excellent job of mentoring.
Not many civilian employees, and particularly women, have availed themselves to opportunities of mentoring. A step toward mentoring is networking. We need to reach out to others via networking and mentoring.' Mentoring is a trust relationship, she said. It offers people the opportunity to discuss career goals, wishes, and desires with a senior person who may be able to provide insight and guidance into career potential and alternatives.
She believes in cohesiveness and team building. 'My job as deputy director is to make the staff look good, to mentor, coach, and groom them. I share knowledge and experience so they can do their job better. I delegate tasks, then let them do them. I don't micromanage,' she said. 'In turn, they will then make me look better and also make my job easier.'
Personally speaking
On a more personal note, Gentle's cousin recently discovered that their great-grandmother was a suffragette who marched for the right to vote in Washington, D.C, in the early 1900s.
When questioned why no one knew this, an aunt replied, 'Mother would not have discussed this with the family because she would have been embarrassed. Women were not supposed to do things like that.' Gentle said her best role model has been her mother, an entrepreneur of her local family accounting office for more than 30 years.
'She increased the business after my father's death, long before woman-owned-business was in vogue,' Gentle said. Her mother, Mildred Moorehead, who is beyond typical retirement age, still works every day.
Gentle, a third-generation Huntsvillian, is currently remodeling an historic Huntsville house, where (when historically correct with 1990's conveniences) four generations of her family will live: Moorehead, Gentle and her husband, one of her three children, and a seven-year-old grandchild she is raising." - Fantasia
Related Links:
The Following Pages Link to this Page:
• Edward Brooks Gentle, Sr.
| Wife of: | Edward Brooks Gentle, Sr. |
Notes:
• Acting Director of the Test and Evaluation Center (formerly the Space and Missile Defense Acquisition Center) from November 1999 - February 2001. - GPO
• "Don't let the name fool you
Gentle: dedicated, professional manager
Story and photo by LuAnne Fantasia
Huntsville, Ala.
Space and missile defense is a tough industry to delve into, and the Defense Leadership and Management Program is a tough venture to get accepted into. Dr. Linda Gentle is succeeding in both.
'I'm excited about being part of the Army's role in space and missile defense and about associating in a work environment with leaders who are focused on these roles for the Army After Next,' Gentle said. Last November, she became the deputy director of the Space and Missile Defense Command's Acquisition Center in Huntsville. Gentle is the only Huntsville member of the first DLAMP class, fiscal year '98. (See DLAMP related article below.)
'My professional career has been in the acquisition arena,' Gentle said, explaining that, with 27 years in civil service, her specialty has been contracting and program management. She's certified Level III in both fields by the Army Acquisition Corps. She also has an earned doctorate in business administration. In the DLAMP, Gentle's development program required her to broaden her perspective by seeking an assignment outside her occupational specialties.
'I interviewed with several military organizations. SMDC offered an opportunity my mentor and I considered to be the best and most exciting in the position of deputy director to the Acquisition Center,' she said.
Gentle reports directly to Brig. Gen. Steven Flohr, the command's deputy commanding general, and director of the Space and Missile Defense Acquisition Center.
Although the center's hub is here, it encompasses two test facilities, two project offices, and one program office across the command.
Gentle explained the acquisition center implements the command, Army, and Joint Visions 2010, as well as DoD's acquisition streamlining objectives, with its transition to a new flexible and adaptable way of doing business.
'The command's major subordinate elements work much closer than project executive offices I've been associated with, probably because we have more commonalties,' Gentle said.
'There is opportunity here for more program synergism, and I appreciate the command focus in pushing us [the MSEs] to work toward that goal. We can all be better together.'
Gentle urges SMDC employees to take advantage of the rotation opportunities provided by the Army Acquisition Center.
'Professional rotations lead to challenging, diverse assignments that offer growth, and broaden one's perspective while enhancing the goals and objectives of the command, the Army, and DoD,' she said.
A people person
Gentle advocates mentoring, and was one of the first official mentors for the graduate interns in the DoD and Army Acquisition Corps Graduate Program.
'When I previously worked for General Flohr, he spoke of his mentor, which was of particular interest to me,' Gentle said. 'The military does an excellent job of mentoring.
Not many civilian employees, and particularly women, have availed themselves to opportunities of mentoring. A step toward mentoring is networking. We need to reach out to others via networking and mentoring.' Mentoring is a trust relationship, she said. It offers people the opportunity to discuss career goals, wishes, and desires with a senior person who may be able to provide insight and guidance into career potential and alternatives.
She believes in cohesiveness and team building. 'My job as deputy director is to make the staff look good, to mentor, coach, and groom them. I share knowledge and experience so they can do their job better. I delegate tasks, then let them do them. I don't micromanage,' she said. 'In turn, they will then make me look better and also make my job easier.'
Personally speaking
On a more personal note, Gentle's cousin recently discovered that their great-grandmother was a suffragette who marched for the right to vote in Washington, D.C, in the early 1900s.
When questioned why no one knew this, an aunt replied, 'Mother would not have discussed this with the family because she would have been embarrassed. Women were not supposed to do things like that.' Gentle said her best role model has been her mother, an entrepreneur of her local family accounting office for more than 30 years.
'She increased the business after my father's death, long before woman-owned-business was in vogue,' Gentle said. Her mother, Mildred Moorehead, who is beyond typical retirement age, still works every day.
Gentle, a third-generation Huntsvillian, is currently remodeling an historic Huntsville house, where (when historically correct with 1990's conveniences) four generations of her family will live: Moorehead, Gentle and her husband, one of her three children, and a seven-year-old grandchild she is raising." - Fantasia
Related Links:
• Fantasia - Article titled "Gentle: dedicated, professional manager" by LuAnne Fantasia for The Eagle Volume 5 Number 4, May 1999, page 12. (Originally found at http://www.smdc.army.mil/2008/Eagle/99Eagle/may99.pdf.)
• GPO - "Seize the high ground: the Army in space and missile defense" by James A. Walker, Lewis Bernstein, Sharon Lang, U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command. Historical Office for the Government Printing office, appendix A-2 (page 278).
The Following Pages Link to this Page:
• Edward Brooks Gentle, Sr.