460th CPTS named 2009 AFSPC Financial Management Organization of the Year

Published May 12, 2010
By Capt. David Osterhaus
460th Comptroller Squadron

BUCKLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. -- The 460th Comptroller Squadron was again named the Air Force Space Command Financial Management Organization of the Year, an honor it has won for two of the past three years.

One Air Force annual award, six AFSPC/FM annual awards, seven 460th Space Wing awards, sixteen wing staff agency awards, six team awards and multiple deployments around the world are just a few things that make this organization great year after year. Their consistent level of excellence is a result of exceptional leadership, focus and discipline.

Located just outside of Denver, the 460th Comptroller Squadron provides full-spectrum financial management support to 6,000 military and 3,000 civilian Front Range personnel, as well as the more than 28,000 personnel assigned to Buckley. This includes 4,358 active-duty members from every service, 2,341 National Guard personnel and Reservists, 5,399 civilians, and 16,748 dependents.

The store front of the 460th CPTS is the Financial Services Flight, and business is good. With the recognition from Secretary of the Air Force Financial Management as 2009 Financial Services Office of the Year, the flight has confirmed what customers have been saying all along: "Best FSO in my career!"

Leading the flight to constantly become more efficient while staying 100 percent effective are 1st Lt. Kenny Green, 2nd Lt. Allen Dismuke and Tech. Sgt. Bradley Slagal, while the young professionals who keep this office in tip-top shape are Staff Sgts. Timothy Carlsrud and Michael Mechaley, Senior Airmen Ashley Appleby and Carlos Soto, Airmen 1st Class Brittany Carlisle, Brett Steffen and Benjamin Young, and Airman Natasha Pabon.

Their comfort with technology allowed the engineering of an electronic sign-in that steamrolled the average wait time to 1.6 minutes per customer, allowing members to focus on the mission and not their pay.

This is showcased by the tremendous effort given to the Government Travel Card program, where the flight has crushed the Air Force metric month after month and has benchmarked many policies command-wide.

As you travel down the road from the FSO, you'll run into the 460th Space Wing headquarters building, where the Financial Analysis Flight is diligently providing solid financial acumen to the wing commander. The team members responsible for the everyday analysis of the $80 million budget are Master Sgts. Michael Bennett and Tommy Marin, Staff Sgts. Marcus Wilson and Justin Mickelson, Senior Airmen Jamail Garland, James Lewis and John Parsons, Airmen 1st Class Haley Hall and Fritz Julian, and civilians Aaron Fankhauser, Jaime Klein, Barbara Odom, Michael Owens, Sharon Solheim, Eloida Wagner and Kelly Wise. With the leadership from Judy Corizzo, Cindy Lazzara, Vera Parker and Capt. David Osterhaus, the development of the upcoming Fiscal Year 2011 Execution Plan will ensure funding for new programs on the fastest-growing base in the Air Force.

For the 460th CPTS, being named AFSPC FM Organization of the Year is not the final destination, but the foundation of a commitment to excellence in the financial arena every day!

Maj. Bill Hunter, comptroller; Senior Master Sgt Shane Enos, superintendent; Patty McMaster, Nonappropriated Fund Financial Analyst, and Brad Baldwin, quality assurance manager, continue to push the organization limits and lead the team to accomplishments such as being number one in AFSPC metrics for six consecutive quarters.

With a highly supportive wing leadership, the 460 CPTS is consistently first in outstanding orders and GTC metrics, which has brought in $288,000 in rebates to fund quality-of-life projects for the wing.

Leading the way in FM Transformation, FMF took 12 members to visit the Air Force Financial Services Center at Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D., gaining a better understanding of the new financial services processes being implemented Air Force-wide. Embracing the idea of doing things right the first time, this experience produced less re-work and dropped rejects by 75 percent.

Further leading the way in transformation, FMF worked with the 460th Force Support Squadron to develop a corporate-level marketing campaign called the "SOURCE," which ignited the wing's self-help awareness by advertising systems such as PIPS & Virtual Finance. This marketing effort resulted in man-hours saved and made FSO PCS briefings obsolete. The 460th CPTS also saved 624 man-hours per year by being first in AFSPC to implement eMTS, a civilian pay system that eliminates manual inputs and reduces errors.

2009 was an impressive year, but 2010 will be even better. With a very successful Operational Readiness and Unit Compliance Inspection under our belt, the 460th CPTS will remain focused on excellent support to the Space Wing mission, while continuing to improve our financial processes. The expectation will continue to be organization excellence, and ensuring we provide world class financial management and decision support to our mission partners at Team Buckley!