Barrios Recognizes Employees with Quarterly Performance Awards
JOHNSON SPACE CENTER (Houston, TX): Barrios Technology recently presented employees with Silver BEAR (Barrios Employee Award and Recognition) awards. Each recipient was commended for their high level of expertise and outstanding performance supporting Barrios Corporate as well as Barrios’ contracts with NASA’s International Space Station (ISS) Program and Boeing on the Boeing Technical Service (BETS) Contract. Employees recognized included Michelle Anderson, Elaine Hepburn, Watita Holt, Bill Kowalczyk, Claudia Martelli, James Mayfield and, and Jason Vos.
Michelle Anderson was presented with a Silver BEAR award for her outstanding commitment to Barrios Contract deliverables and requirements. Barrios was recently recognized in Boeing’s rigorous subcontractor evaluation system, with ratings of Gold in all areas associated with Anderson’s work. Barrios’ reputation with Boeing for 100% on-time/early delivery of contract products is a direct result of her organization & planning skills which enables her to support more than 10 contracts without impacting her support and quality to Boeing. Anderson’s outstanding reputation with Boeing is due in part to her innovative spreadsheets and internal tools that allow her to provide comprehensive and timely data. Her experience and innovative problem solving skills have enabled her to quickly adapt her tools to whatever the needs are of the customer, PM, or corporate office. Anderson is dedicated to serving the customer and our own employees by always being readily available to help. Her knowledge of the BETS contract is vast and she is heavily relied upon to help make contract decisions and to understand the history of the contract.
Bill Kowalczyk was presented with a Silver BEAR award for his performance and dedication as a Barrios Cygnus Mission Director for NG-10 (Northrup Grumman). Cited as “exemplary” in his nomination, Kowalczyk’s in-depth knowledge of the ISS systems and NG command & control hardware, strong flight controller skills, and attention to detail enabled the Houston Cygnet team to fully support and back-up the team from berthed phases through the post-mission. Kowalczyk showed excellent knowledge of the mission operations command & control systems and was even recommended for possible upgrade to Operations Director for future missions, which is only currently held by Mission Control Center (MCC)-Dulles flight controllers. Kowalczyk is always looking to expand his knowledge and take on additional responsibilities in order to grow and extend Barrios’ capabilities to the NG teams. He is one of two Barrios employees certified for Cygnus Free-Flyer (FF) missions, and became the first Barrios employee to command the vehicle during FF operations on OA-9.
James Mayfield was presented with a Silver BEAR award for his commitment and leadership in support of the Space-X Demo-1 launch. Mayfield, stepping up to take on the leadership role, attacked outdated processes and established his own methods to bring much needed structure to the resolution of exceptions, waivers, and deviations. His innovations included optimization of talent on the team and flexing process options which helped the team leverage Mayfield’s experience and strengths with high payoffs. Cited in his nomination NASA commented, Mayfield “joined the team just before the surge of certification products were delivered by Space-X and was a vital member in maintaining the safety of ISS while enabling a new crewed vehicle test flight. The quality of work was kept outstanding across several challenging fields such as interface documentation of complex requirements in docking and avionics, requirement compliance issues in life support and propulsion topics, and deliverable tracking and assisting in contract milestone assessments.”
Jason Vos was presented a Silver BEAR award for his dedication and expertise on the MIDAS prime project. His nomination noted him as “an invaluable resource in the MIDAS Prime and IRMA re-host projects”. Vos’ early involvement in the design and development of the API was instrumental in bringing MIDAS Prime to production. He is recognized as a strong role model on the team as a knowledgeable senior developer, trainer, and mentor. Vos has worked tirelessly on the back end with the database developer to create a robust, coherent and optimized database. On the front end, his mentorship with the user interface developers made for adding new screens and UI change orders of magnitude easier. He has contributed leadership, guidance and code development on many aspects of the application.
The 3 members of the Barrios Human Resources (HR) department were presented with Silver BEAR awards for their consistent support, knowledge and willingness to provide assistance to employees and management. Elaine Hepburn, Claudia Martelli, and Watita Holt are an integral part of the Barrios team, interacting with all employees in one way or another supporting all type of matters including employee benefits, evaluations, and much more. These matters may not get the attention they deserve in other companies but here, their fostering of a positive work culture enables us to perform at the high level that we do. HR contributes significantly towards meeting recruiting requirements ensuring highly qualified applicants are selected to meet the needs of the customer. Their roles allow Barrios to grow, laying the groundwork for a positive and fair environment that fosters productivity, dedication, and happiness which benefits the customers we serve. Their dedication to their craft shows in their willingness to share their expertise and experiences are invaluable to the success of Barrios Technology.
Michelle Anderson was presented with a Silver BEAR award. Pictured from left: Sandy Johnson, CEO Barrios Technology; Anderson; Jonathan Perez, Barrios BETS Program Manager; and Robbie McAfoos, President Barrios Technology.
Bill Kowalczyk was presented with a Silver BEAR award. Pictured from left: Duane Radicioni, Barrios JETS Program Manager; Sandy Johnson, CEO Barrios Technology; Chad Davis, Sr. Manager, Human Systems Integration & Operations, Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems; Kowalczyk; and Robbie McAfoos, President Barrios Technology.
James Mayfield was presented with a Silver BEAR award. Pictured from left: Keith Carley, Barrios MAPI Manager, Mission Analysis and Integration Program; Sergio Lucero, Barrios MAPI Supervisor. Visiting Vehicle Integration; and Robbie McAfoos, President Barrios Technology.
Jason Vos was presented with a Silver BEAR award. Pictured from left: Paul Diggins, ISS Program Services Manager; Mark Polanksy, Barrios MAPI Program Manager; Vos; Denise Skyles, Barrios MAPI Manager, Information Technology; and Khaled Sliman, Supervisor, IT App Development.
Barrios Human Resources team was presented with Silver BEAR awards. Pictured from left: Elaine Hepburn, Barrios Director, Human Resources; Watita Holt; Claudia Martelli; Sandy Johnson, CEO Barrios Technology; and Robbie McAfoos, President Barrios Technology.
About Us:
Headquartered in Houston, Barrios Technology is a woman-owned AS9100 certified engineering services company specializing in aerospace engineering & science, program planning & control, mission integration & operations, and software engineering & integration. Since 1980, Barrios has demonstrated their corporate mission to be the foremost small aerospace engineering services company providing extraordinary value to our customers, employees and communities. For more information on Barrios Technology, please call 281-280-1900 or visit www.barrios.com.