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AFDW military personnel readiness chief earns Air Force Manager of Year award

  • Published
  • By Mike Campbell
  • 11th Wing Public Affairs
BOLLING AIR FORCE BASE, D.C. --  Capt. Marc Adair, whose outstanding leadership and performance contributed significantly to the successful standup of the Air Force District of Washington and Air Force-National Capital Region last year, has been named the 2005 Outstanding Air Force Personnel Manager of the Year in the headquarters-level junior manager category. The winners of the Air Force Mission Support Awards were announced May 2.

The outgoing AFDW chief of personnel readiness, recently selected for promotion to major, said he was "more shocked than anything" about being selected for the honor. "You work with a lot of company grade officers in personnel across the other MAJCOMS that are just incredible," he said in a telephone interview from his hometown of Arvada, Colo., May 5.

Col. Thomas S. Hancock, AFDW director of manpower and personnel, praised Captain Adair as an "incredible leader" who "impressively stood up and led AFDW's Senior Officer Matters Branch, oversaw and impacted careers of 750-plus O-6s (colonels) ... personally led revitalization efforts ... motivated Airmen and increased production." In the summary statement of the captain's extensive award nomination write-up, Colonel Hancock called the 1997 University of Utah grad an "Absolute CGO (company grade officer) superstar in all areas of life -- powerful and proactive leadership makes him No. 1. PMOYA (personnel manager of the year award) a must!"

En route to establishing successful operations in the AFDW manpower and personnel division, which provides support to more than 20,000 active duty Air Force customers serving in federal departments, defense agencies and Air Force organizations in the NCR, Captain Adair and his co-workers faced a host of challenges, which he described as "breaking new ground on literally everything we've done the past year because of the entire standup of AFDW and AF-NCR.

"There hadn't been a personnel readiness division (in AFDW), ever, so trying to attempt to be the single contact for the Air Force within D.C., and all those that we administratively service, roughly 20,000 Air Force personnel has been a huge challenge," he said. "For example (Exercise) Capital Shield in November was the first time the military has ever attempted such an exercise with JTF (Joint Task Force-National Capital Region) standing up and AF-NCR interfacing with them. It was a huge learning experience, to say the least."

"Capt Adair's performance was absolutely exceptional." said Lt. Col. Dawn Sweet, 11th Mission Support Squadron commander, who supervised Captain Adair in the 11th Wing Force Sustainment Branch from July 2004 to May 2005. "It is no surprise the Air Force has recognized Captain Adair's personnel expertise and abilities; he is extremely well deserving of this distinction!"

Describing his management style as "leading by example," the captain credited "literally everybody I've worked for or has worked for me" for making the Air Force-wide recognition possible. "One person can't do all that alone," he said. "My supervisors, my direct leaders have given me challenging opportunities to allow me to grow. Most importantly, if I didn't have the support at home (his wife Candace and boys C.J., 2, and William, 10 months) ... I couldn't have recieved this award."

In his off-duty hours, Captain Adair is a popular speaker -- "a gifted orator requested by all," according to Colonel Hancock -- who has addressed a wide variety of church groups, Boy Scouts and professional organizations. Somehow he also found time to compete in five marathon events including the Air Force Marathon, as well as found and coach a Bolling marathon team.

The next stop for Captain Adair and family will be Kadena AB, Japan, and the directorship of the military personnel flight at the 18th Wing, the largest MPF in the world at the largest fighter wing in the Air Force.

"I'm looking forward to it," Captain Adair said. "It's going to be a good, new challenge. I'm excited about it."