WARREN – Grace Bochenek, director of the US Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center, has been selected as a 2008 Meritorious Senior Executive and awarded a Presidential Rank Award.
Bochenek is part of a select group of federal government career senior executives the President recognizes each year. Award recipients are strong leaders, professionals and scientists who achieve results and consistently demonstrate strength, integrity, industry and a relentless commitment to excellence in public service. Award winners are chosen through a rigorous selection process. They are nominated by their agency heads, evaluated by boards comprised of private citizens and approved by the President. The evaluation criteria focus on leadership and results.
Since April 2003, Bochenek has served in three senior leadership positions of great depth and complexity within the U.S. Army’s Research, Development and Engineering Command’s TARDEC and the Program Executive Office for Combat Support and Combat Service Support, managing budgets in excess of $4.7 billion. She directed the research, development, engineering, fielding and sustainment of all ground combat and tactical vehicles. As TARDEC Director, she has embraced the challenge of transforming business practices to meet 21st-century customer requirements while supporting a Nation at war.
Bochenek instituted a Quick Reaction Cell at TARDEC that has improved obligation rates by more than 82 percent since May 2007. She took action to increase lifecycle focus, reduce internal stovepipes and increase collaboration internally and externally. She led the development of a new strategic plan and Strategic Management System/Strategic Map aligned to overarching Army strategic objectives to ensure rapid and responsive delivery of products vital to Soldiers on the battlefield.
Bochenek has demonstrated her ability to organize and lead teams internally and externally to achieve ambitious goals. Most recently, she led the High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV) Improvement Program (HIP), comprised of 88 subject-matter experts from across the DOD and industry to improve HMMWV underbody protection levels. She clearly articulated the vision for the Vice Chief of Staff of the Army’s expectations and actively engaged the team to turn this vision into reality quickly and within established budget parameters. As a result, the Army has fabricated several HIP cabs for live-fire testing. On Oct. 5, TARDEC; the U.S. Army Research Laboratory; U.S. Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center; and Engineering Research and Development Center were awarded a U.S. Army Collaboration Laboratory of the Year Award for their collaborative efforts on the HIP. This award is just one of more than a dozen that Bochenek’s teams have earned this year.
On a personal note, Bochenek was appointed to the Engineering Society of Detroit Board of Directors and honored by the National Defense Industrial Association’s Michigan Chapter with the Silver Medal award for her exceptional achievement, outstanding leadership and commitment to U.S. Army ground combat and combat support systems. She was named a 2008 University of Michigan-Dearborn College of Engineering Distinguished Alumni Recipient and a 2005 Wayne State University College of Engineering Distinguished Hall of Fame Recipient.
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