WEBVTT 00:06.059 --> 00:08.279 Hi , I'm Newton Chatter with DL A 00:08.289 --> 00:10.930 Public Affairs and this is the Dlar . 00:11.439 --> 00:14.000 This is your opportunity to get to know 00:14.010 --> 00:17.120 DL A people and DL A programs on a more 00:17.129 --> 00:20.719 personal level today . My special guest 00:20.729 --> 00:23.639 is a Darryl Roberts , Dlas chief 00:23.649 --> 00:27.600 Information Officer . Welcome to the DL 00:27.610 --> 00:29.610 A rep . How are you today ? Great . 00:29.610 --> 00:32.040 Thanks for having me , Newton . So the 00:32.049 --> 00:34.520 first question I want to ask you is , 00:34.529 --> 00:36.970 how long have you been with the defense 00:36.979 --> 00:39.020 Logistics Agency ? And how did you 00:39.029 --> 00:41.419 happen to come here ? So , I've been a 00:41.430 --> 00:43.709 proud member of DL A since 2010 , 00:43.930 --> 00:46.152 started as the program manager for what 00:46.152 --> 00:48.319 was then known as wide area workflow . 00:48.319 --> 00:50.529 Once I transitioned from the program 00:50.540 --> 00:52.540 management position , I was what we 00:52.540 --> 00:54.650 call a portfolio manager in J six . 00:54.659 --> 00:56.959 Then I took a hiatus from supporting at 00:56.970 --> 00:59.099 the program level and was chosen to 00:59.110 --> 01:01.259 support what was then the center of 01:01.270 --> 01:03.492 business systems Excellence , went back 01:03.492 --> 01:05.603 to being a portfolio manager and then 01:05.603 --> 01:08.180 had the opportunity to become the PE O 01:08.519 --> 01:12.250 in 2019 . And now you're the Chief 01:12.260 --> 01:14.940 Information Officer . What do you think 01:14.949 --> 01:17.010 when I say that Chief Information 01:17.019 --> 01:19.680 Officer , a lot of responsibility , a 01:19.690 --> 01:21.579 privilege to , to lead a group of 01:21.579 --> 01:23.579 professionals that we have in J six 01:23.579 --> 01:25.690 supporting what I believe is the most 01:25.690 --> 01:27.801 diverse important mission . Um in the 01:27.801 --> 01:29.912 Department of Defense , we're sitting 01:29.912 --> 01:32.079 shoulder to shoulder with the services 01:32.079 --> 01:34.357 as they for deployed peacetime mission , 01:34.357 --> 01:36.468 wartime mission , as well as whole of 01:36.468 --> 01:36.360 government supporting national 01:36.370 --> 01:39.290 disasters . What do you like 01:40.180 --> 01:43.010 about being a leader ? The mentoring 01:43.019 --> 01:45.879 part , the ability to influence the 01:45.889 --> 01:48.559 next generation of DL A my staff would 01:48.569 --> 01:51.430 probably say two hands on . But I would 01:51.440 --> 01:53.607 say my , my leadership style is I like 01:53.607 --> 01:55.940 to empower and through that empowerment , 01:55.940 --> 01:58.051 there's accountability . I don't want 01:58.051 --> 01:59.940 folks to look at it as what is Mr 01:59.940 --> 02:02.107 Roberts plan ? What is Mr Roberts want 02:02.107 --> 02:04.273 to do ? Um But you need that buying as 02:04.273 --> 02:06.440 a leader so that it becomes our plan . 02:06.440 --> 02:08.496 So everyone's invested in that . You 02:08.496 --> 02:10.662 understand the big picture . Where did 02:10.662 --> 02:12.829 you grow up ? Born in North Carolina , 02:12.829 --> 02:15.899 raised by the army ? Um So my dad was 02:15.910 --> 02:18.850 30 plus years in the army , retired as 02:18.860 --> 02:21.839 command sergeant major . And how would 02:21.850 --> 02:24.740 you describe yourself as a child ? What , 02:24.750 --> 02:27.880 what were you like ? Very curious um as 02:27.889 --> 02:30.479 my mother would say . Um because I said 02:30.490 --> 02:32.740 so it didn't really work . Um You , you 02:32.750 --> 02:34.972 need to give me a plausible explanation 02:34.972 --> 02:37.194 and if I didn't like it , I still would 02:37.194 --> 02:39.320 try . Um I , I love math growing up . 02:39.330 --> 02:41.580 So I went to college initially saying , 02:41.589 --> 02:43.811 hey , I'm gonna be an accountant . Um , 02:43.811 --> 02:46.033 of course , every boy grows up saying , 02:46.033 --> 02:47.922 hey , I want to be a professional 02:47.922 --> 02:49.811 athlete , high school and college 02:49.811 --> 02:51.978 reality kicked in and it was ok , what 02:51.978 --> 02:53.867 am I gonna do ? Long term ? And I 02:53.867 --> 02:56.200 thought it was gonna be accounting . Um , 02:56.200 --> 02:58.533 and then I did it for a couple of years , 02:58.533 --> 03:01.000 joined ROTC and decided , no , I , I 03:01.009 --> 03:03.360 think I want to do contracting , um , 03:03.369 --> 03:06.600 which led to four years in the Air 03:06.610 --> 03:09.550 Force doing contracting , eventually 03:09.559 --> 03:11.630 getting out working for a private 03:11.639 --> 03:15.160 company and becoming a civilian who 03:15.169 --> 03:17.529 have been some of your role models . I 03:17.539 --> 03:20.479 will say , um Captain James Wilder , he 03:20.490 --> 03:24.119 was my ROTC um commander closer to home . 03:24.130 --> 03:26.690 I would say my grandmother um is a role 03:26.699 --> 03:28.810 model , didn't have an opportunity to 03:28.810 --> 03:31.032 finish high school . A large family had 03:31.032 --> 03:32.866 to go to work . Um but education 03:32.866 --> 03:34.921 remained her focus and she made sure 03:34.921 --> 03:36.977 her Children and her grandchildren , 03:36.977 --> 03:38.699 her great grandchildren had an 03:38.699 --> 03:40.588 opportunity for education . So it 03:40.588 --> 03:42.366 sounds like you had a very good 03:42.366 --> 03:44.421 relationship with your grandmother . 03:44.421 --> 03:46.366 She was a sharecropper , she was a 03:46.366 --> 03:48.477 nurse , she was a mother to everybody 03:48.477 --> 03:50.699 in the community . She was a survivor . 03:50.789 --> 03:52.622 She shares some stories and some 03:52.622 --> 03:54.789 anecdotes , but she was really looking 03:54.789 --> 03:56.900 for it . But we definitely understood 03:56.900 --> 03:59.122 her upbringing , the challenges she had 03:59.122 --> 04:01.178 as a young black woman growing up in 04:01.178 --> 04:03.456 the South raising Children , she is 95 . 04:03.589 --> 04:06.320 So you served in the military ? Which 04:06.330 --> 04:08.759 service ? How long and what does it 04:08.770 --> 04:10.979 mean to you to be a veteran , the best 04:10.990 --> 04:13.046 service in the world ? United States 04:13.046 --> 04:15.101 Air Force . My father served 30 plus 04:15.101 --> 04:17.260 years in the army . I've had uncles 04:17.269 --> 04:19.325 that have served in the Navy and the 04:19.325 --> 04:22.040 army as well . Doing something greater 04:22.049 --> 04:23.771 than yourself has kind of been 04:23.771 --> 04:26.920 instilled in me early and life and , um , 04:26.929 --> 04:29.269 just proud to support the country . Our 04:29.279 --> 04:31.223 freedoms . Where do you live ? And 04:31.223 --> 04:33.119 what's your commute ? I live in 04:33.130 --> 04:35.799 Richmond , Virginia . Um I get to enjoy 04:35.809 --> 04:38.959 I 95 South um for an hour and a half 04:38.970 --> 04:41.959 each way , every day . Um A lot of 04:41.970 --> 04:44.192 people say I'm crazy for doing it , but 04:44.192 --> 04:46.399 I love what I do . Um It's a choice . 04:46.579 --> 04:48.880 What are some of the myths about 04:49.579 --> 04:52.559 information operations or J Six that 04:52.570 --> 04:55.100 you would like to dispel ? 04:56.399 --> 04:58.510 Yeah . So the biggest bit I , I think 04:58.510 --> 05:00.566 what's on everyone's mind is when we 05:00.566 --> 05:02.510 talk about automation , artificial 05:02.510 --> 05:04.621 intelligence , um we're not trying to 05:04.621 --> 05:06.732 put technology out there to take over 05:06.732 --> 05:08.732 the world , replace the workforce . 05:08.732 --> 05:10.677 What we're doing from a technology 05:10.677 --> 05:13.700 perspective is really enhancing the DL 05:13.709 --> 05:16.540 A employees abilities to meet mission . 05:16.880 --> 05:19.102 Um The secret sauce of DL A will always 05:19.102 --> 05:21.047 be their people . What do you love 05:21.047 --> 05:23.102 about your job ? It's the people and 05:23.102 --> 05:25.158 the mission . There's a lot of pride 05:25.158 --> 05:27.399 that comes into seeing what we do from 05:27.410 --> 05:29.549 AJ six perspective . Support DL A's 05:29.559 --> 05:31.910 mission and seeing the output of that . 05:31.920 --> 05:34.031 If you look at the COVID support that 05:34.031 --> 05:37.190 DL A did throughout um the 24 years of 05:37.200 --> 05:40.470 COVID , um supporting efforts in uconn 05:40.480 --> 05:43.040 with the Ukraine national disasters 05:43.049 --> 05:45.160 that are occurring . A lot of that is 05:45.160 --> 05:46.880 on the back of it and , and 05:46.890 --> 05:49.001 infrastructure that we've put in . So 05:49.001 --> 05:51.223 just seeing that output and our ability 05:51.223 --> 05:53.390 to support the nation and working with 05:53.390 --> 05:55.446 people . That's , that's what I love 05:55.446 --> 05:57.612 every day . What are your goals as cio 05:57.850 --> 06:00.390 my first goal is really to focus on the 06:00.399 --> 06:03.019 user , the user experience . How do we 06:03.029 --> 06:05.239 make it more streamlined ? I think a 06:05.250 --> 06:07.160 lot of people come into DL A and 06:07.179 --> 06:09.235 between your training , between your 06:09.235 --> 06:11.457 day to day work , your timekeeping , et 06:11.457 --> 06:13.623 cetera , you have to log into a lot of 06:13.623 --> 06:15.346 applications . And the biggest 06:15.346 --> 06:17.568 complaint I get is I got logged out and 06:17.568 --> 06:19.568 didn't save my work . So we want to 06:19.568 --> 06:21.512 streamline that by creating AD L A 06:21.512 --> 06:23.529 platform , an employee portal where 06:23.579 --> 06:25.635 once you log in during the day , you 06:25.635 --> 06:27.301 can do your work continuously 06:27.301 --> 06:29.079 throughout the day . So digital 06:29.079 --> 06:31.301 business transformation , um everyone's 06:31.301 --> 06:33.468 heard about it . Everyone loves it . I 06:33.468 --> 06:35.660 know . Um But that's a big thing too 06:35.670 --> 06:37.899 because we want to maximize the use of 06:37.910 --> 06:39.799 commercial products because those 06:39.799 --> 06:41.910 commercial products are the ones that 06:41.910 --> 06:43.799 give you the most commercial user 06:43.799 --> 06:45.769 experience . So do you have a 06:45.779 --> 06:49.209 philosophy by which you live ? I think 06:49.220 --> 06:51.390 the biggest one that I would say I , 06:51.399 --> 06:53.410 I've used in DL A every day and my 06:53.420 --> 06:55.549 team's heard me say it often um being 06:55.559 --> 06:58.170 comfortable being uncomfortable . Um 06:58.179 --> 07:00.346 The world is always changing . Life is 07:00.346 --> 07:02.568 always changing . You have to adjust to 07:02.568 --> 07:04.679 different factors that happen in your 07:04.679 --> 07:06.920 life . Um So I try to be comfortable 07:06.929 --> 07:09.649 being uncomfortable um so that I can be 07:09.660 --> 07:13.029 rational in my decision making . So you 07:13.040 --> 07:15.970 have a very high visibility job , a 07:15.980 --> 07:19.040 high stress job . What do you do in 07:19.049 --> 07:21.839 your spare time or on your days off to 07:21.850 --> 07:24.440 relieve the stress ? It may surprise 07:24.450 --> 07:26.561 some people , but I try to spend time 07:26.561 --> 07:28.920 with my 14 year old who doesn't want to 07:28.929 --> 07:31.096 spend time with me . Other interests . 07:31.096 --> 07:33.096 I have , I like festivals , music , 07:33.096 --> 07:35.318 festivals , food festivals . Who's your 07:35.318 --> 07:37.790 favorite basketball team ? So , I'm a 07:37.799 --> 07:41.320 Carolina guy . Um So UN C college 07:41.329 --> 07:43.540 basketball is my favorite . Um but a 07:43.549 --> 07:45.950 Lakers fan , my whole life favorite 07:45.959 --> 07:49.049 player has to be Michael Jordan . What 07:49.059 --> 07:51.920 is one thing about you that may 07:51.929 --> 07:55.519 surprise people ? Wow , that's a good 07:55.529 --> 07:59.399 one . Um I'm not a trained it 07:59.410 --> 08:01.869 person . I think that's the , the one 08:01.880 --> 08:04.369 thing that most folks given my position 08:04.380 --> 08:06.602 and , and what I talk about every day , 08:06.602 --> 08:08.769 what I'm asked to be in charge of . Um 08:09.299 --> 08:11.466 I , I did not specialize in college in 08:11.466 --> 08:14.480 it , cybersecurity um or anything from 08:14.489 --> 08:16.769 AJ six perspective . This is something 08:16.779 --> 08:19.809 mid career um that I took an interest 08:19.820 --> 08:22.279 in and developed that skill set and , 08:22.290 --> 08:24.899 and got the experience um to be where I 08:24.910 --> 08:28.559 am today . So I am , I do not code and 08:28.570 --> 08:31.230 do not have the ability to code . Thank 08:31.239 --> 08:33.619 you so much . I really appreciate your 08:33.630 --> 08:35.700 time and the opportunity . Thanks so 08:35.710 --> 08:37.932 much for having me , Nick and I want to 08:37.932 --> 08:40.539 thank all of you for joining us today 08:40.549 --> 08:41.778 on the Dlar .