Air Force legal team earns Deming Award Published April 24, 2009 By Tech. Sgt. Amaani Lyle Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs WASHINGTON, (AFPN) -- Excellence, innovation and high-impact practices are among the goals of many government agencies, but an Air Force team at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., distinguished itself and earned recognition for that at an April 20 ceremony. At the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center here, the Air Force Legal Operations Agency earned the government-wide 2009 W. Edwards Deming Award, presented by Dr. Jerry Ice, U.S. Department of Agriculture Graduate School chief executive officer and president, in conjunction with the Excellence in Government one-day conference. "What an honor to present the Air Force Directorate of Legal Information Services with the W. Edwards Deming Award today," Dr. Ice said. "Congratulations for your outstanding accomplishment and for your continued commitment to educational excellence in the public sector." Lt. Gen. Jack Rives, Air Force judge advocate general, said he is very proud of the winners' accomplishments. "This award recognizes the tremendous efforts of our information technology professionals and their significant impact on the Air Force mission," he said. "The team supports a variety of Air Force initiatives and has helped to transform legal operations to better align with new requirements." Tim Skinner, AFLOA/JAS deputy director, said he is pleased to accept the award for increasing information technology understanding and efficiency. "Our goal was to put together some simple modules to train our personnel on how to be more efficient with IT tools," Mr. Skinner said. "We broke the training into short modules that covered Excel, Outlook, Word and a number of JAG Corps-specific applications, and showed people how to use these tools for better performance on the job." Colonel Peter Marksteiner, AFLOA/JAS team lead, also celebrated the team's recognition. "We are absolutely thrilled by this award," he said It's a milestone for the JAG Corps and certainly the result of a 'total team effort.'" The USDA Graduate School annually presents the award to a federal government organization, civilian or uniformed branch of the military, in recognition of an impressive workforce development and training initiative that has measurably improved the organization's performance. The award honors Dr. Deming, widely considered a pioneer in business management and increasing organizational effectiveness. Government offices in all federal agencies are eligible to compete for the award. The keynote speaker for the award ceremony was bestselling author and news correspondent Cokie Roberts. Comment on this story (comments may be published on Air Force Link) View the comments/letters page