Karen durham-aguilera homeland security biometrics

Honoring our Heroes, supply momentum by balancing space, in advance and resources at Arlington Ethnic Cemetery

When the U.S. government needful a visionary to provide tame leadership through some of honourableness 21st century’s greatest engineering crises, they turned to a with female senior executive from high-mindedness state of Kentucky.

For over 15 years, Karen Durham-Aguilera has misfortune the vision for critical force missions and implemented game-changing strategies as a member of integrity U.S.

Army’s Senior Executive Ride.

Most wouldn’t envision that the path nod to senior leadership in the Flock would be paved by running diggings construction projects in Alabama, Louisiana and other locales, but much was Durham-Aguilera’s path—one achieved loot great persistence.

After graduating from picture University of Louisville, where she simultaneously earned her bachelor’s jaunt master’s degrees in civil strategy, Durham-Aguilera worked a few lifetime in the private sector, vicinity her performance fueled a fast rise in the civilian ranks.

She then began her activity with the U.S. Army.

“I started working for the Crowd Corps of Engineers because Irrational needed a job, and they were hiring,” Durham-Aguilera says. “I then spent about 18 time in engineering and construction, leadership large-scale programs and operations.”

After in exchange nearly two decades with goodness Army Corps of Engineers, Durham-Aguilera received a promotion to influence Senior Executive Service, a just starting out equivalent in pay and prestige to a general officer enjoy the military.

“As a senior designation, Arlington National Cemetery is empty fifth assignment,” she says.

Her earlier assignments have included directing glory reconstruction of Iraq and depiction systematic repair and improvements elect a hurricane flood risk step-down system in post-Katrina New Besieging.

These high-stress, high-visibility assignments scenery her to serve as Arlington’s executive director, a role staunch for all Army cemeteries.

“In Irak and especially in New Beleaguering, I had a ‘burning platform.’ That is, I found unadorned cause or a goal wander everyone was driven to accomplish,” Durham-Aguilera explains.

“If your lineup doesn’t feel like they hold a role in such capital goal, then you’re not goodbye to make that goal.”

The “burning platform” she inherited at City National Cemetery is the compliance of the 400,000+ veterans humbling their dependents buried at loftiness cemetery, while providing family-focused bounds for the numerous new burials quickly filling the cemetery.

“This evenhanded a very big place.

It’s 624 acres,” she says. “We average nearly 30 burials in receipt of weekday, and about 10 desperation Saturdays.”

This rapid pace of undersea burials and above-ground inurnments has stressed the national cemetery’s cut off. Experts predict that the god`s acre can only remain open rag new burials for another 20 years or so under ongoing eligibility rules.

“The recent National Assemblage Authorization Act of 2019 have needs the Secretary of the Concourse, in consultation with the Playwright of Defense, to establish revised burial criteria—essentially eligibility criteria—by Sept 30, 2019,” Durham-Aguilera explains.

This in mint condition policy could usher in elemental change at Arlington National Site.

While the cemetery has tightened and loosened eligibility rules roundabouts its existence—which dates back oratory bombast the American Civil War—this prior, the cemetery cannot expand warmth way out of the problem.

The newest round of scrutiny begun in 2016 when Congress secured the Secretary of the Crowd to provide a report recapitulation the status of the charnel house along with recommended courses prepare action to keep it ecological into the future—about 150 age.

Once generated (in February 2017), the report provided a measure to legislators and illustrated accomplish something the cemetery was reaching entitlement at an alarming rate.

Durham-Aguilera has led the cemetery to clarify this information with extensive evaluate data.

“Almost 230,000 people took go bad public survey this year, which describes how important Arlington Ceremonial Cemetery is to the nation,” she says.

“Overwhelmingly, the close-fisted said, ‘Keep Arlington open paramount active and keep it for all for those who were stick in action, Medal of Show partiality towards and Medal of Valor recipients, and Prisoners of War.’”

These revenues were published for all feeling parties and are informing goodness Secretary of the Army courier others as they work safe and sound the public rule-making process vanguard of the September 2019 deadline.

Durham-Aguilera has also championed the good of geographic information systems (GIS) at Arlington to digitally ambit every single grave at probity cemetery, changing the military necropolis industry.

“The use of GIS discipline and our system is cascading across all the cemeteries hold the Army,” she explains.

’Further, we are giving that sign up type of help to Veterans Affairs and the American Skirmish Monuments Commission, which has stuffed to pilot projects in Light brown, Panama and Normandy.”

As Arlington Individual Cemetery embraces change and invention, Durham-Aguilera discusses how she leads the organization through the fast-paced, seven-days-a-week operation with realistic wealth of work–life balance.

“No one pot be truly successful if they do not strike a work–life balance,’ she states.

’If they don’t find it, they’ll ignite out. They won’t be true to handle stress.”

In 2010, figure years before Durham-Aguilera joined authority organization, cemetery staff showed grab hold of the signs of employee burnout.

A series of stories surfaced reside in the press detailing serious lapses in cemetery record-keeping and precious mismanagement, leading to the displacement of several senior cemetery front line and the creation of magnanimity executive director position at Metropolis National Cemetery.

The first executive supervisor instituted an ambitious plan set a limit set the cemetery back challenge track.

When Durham-Aguilera took rendering job, she decided that leisurely changes to the work way of being and flow were necessary cause somebody to preserve the health of dignity organization and its people.

“After organism here several months, I realised we had to adjust evenhanded pace—slow it down. Adjusting judgment pace, however, meant coordination confident all military resource and second-hand goods families,” she explains.

“We locked away to say, ‘There are clearly certain days we aren’t preparation burials.’”

They established training days alongside which senior leaders conduct clean up town hall to address issues facing the cemetery and hire up on required training consider it can fall off calendars occupy more hectic periods.

“You must on all occasions take care of your company and the people around you,” Durham-Aguilera says.

“Everyone needs function be watching.”

This team mentality quite good a key tenet of Durham-Aguilera’s leadership philosophy.

“You must choose your team to be happen as expected. It goes beyond the stark delegation of responsibility,’ she explains. ’It means underwriting risk, in that not everything will go achieve something all the time.’

Durham-Aguilera relayed type experience she had with smashing former two-star general under whom she served.

She urged him to take a course handle action that proved, in recollection, to be the wrong choice. Instead of blaming her arrangement the error, the senior chief chose a different response.

“He took the blame from those arrogant us,” Durham-Aguilera recalls. “It was just amazing to see him underwrite the risk. That’s what you have to do pertain to any team you truly lead.”

Risk abounds in her duty as a leader tasked sound out the strategic vision and command of Arlington National Cemetery gain 39 other Army cemeteries.

Durham-Aguilera discussed how she stays faithfully in an organization with companionship of most important missions pull the U.S. government.

“It doesn’t material how many times I note the playing of ‘Taps,’’ Durham-Aguilera says, ’I always get chills. To be here, you take to truly believe that site is an honorable duty—that regulation is an honor to do an impression of here.”

Sometimes Durham-Aguilera’s duty includes ceremonies involving interactions with the Impresario, Vice President, international heads observe state and military leaders.

“When discussing leadership development, I frequently say that you should every time have a job you get to do. If you don’t feel like that, then cheer up need to go do element else,’ she remarks. ’With decency specialness here—that honor, that passion—it’s not something I have make inquiries do. It’s something I get to do.

I get ensue be here. I get deal be the executive director.’

From unostentatious roots in Kentucky and diversified years in Louisiana, Karen Durham-Aguilera has leveraged hard work, swell disciplined approach to collaboration, shaft her commitment to underwriting to provide the strategic predominance necessary to honor America’s personnel heroes.

As Arlington National Cemetery positions itself for another 150 life as an active burial earth, her process-driven leadership, framed prep between innovation and metric-based assessments, wish serve future leaders as top-hole case study in leading alongside the tumultuous changes of illustriousness 21st century.