Coast Guard Service Day.

William Campbell, Chief Financial Officer, United States Coast Guard 

Peter "Jack" Basso, Chief Financial Officer Department of Transportation

The Coast Guard opened PDI 2000 with an informal panel discussion led by Captain Bill Wissman, Chief of the Office of Financial Management, Headquarters, United States Coast Guard. Captain Wissman was joined by the Chief of the Office of Financial Systems, Captain John O'Connor; the Acting Chief of the Office of Procurement Management, Ms. Ashley Lewis; the Commanding Officer of the Finance Center, Captain Tom Johns; and the Maintenance and Logistics Command Finance Officers, Captain Steve Krupa (MLCPAC) and Captain Jesse Dickens (MLCLANT).

The topics of discussion included e-government, financial systems updates, expanding the role of financial managers, account management and year-end closeouts, professionalization of the workforce, and general resource management issues.

Following the panel discussion, a no-host social and dinner was held at the Doubletree Hotel. Over 100 Coast Guard civilian and military members from around the country attended.

Mr. William Campbell, Coast Guard Chief Financial Officer, opened Coast Guard Service Day with a warm welcome to the attendees and praise for all the efforts of personnel throughout the Coast Guard in passing the CFO Act. Mr. Campbell called on members to continue to serve the Coast Guard and the nation in the exemplary manner that they have demonstrated for the past seven years. He challenged them to meet the opportunities ahead with the same preparation and teamwork that led to our success with Y2K and the CFO Act. Mr. Campbell highlighted his office's efforts to revise the CFO Strategic Plan and talked about his personal commitment to the training and professionalism of the financial management workforce and his support of the Certified Defense Financial Manager Program.

Mr. Campbell then introduced Mr. Peter "Jack" Basso, Chief Financial Officer of the Department of Transportation (DOT). Mr. Basso provided insight on the Department's and the Coast Guard's financial challenges and highlighted the commitment demonstrated by the Commandant, the Secretary of Transportation, and the President to provide the Coast Guard with the resources needed to give the American people the services they need and expect. He discussed funding shortfalls, readiness issues, the Deepwater project, and military personnel concerns.

Turning to the specifics of financial management, Mr. Basso expressed his gratitude for all the hard work that led to the clean audit opinion for the DOT. He cited passage of the CFO Act audit as probably the finest example of the "One DOT Philosophy." Finally, Mr. Basso highlighted DOT's efforts to become a leader in e-government solutions and noted several examples of early successes in this area.

Following Mr. Basso's remarks, Mr. Campbell presented his seven annual Comptrollership Awards for Excellence to the Coast Guard personnel demonstrating exceptional service in financial management for 1999. The awardees included the following:

Senior Officer: Captain Loren Tschohl, COMDT (G-WPX).

Junior Officer: Lieutenant Junior Grade Bruce Brown, Coast Guard (CG) FINCEN.

Chief Warrant Officer: CWO4 Edward Godbey Coast Guard Recruiting Center.

Enlisted: SKC John Macy, CG Headquarters Support Command (a-3).

Team: Aircraft Repair and Supply Center: CDR Kenneth Burgess, James Davis, Peter Imbrogno, Edith Chadwell, Richard Gromlich, Paul Limbacher, Robert McCarty, Danny Hale, Frank Wells, Elaine Whitley, Portia Copeland, Augustine Holzmiller, Wayne Gibson, Bernadine Smith, Judy Collier, Melvin Bright Jr., Linda Hall, Beth Bunn, Kimberly Holton, and Sylvia Carter.

GS-9/NS-4 and Above: George Kane, Integrated Support Command, Boston.

GS-8/NS-3 and Below: Alan Williams, AIRSTA, Detroit.

Following the awards ceremony and lunch, the Coast Guard held workshops on the implementation of a financial management system, the Coast Guard budget, e-government initiatives, the Incident Command System, and the Coast Guard's Deepwater project.

Transcripts of Mr. Campbell's and Mr. Basso's speeches as well as electronic versions of the Service Day presentations can be obtained by contacting Ensign Toussaint Alston in the Office of Financial Management at [phone] or [e-mail].