Photo By Chief Petty Officer America Wingo | CRYSTAL CITY, VA. (May 11, 2022) – U.S. Navy LTJG Martha Byrne, a member of the F-35...... read more read more
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A wave of young personnel joined the F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO), eager to support the F-35 Lightning II, the most lethal fifth-generation air system. Lt. j.g. Martha Byrne is one of them. She is part of an up-and-coming female workforce that will grow the capability, availability, and affordability of the F-35.
Byrne is proud to be a conscientious steward of government funds as an intern on the JPO's business financial management team. Her journey started at the United States Naval Academy in 2014.
"I chose that route because I came from a military family, and the academy wanted me to play lacrosse,” said Byrne. “But my love of math, especially calculus, won out over athletics during my final two years."
Fresh out of the academy, the young supply corps officer was assigned as a division officer on USS Mobile Bay (CG-53) while it completed a global deployment from 2018 to 2019. She learned the primary responsibilities of accounting and balancing budgets, the different hubs around the world to get replacement parts , and the outline of the food standards required on a ship. She explained that her job was a "behind the scenes" position that focused on securing funds and pushing through budgets to meet the mission at hand and required persistence.
"I had an eye-opening experience on Mobile Bay. I love doing this type of work because it matches my personality, said Byrne. “So I dove into my job and began to excel at it."
"My supervising supply corps officer and role model aboard the USS Mobile Bay told me to come to Washington, D.C., for an internship," Byrne said. "She recommended contracting or business financial management, saying that understanding where the money comes from and how to get the money will set you up for any supply corps position in the future."
Byrne came to JPO in October 2021 as part of the business financial management team that focuses on vehicle systems procurement.
"I work with the procurement and modification budget line items," explained Byrne. "It is understanding the past, present, and future presidential budgets and formulating execution plans based on that. In addition, it is important to understand the contracting process of the F-35 program and its requirements. For example, what is needed this year, what was needed last year, and what will be needed in the coming years."
Cmdr. Tony Nguyen, the business financial management lead for vehicle systems at the JPO's Air Vehicle Program Management Office and Byrne's supervisor, is a member of the JPO financial management team that manages the budget that funds everything at the JPO.
"It is important to have an enthusiastic young officer like Martha working here because the JPO is getting a very high-quality member. It also benefits her and the Navy as she develops her professional knowledge working in the largest acquisition program in the Department of Defense," said Nguyen.
Nguyen said Byrne is the “right person for the job” because he views her as being detail-oriented and proactive person with integrity who always completes her work.
“Those are the characteristics we want in all our people,” said Nguyen, “especially on our business financial management teams."
Byrne's team breaks down the air vehicle systems procurement budget month by month for the year to ensure they are executing on track. The team is primarily focused on efficiently obligating funds over fiscal years ‘20, ’21 and ’23, and the team stays in constant coordination with the JPO contracts team, which works closely with the program's main contractors. Additionally, the financial management team reviews a multitude of funding documents to make sure the budget spend plan matches and that we're pulling from the correct lines of accounting.
The process allows Byrne to see the big picture of affordability.
"I appreciate understanding how a budget works: when it needs to be executed, and my part is executing it on time,” she said, adding that she appreciates working to be a good steward of tax payer dollars by making sure the money gets put to good use.
"It was a big learning curve,” Byrne said of the job, “but my personality and drive helped me in this new position because I pushed myself to pick it up quickly. I learned the specific technical requirements and am always willing to learn more to better myself."
Byrne said she’s meticulous because she knows that the extra attention will best support the warfighters, international partners, and customers. She is also growing as a financial management professional.
"I finish almost every day having learned something new, which is rewarding, said Byrne, adding that the work may be hard, but she views herself as getting smarter every day.
“The JPO is a place where you get immediate feedback, and that can be tough until you remember that we all have the same mission,” Byrne continued.
“So keep that team mentality and bring our warfighters home alive."
| Date Taken: | 07.07.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 07.07.2022 17:27 |
| Story ID: | 424524 |
| Location: | ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA, US |
| Hometown: | CORONADO, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: | 614 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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