NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Oct. 27, 2023) – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nashville District commander recently announced a trio of outstanding employees of the month, recognizing their positive impact to the organization and projects.
Lt. Col. Robert W. Green, Nashville District commander, said Kelley Philbin, employee of the month for June; Ryan Evans, employee of month for July, and Jake Pierce, employee of the month for August, are very deserving of their accolades and recognition.
Kelley Philbin named June Employee of the Month
The commander noted that Philbin, civil engineer and chief of the Water Resources Section in the Hydrology and Hydraulics Branch, completed actions for a Leadership Development Program initiative to improve morale.
Philbin worked to launch an online swag store where employees could order shirts and other items with the Nashville District’s famous guitar logo.
“The storefront serves both individual employees and groups of employees with high flexibility, great customer service, and overall high-quality products at their fingertips,” Green said. “This is proven to be a low-cost, low-effort, high-reward tradeoff for the Nashville District. As a result, our employees will be able to wear their Corps gear proudly and feel reconnected to the Nashville District community.”
Philbin said her LDP class identified declining morale as an initiative to address with their class project, and employees wanted to sport the district’s guitar logo on their chests. She worked to spearhead the account setup and logo design, but it was an entire-class effort, she explained.
“I greatly appreciate being recognized but am happier that the storefront gets more visibility,” Philbin said. “The storefront is always active so please check it out and get shopping!”
A native of Lincoln Park, New Jersey, Philbin supports and manages engineers that model extreme storm events, dam safety issues, and ecosystem restoration efforts. Before arriving at the Nashville District she interned with the Risk and Decision Science Team at the Engineer Research and Development Center in Concord, Massachusetts, and later graduated from the University of Delaware with a bachelor of Engineering in Environmental Engineering. She served four years in the New York District analyzing and designing coastal storm risk management features for the New York-New Jersey area in response to Hurricane Sandy. She then took her present position as a manager in 2018 that she thoroughly enjoys.
“I enjoy watching those that I mentored or hired flourish into extremely talented engineers,” Philbin said. “My goal as a supervisor is to support my employees and the best measure of that is to see them succeed.”
Ryan Evans named July Employee of the Month
The commander highlighted that Evans took a lead role in a multi-agency effort with developing an improved Tennessee Stream Quantification Tool (version 2.0) to improve the efficiencies and results in the streamlined regulatory process across the state.
Evans also took on a critical role in organizing process improvements and training during the Tennessee SQT Pilot Training Workshop in Nashville, Tennessee, this summer. During and immediately following the interagency workshop, he took immediate proactive action by collecting and drafting feedback and comments, and providing those to the event’s work group.
“Eight pages of superb, substantive technical comments, feedback, process improvements, and workable solutions were collected and drafted by Ryan on behalf of USACE in less than one week, then provided to the interagency group for implementation,” Green said.
William Worrall, Regulatory Division Technical Service Branch chief, supervises Evans and said he worked hard on this particular project and is very deserving of this award.
“This specific piece of work was really impressive and deserving of significant recognition, especially coupled with all his related accomplishments,” Worrall said. “He is dedicated and passionate about our mission, which helps drive him to accomplish great things. He is proactive, takes the lead, works to improve processes, and increases efficiencies within our mission set, while working to protect and improve our nation’s aquatic resources.”
In the Regulatory Division, Evans manages the administration of mitigation banks, which are developed by third parties to provide a net offset from impacts from permitted dredge and fill permits. He has a bachelor degree in biology from Tennessee State University and master’s degree in environmental science from University of Tennessee Chattanooga. He joined the Nashville District in 2017 and has been in the Regulatory Division since 2018.
Evans expressed his surprise by his selection as employee of the month, but said he always gives his best effort every day and is grateful to be recognized for his work on the Tennessee Stream Qualification Tool. He also thanked his wife Amanda who has been a great supporter of his career and in his life for more than 25 years.
“I am lucky that I have her in my life,” Evans said. “My parents worked hard to put me through college, which gave me some of the tools that I would use throughout my career.”
Prior to working for the Nashville District, Evans worked as a zoologist and aquatic ecologist for the Pennsylvania and Kentucky Natural Heritage Programs, as well as an aquatic ecologist for the Kentucky Division of Water.
Jake Pierce named August Employee of the Month
The commander also lauded Pierce for his work on the contract package for the Loyall Phase II Project, where the Nashville District is working to correct a design deficiency in the historic Cumberland River channel, located in Loyall, Kentucky.
“Jake immersed himself in the package and identified more than 30 errors on the contract package resulting in generating an 11-sheet amendment to save the government thousands of dollars in construction modifications,” Green said.
As technical lead on the Looney Creek Project, Pierce learned that the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet would be reconstructing a major bridge within the project limits at the same time as the channel modification. He coordinated multiple meetings between the sponsor, architectural/engineering firm for the USACE project, and KYTC officials to determine a seamless coordination between projects.
“With list in hand, Jake then executed a 20-page amendment to address all the changes and provided clear coordination between contractors in a week’s time,” Green said.
Frank “Tater” Mills, civil engineer in the Civil Site and Survey Section, worked with Project Manager Amanda Burt to nominate Pierce for employee of the month because of his hard work and the significant impact to these projects.
“Jake has been working his keister off over the past few months taking every project challenge in stride,” Mills said. “He has been thinking through and solving tough engineering and design problems and maintained a can-do attitude throughout. We’re very lucky to have him.”
Pierce is a native of Somerset, Kentucky, and also a civil engineer in the Civil Site and Survey Section. He graduated in 2020 from Western Kentucky University and also passed the Fundamentals of Engineering exam to be an “Engineer in Training.” He served as a Department of the Army intern for two years before joining the Nashville District. He is currently pursuing his professional engineer license and expects to take that exam sometime next year.
He said his job entails general site layout and design, and common engineering features of work include earthwork, utilities, grading, drainage, and roadway construction. The most enjoyable thing about the job, he added, is producing projects that provide benefits to communities within the Nashville District’s area of operations.
As for the work he did on the Loyall Phase II Project, Pierce said the biggest challenge he faced involved proposing alternatives that would allow both contractors to accomplish the work while maintaining the necessary channel widening.
Pierce said he is extremely proud and humbled to be recognized by his colleagues for his work on these projects.
“I would like to recognize my fellow engineers in my section as they have helped me grow in my career,” he said.
(For more news, updates and information please follow the Nashville District on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/nashvillecorps and Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/nashvillecorps. Follow us on LinkedIn for the latest Nashville District employment and contracting opportunities at https://www.linkedin.com/company/u-s-army-corps-of-engineers-nashville-district.)