NAVAIR International Transportation Team Lead Mark Vernetti was named 2022 Department of the Navy Department of the Navy Acquisition Excellence Awards Supply Chain Acquisition Professional of the Year. The award recognizes outstanding individuals who have made exceptional contributions to promote competition and innovation throughout the acquisition life cycle, ultimately delivering rapid, affordable, high performing capabilities to naval warfighters around the globe.
NAVAL AIR SYSTEMS COMMAND, PATUXENT RIVER, Md: Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) International Transportation Team Lead Mark Vernetti was named the 2022 Department of the Navy Acquisition Excellence Awards Supply Chain Acquisition Professional of the Year Nov. 3 for his efforts that quickly and effectively met U.S. international partners’ mission requirements.
Under Vernetti’s leadership, the NAVAIR International Transportation Team shipped more than 3,000 Defense Articles internationally, all delivered on schedule, within budget and in compliance with international regulations and policies.
Vernetti was also recognized for his demonstrated business acumen, saving an international partner more than $1 million in delivery costs through coordination and consolidation of three separate Special Assigned Airlift Mission (SAAM) component deliveries.
Ann Wood, Interim Director, Sustainment Group, commended Vernetti for taking the initiative to look for uncommon solutions to support international partners. “Faced with the closure and limited throughput of most global supply chain hubs during the COVID-19 pandemic, Vernetti and the NAVAIR International Transportation Team proactively coordinated with customers, military and commercial shippers and U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials to overcome those barriers,” she said.
“Supervising multiple teams across multiple initiatives during an unprecedented time is impressive and exemplary,” she added. “You brought your expertise to bear and empowered your team to get the job done. Thank you for all you do in providing capabilities in support of our international partners whose contributions are an integral part of our nation’s warfighting capabilities.”
The team also played the key role in supporting a cross-service request to solve import discrepancies noted on an F-16 aircraft owned by an international partner scheduled to undergo a complex Viper Upgrade. Prior to its entry to the U.S., the team successfully completed the required actions delineated by more than 10 different international and domestic regulatory organizations, resulting in the successful delivery of the initial aircraft within its contracted period of five days.
Vernetti’s foresight and relationship building across DoD agencies also garnered attention from other agencies. As the NAVAIR Transportation Team is the only team of its kind in the DoD, primarily focusing on policy and operational execution requirements, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Export Control Division reached out to the team after being advised by two non-DoD agencies that NAVAIR was the premier transportation organization within the DoD. The CBP requested assistance in improving its ability to quickly and accurately process FMS material exports, and in response, the Transportation Team developed a curriculum for CBP’s Export Control Division that covered all applicable areas of the FMS export process, later instructing 317 CBP Export Division officers in an interactive, three-hour virtual class. The team was later able to capitalize on this newly established relationship by gaining CBP assistance on several NAVAIR customs export issues that might have otherwise created a delay in delivery of time-sensitive FMS material shipments.
Vernetti credits his achievement to the experiences he gained during his 24-year career in the Marine Corps and sees the opportunities provided by his current position as continuing in the same vein. “I served in many positions and locations while attached to the operating forces, finishing my career on the Commandant of the Marine Corps Staff as a senior enlisted advisor. Those assignments, both in the field and in a staff billet, gave me firsthand experience working with, and for some of this country’s greatest men and women, and also provided a non-stop school in leadership,” he said.
“As lead of the Transportation Team, I’ve seen how the agreements we share with our partner nations are embedded in and support our own National Defense Strategies,” he added. “They supplement and work as an extension of our own defense capabilities.”
Excellence, according to Vernetti, requires an approach that compels a person to look beyond the expected and to hold oneself accountable. “No matter what your résumé says, character and work ethic win out over fluff and glitter,” he explained. “Find the place where the rubber meets the road and commit to making a difference.”
NAVAIR International Transportation Team Lead Mark Vernetti was named 2022 Department of the Navy Department of the Navy Acquisition Excellence Awards Supply Chain Acquisition Professional of the Year. The award recognizes outstanding individuals who have made exceptional contributions to promote competition and innovation throughout the acquisition life cycle, ultimately delivering rapid, affordable, high performing capabilities to naval warfighters around the globe.
