State Employees Recognized for Outstanding Achievements

WILMINGTON, Del. – Governor John Carney on Monday signed a proclamation recognizing May 2–8, 2021, as Public Service Recognition Week. Governor Carney, cabinet members, and the business community will celebrate Delaware’s public servants throughout the week in videos highlighting the extraordinary work of state employees. 

“It is an honor to have the opportunity to work with our dedicated and hard-working state employees,” said Governor Carney. “Our public servants persevered through the challenges of this past year, and they continue to go above and beyond to serve the citizens of Delaware.”

The Department of Human Resources traditionally hosts an in-person annual recognition event during Public Service Recognition Week. This year, in a series of videos, the State will honor individuals and teams of state employees across our workforce who exemplified excellence and commitment to public service in the last year – including employees who identified innovative new ways to deliver state services, and those who demonstrated acts of heroism and courage.  Awards will be presented in the following categories:

• Tuesday, May 4 – Delaware Award for Excellence and Commitment in State Service 
• Wednesday, May 5 – Governor’s Team Excellence Award (Champions Award, Commitment Award)
• Thursday, May 6 – GEAR P3 Trailblazer Award, GEAR P3 Innovation & Efficiency Award
• Friday, May 7 – Delaware Award for Heroism

Recognition videos will premiere each day at 11:00 a.m. on youtube.com/johncarneyde.

Delaware Award for Excellence and Commitment in State Service Award

The Delaware Award for Excellence and Commitment in State Service Award is presented to five State of Delaware employees, or groups of up to five employees, who exemplify the highest standards of excellence and commitment in state service. In addition, the GEAR P3 Trailblazer Award provides special recognition for those individuals and small groups whose accomplishments demonstrate leadership in application of continuous improvement best practices. Recipients of the 2020 award are:

• Charles Harris, Department of Health and Social Services
• Anne Hiller Clark, Division of Libraries
• Stacey Purnell, Department of Health and Social Services
• Wayne Smiley, Department of Services for Children, Youth and Their Families
• Dawn Stevens, Department of Correction

GEAR P3 Trailblazer Award 

• Brent Johnson, Department of Finance
• Kalee Nelson, Department of Technology and Information
• Michael O’Malley & Jonathan Rutledge, Department of Homeland Security

Governor’s Team Excellence Awards

This award category includes the GEAR P3 Innovation & Efficiency Award; Champions Award; and Commitment Award. The Governor’s Team Excellence Awards, presented annually to a team of six to 20 state employees, encourages teamwork by recognizing groups of state employees for their efforts to use continuous quality improvement tools to excel in leadership, team dynamics and communication to produce superior customer service and tangible results. 

GEAR P3 Innovation & Efficiency Award

This top award is a cooperative initiative between the State of Delaware and the business community. This public private partnership honors teams that not only use continuous quality tools to achieve outstanding outcomes but also develop innovative designs and process, establish best practices, and produce verifiable results that are sustainable, scalable, and adaptable to other areas of government. These teams serve as clear role models for other organizations. The recipients of this year’s award are:

• Judicial Information Center COVID Response Team,Administrative Office of the Courts
• Government Support Services Central Contracting Team, Office of Management and Budget

Champions Award 

This award recognizes teams that demonstrated a superior knowledge of continuous quality improvement techniques, produced tangible results, and increased efficiencies, customer satisfaction, or cost savings. Recipients of this year’s award are:

• Special Events Team, Department of Transportation
• Technology Response to COVID-19 Pandemic Team, Department of Technology and Information
• Telework Support Team, Department of Health and Social Services

Commitment Award

This award recognizes teams that demonstrate a commitment to developing and applying quality improvement tools and techniques and achieving results that lead to continuous improvement in their organization. The recipients of this year’s award are:

• Bridge Maintenance Team, Department of Transportation
• DMV Online Appointment Scheduler Team,Department of Transportation and Department of Technology and Information
• DSAAPD Neuro-Behavioral Health Team,Department of Health and Social Services

The GEAR P3 Trailblazer Award and the GEAR P3 Innovation and Efficiency Award were made possible through the support of the Government Efficiency and Accountability Review (GEAR) Board and a Public-Private Partnership (P3) between the State of Delaware and the Delaware business community. Private Sector contributors of the awards include Bank of America, Capital One, Corporation Service Company (CSC), Delmarva Power, Highmark BCBS, JP Morgan Chase Bank, M&T Bank, The Precisionists Inc. (TPI), and WSFS Bank.

Delaware Award for Heroism

The Delaware Award for Heroism, established in 2013, recognizes state employees for acts of heroism and courage. The 2020 recipients are:

• Keytwan Brooks, Department of Transportation
• Justin Sauble, Department of Transportation
• Robert Stevens,Department of Transportation
• Stewart Megee, Department of Transportation
• Fred Beach,Steven Beck, Walter Bruhl, William Fintak, Jennifer Gabriele, and 
  Ronald “Skip” LeMieux, with volunteer “Chief” Larry Keller, Department of State.

Detailed information about the award recipients can be found on the State of Delaware’s Employee Recognition webpage de.gov/govawards. 

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