PCD ASN(RDA) Allison Stiller Award
Established in 2023, this award recognizes a rising member of the submarine acquisition community who has demonstrated professional excellence in submarine acquisition at the GS-13/14 or equivalent level. The award is presented to a member of the civilian acquisition workforce.
2024 Awardee: Kevin R. Clark
for exceptionally meritorious service as MK 48 Heavyweight Torpedo Production Manager in the Undersea Warfare Program Office (PMS 404).
Mr. Clark is a superb Project Engineer and Project Manager who supervises the production and management of the Mk 48 MOD 7 torpedo propulsion, vehicle control, electric generation system, and warshot fuel tank. He is the Contracting Officer Representative who manages these two contracts with a cost of over $500 million dollars. He managed the delivery and acceptance of 38 AB/TC from SAIC, and 66 MK 48 Guidance and Control (G&C) sections from Lockheed Martin (LMCO), shifting to a steady state production model with consistent deliveries that will directly lead to increased MK 48 warshot inventory - a top priority of the Submarine Force. Mr. Clark led design projects (on new MK 48 Test Equipment) that improve reliability, eliminate obsolescence, reduce support costs, and reduce the risk of unplanned work stops. As acting Project Manager, he led a team of ten program office and warfare center engineers.  Kevin worked to secure funding for the first PEO USW project in the Submarine Industrial Base (SIB) program to redesign the MK 48 regulator to reduce obsolescence and improve manufacturability, lowering future costs. He managed hundreds of engineering change documents through the configuration management change process to allow production restart after a 20-year gap of a quality produceable weapon and enable production deliveries. As Contracting Officer Representative, he manages two challenging contracts for MK 48 Propulsion Sections and WSFT Production, working effectively with a large and geographically diverse team across the government and contractor to resolve problems expeditiously and get to on-time deliveries.
Mr. Clark is most deserving of recognition by the Naval Submarine League to receive the Allison Stiller Award for Excellence in Submarine Acquisition.
Allison Stiller
Allison Stiller served as the Principal Civilian Deputy, Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research Development & Acquisition (ASN(RDA)). She assumed the position in June 2015, where her responsibilities included oversight and policy for Navy and Marine Corps research, development, and acquisition programs for shipbuilding, aviation, space, weapon systems, and communication systems. This portfolio included management of more than 100,000 employees and an annual budget in excess of $50 billion, as well as overseeing hundreds of technical developments and procurement programs for the Department of the Navy. Ms. Stiller also led the Department's Senior Executive Acquisition Corps.
Ms. Stiller entered the Senior Executive Service in January 2004 and spent over 25 years in the Department of Defense's acquisition community. Ms. Stiller served in a number of shipbuilding acquisition positions throughout her career, where she led in the development and procurement of complex ship programs in multiple phases of the acquisition life cycle. Prior to this position, Ms. Stiller served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Ship Programs. In this capacity, she was responsible for executive oversight of all naval shipbuilding and associated weapon systems programs, major ship conversions, and nuclear ship refueling, as well as the maintenance, modernization and disposal of in-service ships.
She also served for four years as the Deputy Program Manager in the Amphibious Warfare Program Office, responsible for design, development, acquisition, and fleet introduction of amphibious ships and landing craft. She supervised over 40 individuals and managed four acquisition programs with a total value of $16B. Ms. Stiller also served as Director for Naval and Commercial Construction in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Ship Programs, where her responsibilities included oversight of amphibious and auxiliary ship construction and conversion programs, as well as shipbuilding industrial base matters. During her tenure, Ms. Stiller helped develop and promote initiatives that focused the nation's shipbuilding industry towards commercial viability. Ms. Stiller also served as Acquisition Manager in the early phases of the Virginia Class Submarine Program, as well as division director in the SEAWOLF Submarine program during the design and early construction phases of that program.