December Honorees

Kshirajaa Ramesh is a dedicated advocate for sustainability in the State of Maryland. She serves as the Sustainability Officer in the DGS Office of Energy and is key staff for the Maryland Green Purchasing Committee. Kshirajaa is passionate about moving the needle to make the State greener, cleaner, and healthier for all of us. Green Purchasing touches almost everything the State buys, and it means pivoting from working on janitorial supplies, to office paper, to laptops, to native plants for landscaping, electric vehicles, and more. In her role, you can find Kshirajaa researching environmental laws and regulations, writing specifications, or working closely with procurement staff and state vendors on solicitation or contracts. She also does an incredible job of wrangling the State’s green purchasing data which is then published in our annual report and results in the ability to measure and report on the success of our program. Recently her work has resulted in numerous awards and accolades for the State of Maryland including awards from the Northeast Recycling Center and the Green Electronics Council. Kshirajaa maintains an ambitious workload and is always eager to find new opportunities to green our state procurements. She works with state agencies across Maryland to support them in their green purchasing endeavors, answer questions, and provide guidance. Several procurement staff have told me how helpful Kshirajaa has been to make sure their procurements adhere to Maryland’s green purchasing laws and standards. Sometimes the work of “doing the right thing” can be overwhelming! And success can be gradual. What I appreciate about Kshirajaa is her positive attitude and optimism and her ability to keep focusing on the big picture and to move forward while encouraging and bringing all of us along with her.

Rob Ross has been a Maintenance Supervisor with the Multi-Service Centers Division for 23 years. Since his career began with DGS, he has assisted with numerous projects at many of our facilities.
Rob is a true team player, always first to volunteer to assist in any project or task needed in Region 1-Salisbury, Centreville and Denton. He is committed to saving taxpayer dollars using his vast mechanical knowledge and skills to perform in-house repairs to the lawn and snow removal equipment. Also, he initiated the installation of new LED lighting throughout the Denton Multi-Service Center with the assistance of other DGS staff. Rob is an invaluable supervisor and has an exceptional overall disposition, work ethic, and drive. Rob’s commitment as a volunteer firefighter and paramedic with the Ridgely Fire Department for 10 years shows where his desire to help others comes from. Although Rob is a humble man, and never expects recognition, he is deserving of being acknowledged for his hard work and dedication. He is a great example of what Caught DGSing truly means.

On 9/23/21 at 1938 hours PFC Lane responded to 40 State Circle, Annapolis Maryland to assist Maryland Capitol Police officer, Sgt. Herndon who was flagged down to assist a sick person who was having a medical emergency. The victim advised Sgt. Herndon that she was having chest pains. The victim began to convulse, and started to have a seizure prior to PFC Lane’s arrival. Upon his arrival, he made contact with the victim’s boyfriend, who was in the backseat area of a gray 2017 Toyota Camry, and was cradling the victim as she was convulsing. Maryland Capitol Police officers P/O Reed and P/O Watson were also on scene rendering aid and also clearing roadway traffic for the arrival of the Fire/EMS personnel. PFC Lane assisted in clearing the victim’s airway. At 1955 hours, Annapolis Fire Department Medic #39 arrived on scene and EMT personnel began rendering aid by providing Narcan to stabilize her. After doing so, she was prepared for transport to AA Medical Center. The Reporting Person, who was the victim’s boyfriend, advised that she started to experience chest pains approximately fifteen minutes prior to the dispatched time of the call. He also advised that the victim ingested 2 hydrocodone pills at approximately 1700 hours on the listed date. After stabilizing the victim’s vital statistics for transport, Annapolis EMT’s transported her on Annapolis FD Unit #39 to AA Medical Center for further treatment.

Richard Galasso for two reasons, one of which is a singular instance and the other is a much larger effort that seems to have kicked into gear with his arrival. Recently Rich educated me on the Smart Sheet he set up for processing DGS invoices, essentially automating a process that will ensure we do not have any auditors finding fault with our processes going forward. While he admittedly “borrowed” the idea from his previous employers, his undertaking the development of the sheet and for being the champion, and trainer and troubleshooter all-in-one, I would have nominated him for Caught DGS here without considering anything more. However, it dawned on me that he helped to improve the credit card monthly statement submittal process and move more in a paperless direction BEFORE he got the Smartsheet Invoice Process set up. He has essentially become the key operative in Wyllie’s bid to eliminate paper from the DGS workplace. So, while it may be Wyllie that pulls his strings, it’s Rich that I nominate for Caught DGS.

Staff of the DGS Records Management Office – Karin Lott, Charlie Lopez, Shaconda Haynie, James Frend, and Melvin Seward for keeping the day-to-day work moving forward, as well as undertaking larger tasks and projects without being requested to, and submitting everything on time during a period of time between the departure of Michael Swygert and the arrival of Christian Skipper, the new Director of Records Management. The people named above were given direct access to the Secretary’s Office in the event they encountered anything they needed assistance with, but never made the call as they had things well in hand. It’s due to the independent nature and self-sufficiency borne of being in a remote location somewhat apart from the rest of DGS, and being part of a group of dedicated and capable state employees who know how to get business done that they are nominated

In February 2021, Katie Crawford reached out to Secretary Churchill to voice a concern and suggestion about the use of State Center to facilitate testing and vaccinations to state employees. Katie’s concerns, along with others, were used when DGS reached out to MDH to offer State Center as an option. The facility in B-Lot is a result, in part, to Katie’s suggestion.