November 2024 Honorees

Shae Cronin

Shae continues to be pivotal to effective OSP operations. He prepares the organization for virtually all external presentations, has negotiated a first-in-the-nation apprenticeship program (from conception to MOU and ongoing implementation), and has been instrumental in establishing the innovation and continuous improvement unit. Shae’s commitment to DGS and OSP is evident in his willingness to listen to individuals’ challenges, communicate them with senior leadership, and advocate for his colleagues.

Philip Palazola

The CMMS Unit would like to recognize Philip Palazola, the Building Systems Analyst & Technician. Phil joined the Building Systems Branch (BSB) team in July and hit the ground running, having delivered strong results despite a shortened training period and steep learning curve. He has taken the initiative on multiple projects, having independently identified the opportunity for support. As part of onboarding the Legislative Services building in eMaint, he researched and created all necessary associated equipment and spatial assets. Over hundreds of new records requiring hours of research. He has fully taken on the role of BSB in conducting building visits and measuring the condition of critical building equipment in DGS-managed buildings. Recently, he launched an initiative to audit CMMS records for integrity & completeness, addressing previously missing data and enhancing database accuracy across thousands of eMaint records. An initiative that has expanded into updating our data dictionary to better support our partners throughout the divisions and other agencies. Thanks, Phil, for delivering results, supporting the Building Systems Branch and CMMS Unit in moving forward with our goals, and doing great service.

Eric Solomon

Over the past several weeks, as DGS has been dealing with the remediation of air and water quality issues in the Baltimore Region buildings, an incredible amount of coordination has been needed on the communications of critical and time-sensitive information. On a daily basis, Eric had to coordinate with multiple stakeholders (including OFM leadership, the Secretary’s Office, DGS Legal, DGS Life Safety, leadership in other agencies, DBM, the Governor’s Office, and others) on multiple memos, FAQs and guidance documents. This required Eric to ensure that all necessary parties had reviewed and approved the documents, which meant continuous reminders and requests. He managed all this with grace, patience, urgency, and professionalism. During this period of heavy communications, he managed the other deliverables whose deadlines were looming, including creating our DGS Annual Report and creating holiday messaging campaigns. For his ability to cool while things are swirling rapidly around him and for his very professional representation of DGS with our various stakeholders, Eric is nominated for Doing Great Service.

Kathy Hastings & Ted Amos

Kudos to Kathy Hastings and Ted Amos for all their work on the CEWs. They are doing a phenomenal job and have been great to work with. We’ve been so impressed with their attention to detail and thoroughness, as well as the time they take to explain things to us. We also really appreciate them digging into things and looking to make improvements. (As you know, we want to discuss a few things this Spring before the full implementation of new strategies – I hope they don’t find that discouraging because we’re looking forward to hearing more about their ideas!). Our analysts and management team all speak very highly of them – you have a great team!