Federal 100 winner: Lt. Col. Walter Nichols

Lt. Col. Walter Nichols

Program manager

Transportation Command

Thanks to Nichols, supply chain and logistics systems at Defense Department agencies are becoming more interoperable in an effort to streamline DOD's acquisition activities.

As program manager, Nichols led an effort to unite the Defense Logistics Agency's integrated data environment and the Transportation Command’s global transportation network programs. As program manager for the convergence project, Nichols' work makes supply chain, logistics, transportation and distribution-related data consistent at DLA and Transcom. Nichols’ leadership was key to the success of the program, which is an initial test case for the Defense Secretary’s Business Transformation Agency Enterprise Risk Assessment Model for streamlined acquisition.

“He picked up the joint program at a very critical time, immediately after contract award, and flawlessly executed the activities, maintaining team unity and enterprise focus, to ensure successful delivery of joint warfighter capabilities,” said Virginia Williamson, Transcom’s deputy director of command, control, communications and computer systems.