LINDA J. MEADOWS
Posted by smahaskey
With a government career that spans 34 years, my best days are teaching the next generation of comptrollers.
For five years I was responsible for developing the agenda for the Navy-Marine Corps Service Day at the American Society of Military Comptrollers (ASMC) annual professional development conference. I usually taught a couple of workshops on financial management and was videotaped so that people who couldn’t attend the conference could get the same education.
In front of a couple of hundred people, I needed to be on my toes to answer questions on issues peculiar to different Navy commands or activities. Some people don’t want to air their dirty laundry in front of such a large audience, so they ask questions, always intriguing, after the workshop. People were seeking my assistance on hard issues. At the end of the day, I was usually exhausted, but felt rewarded based on the interaction with junior comptroller personnel from across the globe.
It’s important that senior leadership attend these conferences — they need to be visible to show they are engaged and to answer questions from personnel not in their chain of command.
The conferences are also an excellent networking opportunity across the military services. Last year I ran into the new African Command comptroller and I was able to set up a great developmental assignment for one of my employees.
While no longer in charge of Service Day, I am the Navy vice president of the American Society of Comptrollers, a volunteer position. This year, I will open up Service Day as a speaker and I’m on three panels. This is just one way of giving back to my financial management community.
Meadows is comptroller for the Office of Naval Research.