PENSACOLA, Fla. – Rear Adm. Pete Garvin, commander, Naval Education and Training Command (NETC), recognized the Civilians of the Quarter (COQ) for January to March 2021 at a ceremony held at Naval Air Station Pensacola July 8.

Carla McCarthy, deputy public affairs officer at NETC’s Public Affairs Office in Pensacola, was selected as NETC’s second quarter of Fiscal Year 2021 Senior COQ.

McCarthy is a Virginia Beach, Va. native, retired naval officer, and has been a NETC team member since May 2017. She has achieved significant advancement with NETC’s new public website, an initiative she identified the solution for and implemented in a new role as site manager at a projected annual cost savings of $100,000. The overall website migration and modernization project involved the most substantive update in 17 years and has positioned NETC and subordinate commands to align with a standardized, web responsive Navy-branded presence. 

Additionally, McCarthy pursued and employed a workflow management solution to improve and document website task tracking. As the Managers’ Internal Control Program (MICP) public affairs process owner, she completely overhauled the public affairs elements, including a new one-stop solution for collateral duty public affairs officers, benefiting the entire force development public affairs mission. McCarthy takes it upon herself to monitor DoD writing style updates and relevant DoD and Navy instructions, connect with the larger public affairs network for collaboration, seek out developing resources for public affairs, and bring that all back to within the NETC domain to share with fellow domain fulltime PAOs.

“Carla is the public affairs policy authority and corporate knowledge for NETC public affairs,” said Cmdr. Brian Wierzbicki, NETC public affairs officer. “She is an expert resource for public affairs professional development within the domain.”

Brooke Passione, information system security officer (ISSM) and Navy qualified validator for NETC cyber security was selected as NETC’s second quarter of Fiscal Year 2021 Junior COQ.

Passione claims Pensacola as her home with her father retiring from the Navy there making it the most extended place she has lived. This is her first position as a Department of the Navy civil servant starting in February 2020. Her accomplishments include the completed validation of over 2,400 information assurance controls and more than 10,000 assessment procedures on five NETC learning sites and one echelon III system Risk Management Framework (RMF) authorization package for the Navy recruiting website, which was recently brought into the NETC portfolio. With Ms. Passione as the catalyst for this project, the Navy.com website was successfully updated with information technology requirements. 

In 2021, Passione led the N6 MICP effort and drove the review and updates for 17 different processes over five N6 divisions. She coordinated with each MICP process owner to ensure flowcharts, Operational Risk Management and Internal Control System Test forms, and material weaknesses were updated and created as required. Because of her efforts, N6 was able to complete its MICP updates ahead of schedule effectively.

According to Samual L. Gochenour, NETC N633 Alt-ISSM cyber security operations, his role as Passione’s supervisor has allowed him to observe her dedication and the strategic results it has yielded. 

“Her achievements and service are exceptional when measured against the position requirements of the individual and exceed the contributions and service of others with comparable responsibilities,” said Gochenour. “Brooke’s professionalism shows in her accepting responsibility; accomplishing assigned tasks; working as a leader or as a member of a team; and her customer service.”

NETC, led by Rear Adm. Pete Garvin, is the U.S. Navy’s Force Development pillar and largest shore command. Through its “Street to Fleet” focus, NETC recruits civilians and transforms them into skilled warfighters ready to meet the current and future needs of the U.S. Navy. 

For more information on NETC, visit http://www.netc.navy.mil and http://www.facebook.com/MyNAVYHR.