Mr. Michael F. Leonard, USCG

Award: Clifford G Geiger Award - Naval Logistics
Year: 2022
Recipient: Mr. Michael F. Leonard, USCG
Reason: for his significant contribution to naval engineering as set forth in the following  

CITATION:

Mr. Michael Leonard served for 22 years as an active-duty Coastguardsman, while also gaining expertise in his secondary specialty on Coast Guard Operational Logistics. After retiring from active duty, he served as the chief logistician for the United States Coast Guard’s Deepwater Acquisition Program from 2005 to 2009. In 2009, Mr. Leonard was selected as the Chief of the Surface Forces Logistics Center’s Asset Logistics Division, where he oversees the Logistics Supply and Support Branch (LSSB), Fiscal Operations Branch (FOB), Compliance Branch, and the Mobile Support Unit (MSU), which together consist of over 150 military and civilian personnel.

Mr. Leonard has devoted the last 14 years of his professional life to establishing and building the SFLC’s Asset Logistics Division, which has been widely regarded as a triumphant success. Under his leadership, the Asset Logistics Division has served five major product lines and five other shared service divisions, ultimately supporting the Coast Guard’s 250 cutters and 1,800 small boats, which conduct over 1.5 million operating hours worldwide annually across all 11 major mission areas and in all corners of the globe.

Beginning in 2009, Mr. Leonard has established, maintained, and operated one of the Coast Guard's two Inventory Control Points (ICPs) and has led it through a period of hyper-growth, transforming what was initially $250M of inventory in 2011 to over $1.1B in critical maintenance and repair parts and material. Additionally, Mr. Leonard has been performing all budgeting, execution, and monitoring activities for a multi-year, multi-appropriation $650M budget. He manages all aspects of the SFLC’s budget, enabling the SFLC to annually perform over 200 depot maintenance availabilities (major dry dock and pier-side availabilities), and over 1,000 other maintenance-related projects. Mr. Leonard also oversees the SFLC’s traffic office, which processes roughly 60% of all freight shipped Coast Guard wide, translating to over 5,500 shipments annually.

Mr. Leonard has thrived despite the many challenges faced by the Coast Guard and the Nation. In recent years, he led a workforce of military members and civilian employees through government shutdowns and a global pandemic. When COVID-19 brought most of the world to a standstill, Mr. Leonard refused to accept defeat and was quick to develop work processes to ensure SFLC was still able to support the Coast Guard’s surface fleet. Leading his team, Mr. Leonard developed methods to procure, track, and ultimately distribute hard to find Personal Protective Equipment to ALD and SFLC personnel dispersed throughout the world.

Throughout his tenure, Mr. Leonard has demonstrated excellent leadership, strategic vision, and unmatched management skills. He has led a workforce of military members and civilian employees through many challenges and has consistently positioned the ICP to respond to the speed of need routinely required by the operational Coast Guard. Utilizing a rare combination of strong leadership and communication skills, unmatched technical acumen, and highly refined professionalism he has achieved precedent setting levels of success.

The American Society of Naval Engineers is honored to recognize Mr. Michael Leonard as the recipient of the 2022 Clifford G. Geiger award for Naval Logistics.