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August General Membership Meeting: ASN Frederick J. Stefany Addresses VSRA Membership

The August General Membership Luncheon meeting was held at the Portsmouth Renaissance hotel on Tuesday, August 24, 2021. The guest speaker was acting Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition (ASN RDA) Frederick J. Stefany.

Mr. Stefany began by thanking the Association for the invitation to speak. He noted that he has served as acting ASN since the new Biden Administration and acknowledged recent Senate confirmation of Carlos Del Toro as Secretary of the Navy.

Mr. Stefany then shared four guiding priorities of the new Secretary of the Navy: China, Culture, Climate, and COVID. He noted the ever-looming threat of China’s vast Navy, the need for greater diversity within Navy cultures, heeding climate change by reducing energy consumption, and the fallout of COVID and what the Navy can learn from the ship repair industry regarding the safe return of employees to the workplace.

Mr. Stefany then shared how the Pentagon’s focus currently is on the Fiscal Year 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, which provides funding to the Navy. He pointed out that NDAA funding levels fail to consider the full inflation rate, which makes it even more important to wisely spend money on key priorities, to include ship maintenance and modernization efforts.

One of the priorities Mr. Stefany covered spurred the question “how do we sustain the current force so it’s ready to fight tonight?” He acknowledged that this is primarily a ship repair, maintenance, and modernization consideration. He then spoke about the complete importance of maintaining a cooperative relationship between the Navy and ship repair contractors in getting ships in and out of availabilities. He praised industry for their efforts to get ships out on time during the height of the COVID Pandemic.

After taking several questions, Mr. Stefany closed by thanking VSRA and all those in attendance for their dedication towards supporting the Navy fleet. Kevin Terry announced that, in appreciation for his speaking to the Membership, VSRA donated in his honor to the Armed Services YMCA of Hampton Roads and presented him with VSRA memorabilia as a parting gift.


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