When it comes to leadership, Tobyhanna Army Depot’s Personnel Management Division Chief Jeffrey Compton is always looking for ways he can grow his team so that they can achieve whatever career goals they have. For his dedication to the organization’s mission and his employees, Compton has recently been named TYAD’s latest Supervisor of the Quarter.

Compton, who received the honor for the third quarter of 2023, has over 30 years of federal service under his belt. From February 1992 to August 2012, he served as a member of the United States Marine Corps. While serving, he took advantage of the Marine Corps Enlisted Commissioning Education Program which offered him the chance to go to a four-year college full-time, while maintaining active duty status and pay. Always having had an interest in accounting, he earned an accounting degree and then attended Naval Post-Graduate School to earn a Defense Industry focused MBA.

Upon his retirement from the Marine Corps, Compton transitioned to providing Financial Management for the Headquarters Marine Corps Intelligence Department. Two years later, he returned to Northeastern Pennsylvania and took a job with the Federal Bureau of Prisons before joining Team Tobyhanna in December of 2017. In his nearly six years at TYAD, he worked as a member of the budget team and the Financial Analysis Division before moving into his current role as Chief of the Personnel Management Division (PMD).

When the PMD team was faced with an unexpected challenge this year, Compton worked with leadership so that requirements were clearly communicated up and down the chain of command. Under his direction, he ensured the problem was solved in an expeditious manner by regularly going the extra mile despite any hurdles that blocked his team’s path.

Compton strongly believes in the idea of working as a team. When the PMD was facing these challenges, he emphasized that it wasn’t just him that got the problem solved. It was the effort and support of an entire group coming together to collaboratively solve an issue.

“I didn’t do anything. The team did everything,” said Compton. “They understand the diverse work that is done across the board to support each other in their work. It was really the team and the team’s dedication to come in and execute their programs that made everything work.”

Compton continued to credit the team he works with, stating that he does what he can to encourage them to be leaders themselves.

“Teams, a lot of times, are one-deep in what they do but every one of those teammates steps up and acknowledges that a lot of he programs they run affect the entire depot. I encourage them to take ownership of their programs and to execute their programs,” said Compton. “It is really the team that makes everything go. From a leadership perspective, it is very important to me personality-wise and my leadership style to be supportive of the teammate and to remove any hurdles that they may have from executing their work and getting everything done.”

Director of Resource Management at TYAD Patricia Kratzer lauded Compton for his dedication to TYAD’s mission and willingness to make sure the job is always done right.

“Jeff sets a great example to peers and subordinates by exhibiting dedication, integrity, and a strong work ethic,” said Kratzer. “He makes himself available and provides guidance to his team daily. He understands his significance to mission execution and takes his responsibility as Chief of PMD very seriously.”

Emphasizing personal and professional development is a practice Compton leads with on a daily basis. He said he often challenges his team to ask their own questions, be confident in viewing problems from their own perspective, and to consider different perspectives and how would they change their response depending on that different view. He said he believes challenging open-ended questions helps people grow.

“My goal in leadership is to help develop people and help them in their career as they progress through with whatever their goals, wishes, desires are,” said Compton. “I would not mind that my entire team gets promoted out to take on new opportunities. That turnover is a result of professional development and those folks becoming ready to take that next step, if they so choose.”

Kratzer added that Compton ensures those working on his team are set up for success whether it is today or into the future.

“Those around Jeff respect him and follow his lead. On numerous occasions, he held one on one discussions with several of his team members that required, and benefited from, additional coaching, reassurance, and direction,” said Kratzer. ”He also actively supported several TOBY2035 initiatives during the quarter that focused on people and readiness … and met with peers to discuss challenges and opportunities shared as means of leadership development.”

The Supervisor of the Quarter award – and its companion Employee of the Quarter awards – are TOBY2035 initiatives aligned with the Invest in Our People line of effort. The plan, which has three additional focus areas, strives to position Tobyhanna for success in the coming years as the Department of Defense’s premier worldwide C5ISR readiness provider.

“It’s simple – I just like helping others.”

For John Fitzpatrick it really is that simple. Service is at the core of who he is and what he does in his professional and personal life.

Graduating from the U.S. Military Academy in 1983, Fitzpatrick was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in military intelligence. Fitzpatrick served in a variety of assignments at Fort Cavazos (formerly Fort Hood) in the 1st Cavalry Division, attended a post-graduate intelligence program and earned his master’s in 1987 and was stationed at Fort Monmouth before leaving the Army in 1990.

Service being a pillar in his life, Fitzpatrick almost immediately felt the pull to serve his nation again.

“I always felt a call to go back and serve. I had intended to go into the National Guard at that point, but they weren’t taking on new service members at the time.”

With the desire to serve his nation still burning bright, the opportunity Fitzpatrick had been waiting for presented itself after nearly two decades. In 2009, Fitzpatrick joined Team Tobyhanna as a contractor before moving to the Army Sustainment Command Packaging Storage and Containerization Center (PSCC) as a Packaging Specialist in 2010. PSCC is a tenant organization operating at Tobyhanna Army Depot.

Working his way up to Chief of PSCC’s Logistics, Testing and Applications Division in 2015, Fitzpatrick has enjoyed a second chance to serve his nation as a member of a dynamic team supporting warfighter readiness.

“I enjoy that I get to work with a bunch of talented subject matter experts in a variety of areas in packaging, testing, warehouse optimization and AIT technology. That’s very rewarding and equally as rewarding is still having the opportunity to get out and interact with soldiers and get down to supply activities and make a difference there,” said Fitzpatrick.

But the military service Fitzpatrick has offered to our nation is just the tip of the iceberg. For many people, the question is ‘How can I find time to serve?’. For Fitzpatrick, it seems service comes first, and any leisure activities fall into line second.

Fitzpatrick attributes his and his family’s commitment to service to the example set by his father.

“Selfless service was the chief value my father instilled in me. I am (my family’s) third generation to serve in the Armed Forces, and my son is the fourth generation. The example of my father served as my first impetus to give back,” said Fitzpatrick.

Fitzpatrick is a prolific blood donor, donating 75 gallons over four decades of giving. He was first exposed to the need for blood at a young age through his father’s work as a police officer and captain of the local first aid squad.

Fitzpatrick first donated during his time in the Army in the 1980s and began donating at Miller Keystone Blood Center (MKBC) in 1999. He is particularly passionate about donating through MKBC since it is the sole blood supplier to 33 hospitals in areas in which Team Tobyhanna employees reside. MKBC also supports our military servicemembers and offers its Veterans Still Serving Program, through which it presents MKBC Challenge Coins to veterans who donate.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, one blood donation can save up to three lives. This means Fitzpatrick’s donations have had the potential to save thousands of lives, including those of his fellow members of Team Tobyhanna.

Currently, Fitzpatrick donates platelets every two weeks, 24 times a year. In order to accommodate his and his wife’s other service initiatives including vegetable donations, Fitzpatrick plans his donations around his days off to maximize the impact he can create through his service.

“I try to do blood platelet donations on my RDO Friday because Saturdays from June to October are occupied delivering vegetable donations. My wife runs a program called Plant a Row – Lehigh Valley. We deliver the vegetables to about a half dozen different soup kitchens and food banks, so that’s my Saturday, and Wreaths Across America is another effort I get involved with.”

Fitzpatrick has taken his passion for blood donation and brought it to others through the organization of blood drives at his parish. Fitzpatrick said he has been organizing blood drives for over a decade. Over the years, his parish has become a relied upon source of blood for his area.

Fitzpatrick pointed to blood donation as a particular passion because of the constant need for blood and the meaningful impact it can have.

“Right now, there’s a national emergency. They’re looking for O positive and O negative donors. They’re running the risk of running out of blood, so I’m hoping I can convince some people to step up to donate. It’s not hard, and it’s not a lot of time considering the impact that it can have.”

Fitzpatrick said only a fraction of those eligible to donate blood do and encouraged those who may have been previously ineligible to donate to check the updated FDA guidelines as they may now be eligible.

When asked how he makes time for everything, Fitzpatrick offered some valuable perspective.

“I look at it this way. The time you spend donating platelets is just a couple of hours sitting in a chair at a blood donation center, or if it’s just blood it’s an hour in a chair. Just imagine, if you’re the parents of a child in the emergency room that needs blood, and you’re sitting there, too. Where would you rather be?”

Fitzpatrick truly embodies the Army core values, particularly selfless service. Through his service to our nation’s warfighters at work and his service to his community, he is living the values impressed upon him by his father as a young man.

Depot employees may sign up for monthly on-post Red Cross blood drives by calling (570) 615-7308. To find a blood donation site near you, visit: https://www.giveapint.org/ or https://www.redcrossblood.org/local-homepage.html.