Robert Devlin Named Deputy of Center Operations at NASA’s Marshall Center
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – Robert Devlin has been appointed to the federal Senior Executive Service and named deputy director of the Office of Center Operations at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.
The Senior Executive Service is the personnel system covering top managerial positions in approximately 75 federal agencies.
Devlin assists in overseeing institutional services at the Marshall Center, one of NASA’s largest field centers with more than 6,500 civil service and contract employees and an annual budget of approximately $2.6 billion. He was named to the position in December 2006.
With more than 125 specialized civil service and 800 contract employees, the Office of Center Operations’ services include environmental engineering, logistics and transportation, facility management and operations, industrial labor relations, protective services, occupational medicine and environmental health and emergency management.
Prior to joining NASA, Devlin was manager of the Consequence Management Business Unit for the Intergraph Corp. in Huntsville beginning in August 2005. The unit supported the U.S. Army Warfighter and Homeland Security Protection Lab at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville. The lab assists in finding homeland security applications for technology already in use by other federal agencies, and conducts emergency management, simulation-based training. It also supports emergency management operations at Redstone Arsenal, including the Marshall Center.
Prior to joining the private sector, Devlin served in the U.S. Army for 24 years. He retired in 2005 at the rank of colonel.
From 2002 to 2005, he was Garrison Commander of Redstone Arsenal, supervising more than 2,000 military, civil service and contractor employees. He directed a comprehensive array of institutional services, including environmental engineering, food services, acquisitions, institutional and program support equipment, logistics and transportation, industrial labor relations, protective services, and all programs and emergency management operations for personnel living and working on Redstone Arsenal.
From 2001 to 2002, Devlin was deputy to the director of programs for the Army Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics at the Pentagon in Washington. He helped determine resource needs in food services, support equipment, logistics and transportation, including wartime operational needs for the Army’s operations in Afghanistan. From 1999 to 2000, he was chief logistician for the Army’s 10th Mountain Division based in Fort Drum, N.Y., coordinating all aspects of occupational medicine, environmental health, food services, acquisition, operation and maintenance of support equipment for a 10,000-member organization that deployed elements to several overseas locations.
From 1997 to 1999, Devlin was battalion commander of the 10th Forward Support Battalion in Fort Drum. He was in charge of a 200-member battalion supporting the full range of logistics for a roughly 3,500-member brigade in training and deployed environments. From 1995 to 1997, he served as a logistics planning officer and the chief of logistics operations in the U.S. Southern Command in Panama City, Panama, responsible for food services, logistics and transportation for military operations in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Devlin served as operations officer with the 561st Support Battalion, and subsequently a logistics operations staff officer for the 101st Support Group from 1993 to 1995, responsible for providing water, fuel, transportation and engineering services for military deployments, including operations in Somalia from August to December 1993. From 1990 to 1992, he was a contract specialist for the U.S. Army, purchasing information technology equipment for the Office of the Chief of Staff of the Army. From 1987 to 1988, he served as an operations officer for the largest general support center in the Army, located in Kaiserslautern, Germany. He provided a full range of logistics and transportation services and emergency management services.
From 1986 to 1987, Devlin was commander of the Kaiserslautern Maintenance Center for the U.S. Army in Kaiserslautern, where he was responsible for the equipment maintenance conducted at the Army’s largest general support maintenance facility in Europe. From 1985 to 1986, he was the assistant material plans officer for the Directorate for Materiel for the 29th Area Support Group in Kaiserslautern, assisting in the full range of logistics and support services and providing command briefings for visiting dignitaries.
Devlin entered the Army in 1981 and served at Fort Riley, Kan., until 1984. He spent a year studying at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Md., before beginning his tour of duty in Germany in 1985.
Devlin earned a bachelor’s degree in political science in 1981 from Westminster College in Fulton, Mo. In 1990, he earned a master’s degree in business administration from Babson College in Wellesley, Mass., and in 2001, a master’s in strategic studies from the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pa.
Devlin received numerous honors throughout his military career, including the Joint Services Commendation Medal in 1996 for meritorious achievement and service, the Joint Services Achievement Medal in 1996 for outstanding performance of duty and meritorious achievement, the Defense Meritorious Service Medal in 1997, awarded to those serving in leadership positions and performing exceptionally outstanding work, the Volunteer Service Medal in 2005 for outstanding volunteer community service, the Legion of Merit Award in 2005 for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements, and Army Meritorious Service Medals in 1987, 1992, 1995, 1999, 2000 and 2002, for outstanding non-combat meritorious achievement or service to the United States.
A native of Durham, Conn., Devlin, his wife, the former Jennifer Knauf of Springfield, Va., and their son live in Monrovia, Ala.
