Senior civilians selected for strategic leadership program Published Dec. 4, 2015 Air Force Personnel Center Public Affairs JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-RANDOLPH, Texas -- The Air Force has selected 15 senior civilian leaders for the Air Force Civilian Strategic Leader Program following intense screening and assessment by a 10-member selection board. CSLP is the Air Force senior corporate career broadening program designed to develop multi-skilled GS-14 and GS-15 leaders to enable them to navigate through complex environments. The purpose of the program is to provide an avenue to develop the civilian workforce through corporate experience, and then place the right people in the most challenging and critical leadership positions. CSLP is an experiential assignment program and participants normally work outside of their functional area of expertise for up to three years. CSLP-selects will be vectored into one of three interrelated areas designed to enhance overall development and management of a specific segment of the civilian strategic workforce, said Edward Vargas, Air Force Personnel Center CSLP program co-manager. Those areas include installation level, with positions such as the deputy director of installation support; headquarters Air Force level, with positions such as congressional liaison representative; and joint positions such as supervisory strategic planner, CSLP has 63 worldwide enterprise positions, and selection for the program is very competitive, said Deborah Billings, program co-manager. Similar to the colonel command screening board, the CSLP board focused on selecting the most highly-qualified Airmen. "This program helps us deliberately develop our Airmen for the long term," said Vargas. "The board, functional communities, major commands, AFPC and stakeholders in the field all worked hard to ensure high-quality candidates were thoroughly assessed. The quality of applicants was outstanding and thanks to their efforts and this development program, the best and brightest leaders will now be in a position to help guide our service into the future." The board assessed each candidate for high-quality leadership performance, progressive supervisory experience, advanced education and other criteria. Following the board, the Air Force chief of staff approved the list of selected candidates, who are now available for installation, HAF and joint level positions. Program selectees and their current assignments include the following: -Dorotha Biernesser, Acquisition Program Management Specialist, Pentagon - Melissa Blakesly, Operations Research Analyst (Workforce Development), Pentagon - Roderick Davis, Human Resource Management Analyst, Pentagon - Thomas Dean, Deputy Chief, Command and Control Operations Division, Ramstein Air Base, Germany - Edward Durell, General Engineer, Pentagon - Tracy Green, Technical Director, Robins Air Force Base, Georgia - William Imhof, Management and Program Analyst, Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia - James Johnson, Chief, Organization Division, Pentagon - Michael Jackowski, Technical Director/Chief, Networks Division, Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas - Paul Plescow, Chief, ISR Assessments Division, Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, District of Columbia - Carol Schimmoller, Principal Intelligence Analyst, Wright Patterson AFB, Ohio - Leon Spradling, Deputy Base Civil Engineer, Ramstein AB - Richard Toney, Enterprise Program Manager, MacDill AFB, Florida - Merry Wermund Chief, Materiel Management Branch, Wright Patterson AFB - William Wilson, Executive Advisor for Services, Ramstein AB The 2016 CSLP call for nominations will be released in February with nomination packages due to AFPC by May 1. Candidates must be nominated by their local leadership. For more information about Air Force personnel programs go to the myPers website. Individuals who do not have a myPers account can request one by following these instructions on the Air Force Retirees Services website.