Dear Colleagues,

I am pleased to announce our May recipients of the OPS Honors Awards.

Please join me in congratulating District 1 winner Ofc. Adrian Riddick, District 2 winner Ofc. James Yancey, District 3 winner Cpl. Doreen Bennett, and for a second time, the Administrator of the Month is Howard Vaughn.

As a reminder, the OPS Honors Awards have three categories: District Employees of the Month, Administrator of the Month, and Supervisor of the Quarter. Thank you to everyone who has embraced this new award process –– if it weren’t for your submissions, we would not have had a pool of wonderful candidates to choose from. If you haven’t submitted kudos to these awards yet, it’s easy to do so by emailing your nominations to opsawards@si.edu.

Thank you, and congratulations to our May 2023 OPS Honors awardees!

Mark Wallace

Director

May 2023

District 1 Employee of the Month:

Ofc. Riddick started working for OPS in March of 2007. Of his win, he said, "It feels pretty nice to be selected for employee of the month. I’ve always been a team player and like helping my unit when needed. It is good to be acknowledged for my efforts.I would like to thank all of my coworkers at ACM/NPM for making it a joy to come to work. I would also like to especially thank Sgt. Grows who submitted me for this award. I truly appreciate the recognition."

Adrian Riddick

Ofc. Adrian Riddick, NPM/ACM, was nominated by Sgt. Tambra Johnson-Grows, who wrote:

“I wanted to recognize Ofc. Adrian Riddick for always stepping up and fulfilling our obligation as a Security Team to ensure we have coverage when needed and sometimes at the last minute. On May 8, I, Sgt. Grows, attempted to call other officers in for help due to personnel shortage with a negative response. I called Ofc. Riddick, and he said he was on his way home after working at the Postal Museum last night. Officer Riddick said, “Okay, Sgt. Grows, if you need me, then I am on my way.” He turned around and reported to Anacostia Museum in a matter of minutes to assist. Thank you, Ofc. Riddick, for your assistance with the shortage at the last minute, as you always do, and for being the outstanding, dedicated team player that you are! Because of you and your dedication as an MPO, we accomplished our mission and commitment as a security team to assist the staff at the Anacostia Community Museum; your diligence and selflessness do not go unnoticed!”

District 2 Employee of the Month:

Ofc. Yancey has been with OPS a little over 9 years. He said, "Working within OPS allowed me the opportunity to meet and greet visitors from all over the world. The customer service provided is over the top. To see and hear the excitement of the visitors' anticipation of seeing what they came for is so rewarding. It was a complete surprise and a great honor to win. Being assigned to DRWC had been the highlight of my career since accepting a job within the Smithsonian. Again, it's an honor to be recognized and a privilege to provide the kind of customer service where visitors feel free to express themselves and to write such kind words. Overall, I work with a great bunch of fellow officers who go above and beyond the call of duty to provide and assist the visitors to ensure their visit is one of everlasting memories."

District 3 Employee of the Month:

Doreen Bennett

Cpl. Doreen Bennett, Pennsy, was nominated by Lt. Jahmal James, who wrote:

“Cpl. Doreen Bennett has displayed outstanding leadership qualities in absence of an immediate supervisor. On April 29, Cpl. Bennett took initiative in concert with Sgt. Tameika Trotter to ensure duty assignments of the Suitland compound were completed. On several occasions, Cpl. Bennett has demonstrated quality and consistent team leader attributes by stepping in as needed to ensure the operations remain functional, which includes great service consistently rendered to her colleagues on shift as a team leader. Thanks, Cpl. Bennett, for all of your hard work and dedication to the mission of the Smithsonian Office of Protection Services!”

Administrator of the Month:

Howard Vaughn joined OPS as an Alarm Shop Technician in 2002 and later became a system administrator.

Of his win, he said, "It feels good to win employee of the month. I’m honored and grateful for the recognition of my work."

Howard Vaughn

Howard Vaughn was nominated by Kevin Roby, who wrote:

“I would like to give kudos to Howard this week to recognize him for his continued support on the Evolv program initiative. He is our constant go to for outside agency tours of the Evolv system, which not only helps our vision to continue to be the leaders in cultural property protection, but it also makes our continued relationship with Evolv remain at a highly successful and professional level. He took time out of his busy schedule to present our Evolv system and operations at NASM to several Amtrak officials. It was a thorough presentation with a lot of questions from Amtrak. With the assistance of Rodney Barnes, our NASM Assistant Security Manager, he was able to answer all the questions. Amtrak went away from the tour with a great understanding and appreciation of our Evolv program. Thanks, Howard, for all you do.”

Submit Kudos Nominations for Your Colleagues!

Visit the OPS Honors Awards SharePoint page for more information on the award categories.

ALL OPS staff are encouraged to submit kudos nominations for ANY OPS staff member.