Mae E. De Vincentis

Mae E. De Vincentis became the vice director for the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) in August 2010. DLA is a U.S. Department of Defense (DOD)’s combat logistics support agency, providing logistics to the military departments and the Unified Combatant Commands. DLA also provides logistics support to other DOD components and certain federal agencies, foreign governments and international organizations. De Vincentis is the agency’s second in command.

Career
Before becoming vice director, De Vincentis was the director of Logistics Operations (J-3) at DLA. She led DLA’s worldwide warfighter support mission, which provides most consumable spare and repair parts and virtually all clothing, food, medical supply and fuel items used by military forces worldwide, involving over $40 billion in annual sales of logistics materiel and services. She was previously the director, Information Operations (J6) and Chief Information Officer (CIO) for DLA for nine years. De Vincentis was responsible for all DLA information technology (IT) activities across 11 sites involving a staff of over 3,000, including modernization of the agency’s principal business systems, sustainment of contemporary business systems, program management for acquiring and implementing major automated information systems (MAIS), information assurance, and overall IT policy guidance and operational performance. She was also responsible for DOD-wide logistics information operations that include cataloging, electronic routing of logistics transactions, a logistics customer interaction center, logistics process guidance and DOD’s document services.

Her prior assignment was as the Program Executive Officer (PEO) and vice director of Information Operations (IO). As the PEO, De Vincentis had management and oversight of DLA's MAIS programs and special interest programs. As vice director for IO, she also assisted the IO director in overseeing all agency IT functions. Before becoming the PEO in early 2000, De Vincentis served as executive director for Information Systems and Technology for the Defense Logistics Support Command (DLSC), at that time a major DLA subordinate command. That organization is now a directorate known as DLA Logistics Operations (J3). She provided a comprehensive IT systems strategy to facilitate DLSC’s business objectives, including oversight of the Business Systems Modernization (BSM) program that became the core of DLA’s transformation to meet the challenges of 21st century logistics support.

David McClure, vice president of government IT management research at technology research firm Gartner and former director of IT management issues at the Government Accountability Office, has identified several categories of CIOs (Government Executive March 1, 2008 Agencies need to start considering IT as part of the big-picture strategic planning process. The last one he sites in the article is called a "value seeker." This CIO, which is rare in government, is transformational and strategic, a communicator and collaborator, and successful at delivering outcomes. The value seeker has a seat at the table along with the mission-oriented officials and maintains co-ownership of programs from conceptualization to execution.

According to Government Executive magazine, value seekers are hard to find but they do exist. They site De Vincentis as one for her work on the an enterprise resource planning system, also known at the time as Business System Modernization. The system came on line as part of its program to modernize its business operations. The system tracks and manages the inventory of supplies for the military - from tires to uniforms.

Prior to joining DLSC in 1998, De Vincentis held a variety of leadership positions in contracting, logistics and information technology at the then-Defense Supply Center Philadelphia (DSCP), currently called "DLA Troop Support".

Personal life, education, and honors
De Vincentis attended Temple University where she received both her Bachelor of Arts and Masters degrees in Business Administration. She is a member of the Senior Executive Service and the Defense Acquisition Corps, and has served on a variety of DOD and public/private sector councils. She has received numerous honors, including the Presidential Rank Award, Civilian Meritorious and Exceptional Service Awards, the DLA Exceptional Civilian Service Award, the DLA Meritorious Civilian Service Award, and the DLA Employee of the Year Award.