The Right Mix of People
Ausley Associates
Pax Leader
Marsteller, left, and Henson. Photo by Ausley.
As Ausley Associates, Inc. celebrates their 15th year in business in 2012, the Lexington Park-based contractor recently announced the hiring of a new vice president of process engineering, the executive who will be responsible for shepherding the company though external certifications and prepare it to increase in scale in the coming years.
Jackie Marsteller, a 20-year veteran of management in the high-pressure Northern Virginia contracting scene, said she came to Ausley because she loves Southern Maryland.
“We’ve always had a weekend home down here,” Marsteller said in a recent interview. “It’s a beautiful place to raise my son.” In addition, Marsteller said she was attracted to something exciting she saw in Ausley. “I had a few options of where I could go; I chose this because of the ownership and their ideals,” Marsteller said, adding that she sees Ausley as a “learning organization” that is constantly seeking to internalize new information and make changes.
Marsteller said she is excited to be a part of the company’s culture of internally reviewing its own performance and making necessary changes. She said she feels that Ausley has aggressively focused on expanding the capabilities of all corporate staff in order to align its organizational structure with its strategic plan and to become more responsive to partner needs and providing increased support.
In 2011, Ausley developed a strategic plan for growth for the next five years, known as “Ausley – Next Gen.” Marsteller stated, “I am proud to have been recruited to assist in implementing that strategy. My goal is to continue to formalize, streamline and realize efficiencies for Ausley, while institutionalizing continuous internal process controls. We are in the process of formalizing our quality management system and are working toward International Organization for Standardization 9001/2008 certification in 2012.”
The breadth and depth of Marsteller’s skills and experiences bring not only a completely different perspective to all of her initiatives, but provide additional avenues for growth. “At Ausley, I have the opportunity to use all of the skills I have developed in my career and effect positive change. I bring a different perspective that is greatly appreciated,” Marsteller said.
Speaking to Ausley’s desire to be a diverse and adaptive company, Marsteller said, “People are different. Women think differently from men. Different cultures think differently. This diversity provides a variety of viewpoints and ideas for making changes at Ausley.”
Ausley’s desire to be a diverse and adaptive company, open to new viewpoints and ideas, is even written into their policies, according to Nona Keith-Henson, the company’s director of human capital management. The Ausley affirmative action policy reaffirms the company’s position as an equal employment opportunity organization.
Ausley management understands that the key for employers is to make diversity an ‘asset’ within the organization. Diversity is different from affirmative action since affirmative action is the “framework for a diversity management program.” Diversity management has been described as looking at: 1) the mind-set of an organization; 2) the climate of an organization; and 3) the different perspectives people bring to an organization due to race, workplace styles, disabilities and other differences. At Ausley, diversity training is not limited to managers, Henson said, but is extended throughout the workforce. The organization incorporates diversity into mentoring efforts, leadership training and management-by-results programs.
At Ausley, both human and financial time and resources are devoted to affirmative action. As a best practice organization, diversity is a process that is an integrated, ongoing and measurable strategy – Ausley ‘values people’ and cultivates an environment where cultural awareness, sensitivity, fairness and integrity prosper. Diversity efforts in the workplace facilitate the exchange of new perspectives, improve problem solving by inviting different ideas and create a respectful, accepting work environment, all of which make good business sense.
Ausley makes good faith efforts on a consistent basis to recruit veterans, minorities and females in accordance with the Jobs for Veterans Act (JVA), utilizing the Southern Maryland Job Source and Jobbankinfo.org to identify state and local employment agencies to attract and retain a diverse workforce. Ausley’s outreach efforts include a quarterly briefing at the Transition and Executive Assistance Program at Naval Air Station Patuxent River and Naval Station Norfolk. Ausley has successfully reached out to military personnel by conducting eight briefings over the past year, alternating between Lexington Park, Maryland, and Norfolk, Virginia.
