NAV EX 2nd QTR 2018 NavEx 2nd Qtr 2018 - FINAL | Page 13

David E. Hoffman Receives Innovation Award
USCG Aux Photo
Admiral Zukunft addresses team coast guard at the response center for Harvey at Sector Houston-Galveston
Story by Thomas Ceniglio and Andrew Welch
The Coast Guard Innovation Program annually selects innovation award winners from Coast
Guard members who have made an outstanding contribution to new and innovative ways
of doing business over the last year. This annual award is given to active duty, Reserve,
Auxiliary, or civilian personnel. Anyone can nominate a recipient via the program’s website,
so this is not an award process that goes through the chain of leadership for multiple
approvals. The Coast Guard’s purpose is to create way for headquarters to identify and
recognize members that are doing work directly in the field.
The Innovation Program Office (CG-926) selected Dave Hoffman (1226122) of Flotilla 081-06-
10 to receive an innovation award from the Commandant, due to the following contribution:
“Sector Houston-Galveston’s connection to the Coast Guard computer network was an
early casualty of Hurricane Harvey. Chaos in the command centers increased as phone calls
became the primary means of moving SAR information. Aux Hoffman used the cellular
network and cloud-based tools to create an ad-hoc mission management platform that
became a game-changer for the massive rescue effort.”
David Hoffman’s Flotilla Commander Don Brown notes that David is a very pleasant and
easy going volunteer. He said that David is supportive and becomes a remarkable dynamo
for the Auxiliary and gold side synergy. David did what needed to be done and he stepped
in and set up a system to restore the critical data that was originally inaccessible.
OR express
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