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| Spotlight on Robin Watenpaugh, EVP |
 With sixteen years’
experience in earned value management, and five years in
cost/financial analysis, Robin Watenpaugh has a grasp of the big
picture for both government and industry. She is a principal analyst
providing earned value guidance and support to the airborne laser
program and leader for the corporate-wide earned value initiative,
at Tecolote Research Inc. I recently had the opportunity to meet
Robin, and get her perspective about her career, AACE International,
and the future of earned value. |
| What Career Path Led You to Project Controls? |
In high school, I wanted to be a cartoonist, and I
dreamed of working for Disney. But, by the time I headed to college, I wanted
to study architecture. After a semester at Arizona State, I “refined” my major
and returned home to California, where I enrolled in drafting classes at
junior college while looking into university programs. Upon receiving my
drafting certificate and Associate of Science (AS) from Gavilan College, I
intuited that the drafting profession would soon become computerized (it was,
after all, the 1980s), and I enrolled at California State University in
Fresno. Industrial Technology/Manufacturing Digital Systems, with a minor in
business, was the ideal combination of right and left brain, and it suited me
well.
While at Fresno State, I had an opportunity to take an internship with Hughes
Aircraft Radar Systems Group, facilitating a manufacturing plant move. The
following summer, I did an internship at Lockheed Martin in Sunnyvale,
California. After finishing the last semester in December 1985, with
bachelor’s degree in hand, I joined Lockheed Martin in an engineering and
science position for an artificial intelligence cable assembly project. My
work on that
project, spearheading the implementation of an automated PC board
manufacturing process, saved Lockheed Martin $10 million over 10 years and won
the President’s Award for that year.
My personal goal was to keep moving up the corporate ladder, with the ultimate
goal of seeing my name on the corporate organization chart. After three years
as an associate engineer, I moved to a classified program within Lockheed
Martin, as a scheduler in the program controls group, followed by a lateral
move into business/cost. At that point in time, we were just reporting
expenditures vs. budget, with no tracking of performance. Ultimately, I became
the business manager for one of the major subcontracts, where I gained
management, contracting, and proposals experience… but I still hadn’t made it
onto the corporate ladder.
In 1992, I was introduced to Tony Finefield, an expert in earned value
management (EVM). He made a real impression on me. I was developing and
maintaining budgets and schedules for the Milstar II program using EVM, via
PMS and I/CSCS software— it was a true baptism by fire, because we were trying
to get
earned value systems in place for the first required review by corporate (we
failed, and got to do it twice).
Training in earned value was through an 8-hour class provided by the corporate
core EV group, and I had another good mentor (Barbara Horne) who was very
knowledgeable and helped me to get up to speed. I began to think that I could
have a challenging career in earned value.
After 10 years at Lockheed Martin, I wondered if I was even able to work for
anybody else. I moved to Condor Systems, Inc., as a program plans analyst.
Using earned value and Microframe’s MPM Project Management software, I
prepared and analyzed cost/schedule data for twenty-five projects. We were
using earned value for internal management, not just for customer reporting.
Two years later, I was back at Lockheed Martin, this time as a financial
analyst specialist, with responsibility for line-of-business longrange
financial planning, monthly operating cost variance analysis, quarterly
financial reviews, and more. I was able to define and implement process
changes that yielded quicker turnaround of monthly financial data and better
cash management, along with SAP implementation. Over the next four years, our
group received significant corporate recognition, including the Cash
Management/Process Improvement Award, and a Special Recognition Award for Long
Range Planning Exercises and Overhead Management.
By the year 2000, it seemed like a new era with the dot-com boom in
California, and I was inspired to move again. Force Computers, Inc. in
Fremont, California, was looking for someone with SAP experience…and, on my
first day as senior financial analyst, the CFO told me that I would be
responsible for “everything.” It turns out that “everything” meant that I was
responsible for sales and cost of sales analysis/reconciliations, commission
analysis for
sales personnel and manufacturing representatives, royalty reporting,
inventory control, product costing, margin analysis, and departmental
budgeting. This was a great opportunity for me to add some business knowledge
to my toolbox, at a profit-oriented company. Everything that I did was focused
on the “bottom line.”
I am a 4th generation Californian, from a Gilroy crop-farming family. However,
as I reached 40 years old, it seemed that the Bay Area was becoming too
crowded. My husband and I took a vacation in New Mexico, where (in this
order!): we found a house, I quit my job, and my husband transferred from one
office to another. I saw an ad in the paper for earned value and program
controls at Tecolote Research, Inc.
At Tecolote, I have a number of responsibilities—as principal analyst, I am
responsible for task assignments and workflow of budget and program controls
personnel supporting the Airborne Laser (ABL) program. As business manager for
various Integrated Product Teams, I perform program-level cost and schedule
tasks, including financial reporting, contractor review, and trend analysis. I
am also the lead for Tecolote’s corporate-wide Earned Value Initiative, which
involves earned value customer and personnel support, certification and
training including wInsight (earned value analysis software) training,
database administration, and maintenance. Once settled into my new job, I
started working on my masters. It has been especially rewarding, after all
these years, to reconnect with Tony Finefield, who is a consultant to the
program from time to time.
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| It sounds like your program includes a very strong
focus on training and continuing education? |
Tecolote values training, and supports membership in
professional societies, certification, and continuing education—the company
paid for my masters degree! The company also sponsors user groups and
conferences, which broadens the knowledge base for both customers and
personnel. Tecolote invests in R&D, and they
have an internal earned value focus group. It is fun to work with all the
other “earned value experts” in the company.
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| How has membership in AACE International helped you? |
I joined AACE International in March/April 2006, at the
suggestion of my current boss, Jennifer Kirchhoffer. AACE International is a
good group to be involved with, and provides tangible value—the Association
has a lot of technical and educational resources, and provides me with the
ability to network with other people in the earned value field.
I have met a lot of “smart cookies” through the Association. I have been
attending Section meetings, and did a presentation at PMI (about estimates at
completion) with a fellow AACE International member. This year’s Annual
Meeting offered a breadth of topics, and was well organized—AACE International
knows how to put together a good conference. I found the certification class
to be very valuable, when I was preparing for the earned value exam. The
certification exam really stretches one’s knowledge base and analytical
skills. Having achieved certification, I would like to contribute back to the
Association, perhaps by proctoring certification exams, or grading papers.
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| So, outside of work, what do you like to do? |
In my spare time, I like to do craft projects, go
fishing, and attend jazz concerts. I have been married almost 21 years (my
husband is an environmental engineer with Shaw), and together we have a
passion for classic cars. I go for long walks, which keeps our dog (Jesse
James) very content.
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| What does the future hold for you? |
I have worked in earned value on both the industry side
and on the government side, which gives me the full perspective. I want to
continue to grow the Tecolote earned value focus group, by concentrating on
marketing, mentoring, and increasing the customer base. I will continue to
support the ABL customer, providing the best earned value support that I
can…and, of course, using all of my resources including AACE International. I
still don’t have my own box on the corporate organization chart, but at this
point in time I can accept that.
Article by Alexia Nalewaik, CCE |
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