Shawna Clay's 40 years keep fleet data moving
The habit dates to her years in medicine.
"I'm an early person from the medical field," Clay said. "I'm programmed."
Clay marked 40 years of civil service in September, all of it at Point Mugu. For the last 12 years, she has worked in configuration and data management for Electronic Warfare Data Systems, a Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division team that builds electronic warfare data for Navy aircraft.
From the front door, she heads straight to the lab to download post-mission data, the files squadrons send back after they fly. She sorts the files by date, counts them and sends them on for engineers to analyze.
The team develops, tests and delivers threat libraries for aircraft across the fleet, said Glenn Francisco, the team's product lead. Those aircraft include the EA-18G Growler and P-8A Poseidon.
Adversaries keep changing their electronic systems, so aircrews need current threat data, Francisco said. An update might help a crew recognize an enemy radar or other threat emitter, understand where it is operating or spot a change in how it behaves.
"A critical update only helps the warfighter when the right data reaches the right place, in the right form, at the right time," Francisco said.
Francisco said configuration and data management handles part of that job. It tracks documents, requirements, changes and product updates so the team knows which version is current. It also helps make sure data moves correctly between systems and is documented. He called Clay a cornerstone of that work.
The post-mission data she downloads goes to fleet engineers at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Washington, who evaluate system and sensor performance, said Alexis Showell, branch head in the Sustainment Group.
The engineers use it to assess what happened on a mission, identify potential issues and decide on follow-on engineering work, Showell said. She said Clay's "careful management of the data helps ensure the engineers have dependable information."
Clay also handles shipments to U.S. and approved foreign partners. She said each shipment takes paperwork and careful checks to make sure the right data and media go out.
"You can't be rushed," Clay said.
She tracks the team's monthly releases to the fleet. She also keeps the lab's quality assurance plan, requirements plan and standard operating procedures current.
"Much of what Shawna does happens behind the scenes, but its impact reaches all the way to the fleet," Francisco said.
Her attention to detail began in another field. In high school, Clay worked at a nursing home. She later finished a one-year surgical technician program and handed instruments to doctors at hospitals.
By then she had three young daughters. Pagers, on-call shifts and holiday work made the schedule hard to manage.
Her stepfather, who retired from the Navy, suggested she work for the Navy as a civilian.
She took the civil service test and started Sept. 29, 1986, in billing and accounting for Morale, Welfare and Recreation at Point Mugu. She later worked in the Supply Department as a resource specialist, then moved to the tactical aircraft office known as TACAIR and into configuration management.
About 12 years ago, she wanted a change of pace. The electronic warfare team was hiring for foreign military sales work. She asked for an interview and was hired on the spot.
Asked what has kept her at Point Mugu for 40 years, Clay pointed first to the schedule. "Weekends off and holidays off now," she said.
Her second reason was the mission. "That's my job in keeping the warfighters safe," Clay said. She said she feels honored to be part of helping the fleet get what it needs.
"I feel like I'm making a difference," she said.
Clay said no one was available to train her when she joined the electronic warfare team. She said the database work there was totally different from processing engineering change proposals at TACAIR.
"I learned on my own," Clay said.
Now she does the training.
When Alyssa Altares joined the team, Clay was the first to train her on metric reports, biweekly inputs from team leads and production documents.
"I love my people I work with. They're like family. We all help each other out," Clay said.
Altares said she still learns something new from Clay "every single day." She said Clay finishes every task before leaving for the day.
Clay is also teaching another coworker who hopes to move into configuration management, as she once did.
Outside the lab, Clay, who is Choctaw, said she led American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month events for Point Mugu and China Lake for more than 20 years. She said she also recruited Native American college graduates to work for the Navy.
She twice brought Navajo code talker Joe Vandever to Point Mugu. He explained how Navajo Marines turned their language into a code the enemy never broke in World War II.
Clay held the events at the chief petty officers club outside the gate so the public could attend. Television news crews showed up without notice.
This fall, Rear Adm. Keith Hash, NAWCWD commander, presented Clay her 40-year award at a Sustainment Group all-hands meeting, she said. Five people came from China Lake for the ceremony, and other Point Mugu employees also attended.
Clay's twin sister, Lana McConnehey, works a block away at Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX) 30. Clay said people sometimes mistake one for the other.
Forty years in, Clay still opens the doors most mornings. She said she is not retiring anytime soon.
"Here I always want to come to work," Clay said. "I love it."
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