Corps of Engineers Welcomes New Chief of Workforce Development
Krystle Burns assumed duties as the Chief of Workforce Management for the US Army Corps of Engineers – Alaska District in November 2021.
Burns is now responsible for advising the district leadership and executive staff on substantive procedural and policy matters for civilian workforce management functions. Furthermore, she performs ongoing analysis of workforce resources, organizational staffing requirements, and recruitment strategies.
Burns is a native of Savannah, Georgia. She earned her bachelor’s degree in health science from South University and a master’s degree in healthcare administration from Kaplan University. Burns is a certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, which means she is equipped with skills and tools to optimize quality management processes. In 2019, she completed her Army Medical Command Lean Leaders certification at Fort Bragg.
Prior to her arrival in Alaska, in July 2020, Burns was promoted to serve as the senior administrator for the Fort Bragg Womack Army Medical Center, Department of Medicine, overseeing all administrative activities to include civilian personnel management, manpower utilization, performance management, clinical data management, and budgetary control of the department’s operational objectives.
Current Issue
June 2023
Burns began her federal service career in June 2018 with the Fort Bragg Department of Public Health (DPH), serving as practice manager of the Epidemiology and Disease Control Clinic. During her tenure, she played a vital role in the execution of the Fort Bragg COVID-19 response process for contact tracing during the start of the coronavirus pandemic. She served as a member of the DPH Quality Improvement Committee while leading multiple projects to improve the efficiency of administrative and clinical operations. Burns effectively managed staff and resource utilization strategies resulting in improved metrics throughout several areas of operations.
She was awarded the Department of Army Civilian Service Commendation Medal for being actively engaged in the DPH’s successful efforts to become nationally accredited through the Public Health Accreditation board and for authoring the first DPH Workforce Development Plan. Furthermore, she was recognized for her involvement with facilitating public health emergency preparedness forums with Fort Bragg stakeholders and the surrounding community partners; a group presentation on community partnerships to Dr. Jerome M. Adams, former Surgeon General of the United States; and for her effective leadership.
She has been married to her husband, US Army Warrant Officer Robert Burns, for more than thirteen years. Together, they have three children.
This year the Alaska Railroad is celebrating 100 years of transportation people and cargo around Alaska. While the railroad is one of the states oldest transporters, it certainly isn’t the only one, and in this issue of Alaska Business we also check in on the Marine Highway, Span Alaska, and the White Pass & Yukon Route. For those interested in Southeast, our focus on that region provides updates on Kensington Mine, Tongass FCU, the troll fishery, and Juneau’s growing landfill.