[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 5 (Wednesday, January 25, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S117-S118]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 40 YEARS OF EXEMPLARY FEDERAL SERVICE

 Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, on February 3, 2006, Mr. Ray H. 
Jyo, Deputy District Engineer for Programs and Project Management/
Chief, Programs and Project Management Division, Honolulu Engineer 
District, HED, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, will retire from the 
Government following nearly 40 years of exemplary service to Hawaii, 
the Pacific Region, the military and the Nation.
  Born and raised in Hawaii, Mr. Jyo is a registered professional 
engineer and a member of the American Society of Military Engineers, 
who served in numerous engineering and executive management positions 
in the U.S. Army. He holds a bachelor's of science degree in civil 
engineering from the University of Minnesota. He has attended the 
Senior Officials in National Security Program, the John F. Kennedy 
School of Government, Harvard University and the Emerging Issues in 
Public Management Training at the Brookings Institute.
  Over the course of his 40-year career, Mr. Jyo has served with pride 
and distinction. I have witnessed his steadfast dedication and hard 
work to improve

[[Page S118]]

and safeguard the lives of our citizens and servicemembers.
  Mr. Jyo has demonstrated the highest values and ideals in his many 
accomplishments throughout his distinguished Federal service. Upon 
retirement, he will have served the Federal Government for 39 years, 11 
months and 13 days. He has succeeded at every job position in his 
career, which covers every facet of the design/construction/management 
continuum of the construction industry. He has used his considerable 
leadership and management skills on behalf of the Army Corps and the 
Nation to achieve much success.
  As the chief of the Far East Surveillance Branch from 1982 to 1986, 
Mr. Jyo pioneered the regionalization concept at the Pacific Ocean 
Division, POD. His program managers monitored engineering, design and 
construction efforts at the Japan and Far East Districts with the focus 
of providing valued-added service to the districts and our regional 
partners with the Army and Air Force. Mr. Jyo's branch became the 
``strike'' arm of POD's rapid deployment force which led and provided 
hands-on project management and technical assistance to the districts. 
His teams would deploy to the districts to support them during times of 
peak workload or during crisis situations making them invaluable to 
District operations. He also had the responsibility of keeping U.S. 
Army, Pacific and Pacific Air Forces informed and involved in our large 
construction program overseas. Many of the principles and policies he 
pioneered are still being followed at POD today. During this timeframe, 
Mr. Jyo led by example when he deployed to Ft. Drum for 2 months to 
lead the planning and programming efforts to provide quality facilities 
for the 10th Mountain Division.
  During his tenure as the chief, Technical Engineering Division, 1986 
to 1987, Mr. Jyo provided quality technical services to all the 
districts in POD. In addition, he instituted the concept of life-cycle 
technical services by sending his technical reviewers to the field to 
assist the construction offices in coming up with viable solutions to 
sticky construction problems. This formed the basis of the latter 
consolidation of the technical review and quality assurance staffs at 
POD. Responsive to the customer, Mr. Jyo has consistently strived to 
provide high-quality technical services and products in a responsive 
manner.
  As the chief of Military Division, Mr. Jyo led the planning, 
engineering, and construction of the military program POD-wide. Through 
his leadership and experience, POD has become the proven leader in 
project execution and accomplishment.
  As the acting director of Engineering and Construction Directorate, 
Mr. Jyo forged a solid link between engineering, design, and 
construction quality. He brought all of POD's technical assets together 
to work toward common goals to provide responsive service and 
engineering and construction excellence to POD. The Engineering and 
Construction Directorate was the largest directorate at POD and 
included the operational elements of design, construction, engineering 
services, environmental, cost engineering as well as design and 
construction quality assurance. Mr. Jyo maintained technical excellence 
by pioneering innovative design and procurement tools, such as the 
construction indefinite delivery-indefinite quantity contracting for 
Tripler Army Medical Center, later to be applied across the division 
programs, and such technical tools as the Computer Aided Drafting and 
Design, CADD, and Geographical Information Systems (GIS). By combining 
the technical elements of design, engineering and construction quality 
assurance into one division, he unified the quality function and 
created ``life cycle'' accountability for a design/construction 
continuum. Mr. Jyo truly was an innovator and made POD a better 
organization.
  Since 1997, Mr. Jyo has been the deputy district engineer for 
programs and project management for the Honolulu District. He has 
continued to utilize his leadership skills to accomplish considerable 
successes on their behalf. He has executed programs and projects in a 
team-oriented matrixed organization. He has led the effort to 
incorporate a quality management system into the district along with 
International Organization for Standardization 9001 certification. He 
has instituted a learning organization with a system of After Action 
Reviews and Lessons-Learned. He is successfully leading the district 
through its biggest construction program with highly visible programs 
such as the Stryker Brigade Combat Team and C-17 implementation in 
Hawaii. Under his leadership, the Honolulu District has achieved the 
highest customer satisfaction rating in its history.
  Mr. Jyo is a recognized representative of the Corps in the Pacific 
Region. He has established lasting relationships with the Hawaii 
Congressional Delegation as well as the Governors of Guam and the 
Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands. Mr. Jyo's efforts have 
made lasting impacts on the abilities of our service men and women to 
fight the global war on terror, bolster the region's economy while 
ardently protecting the environment.
  Mr. Jyo played an instrumental role in expanding the civil works and 
capital improvement programs to Guam, American Samoa, Kwajalein, and 
the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. In addition, Mr. Jyo 
oversaw the construction of the Alenaio Stream Flood Control project in 
Hilo, HI, which was completed in 1997 at a cost of $16 million. During 
the storm of November 2000, the improvements prevented approximately 
$13 million in damages and remains fully functional today.
  Prominent projects on the island of Oahu include the construction and 
renovation of military housing and improving facilities at Hickam AFB, 
Wheeler, Schofield, Aliamanu, and Fort Shafter. In 1989, HED began the 
design of the $110 million Hale Koa--Phase 2 recreational hotel at Fort 
DeRussy in Waikiki. Upon its completion in 1994, the Fort DeRussy area 
was transformed into a visually pleasing enhancement of Waikiki for the 
benefit of the military and civilian communities.
  His lifelong contributions and achievements to the Army are 
considerable. His recognized leadership and ability to forge lasting 
relationships and his clear vision describes an outstanding individual 
who has dedicated his life to public service. Ray Jyo's distinguished 
career may be coming to an end, but his loyalty to the goals of the 
Army and the Nation will carry on. On behalf of a grateful Nation, 
thank you for your service and for a job well done.

                          ____________________