Program Operations Manager at International Relief and Development (IRD)
Afghanistan
- Current
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- Program Operations Manager at International Relief and Development (IRD)
- Past
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- Regional Project Manager at International Relief and Development (IRD)
- Assistant Project Manager-- Kandahar, Afghanistan at Central Asia Development Group (CADG)
- Quality Inspector at Parkson Corporation
- Construction Inspector-- post-Katrina New Orleans at Peak Technical Services
- QA/QC Inspector-- Fallujah, Iraq at KBR
- Education
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- U.S. Army Combat Lifesaver Course
- University of Chicago
- University of Illinois at Chicago
- Barat College of DePaul University
- National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS)
- The Flight Center at Palwaukee Airport
- Recommended
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1 person has recommended G Scott Alamanach - Connections
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39
connections
- Industry
- International Affairs
- Websites
G Scott Alamanach Mikalauskis’s Summary
About me:
I'm not easy to categorize. For starters, I have degrees in Humanities and Engineering, a very rare combination. As a result, my intellectual life is a very rich one-- I am as comfortable discussing mideval Hindu love poetry as I am doing vector calculus. Those sort of things have their place, and I enjoy them, but I recognize that they are different from people skills.
I travel a lot, and usually on my own. I go to places like Cambodia and Kuwait and Zanzibar and India. I have lived for short periods of time in Kenya and Thailand. I was in Bogota, Colombia, when Pablo Escobar was running loose, it was the kidnap capital of the world, and a radio station down the street had just been blown up. Not a good place to be. I was in Kathmandu when the people decided they wanted a multi-party democracy, and violent protests broke out. The Nepalese army was called in, and the whole city was under a 24-hour curfew for four days. Also not a good place to be, I ended up fleeing to Singapore. I was in Fallujah, Iraq for a year, working as a civilian contractor. Our camp averaged five incoming rounds a day of one sort or another, and on one occassion a rocket exploded about 50 feet from where I stood. Definitely another bad place.
In cities like Istanbul, Bangkok, and Buenos Aires, I've been known to take long, solitary walks through the neighborhoods, just to see how the local folks actually live. Not knowing the languages in any of these places, that might seem risky. But two things keep me safe: a clear mind, and strong people skills. Those people skills work whether I'm in a manufacturing plant in America, or facing down a con man in Nairobi. They have their roots in my ability to listen. Listening is a vital, teachable skill, one that I've been honing for twenty years. It is much more important than literature and mathematics.
G Scott Alamanach Mikalauskis’s Specialties:
Expertise in quality assurance methodologies. Tenacious problem solver. Outstanding interpersonal, team building, and active listening skills. Analytical, intelligent, and articulate. Accomplished writer, licensed pilot.
G Scott Alamanach Mikalauskis’s Experience
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Program Operations Manager
International Relief and Development (IRD)
(Non-Profit; International Trade and Development industry)
June 2009 — Present (7 months)
Program manager for community outreach and capacity building activities in southern Afghanistan.
-Directly oversee selection and implementation of hundreds of development projects worth millions of dollars in the provinces of Kandahar, Helmand, Uruzgan, and Zabul.
-Responsible for all community outreach activities directly affecting an additional +$150M worth of road construction projects.
-Coordinating efforts with other NGOs, aid agencies, and military forces. -
Regional Project Manager
International Relief and Development (IRD)
(Non-Profit; International Trade and Development industry)
March 2009 — June 2009 (4 months)
Project Manager for a leading development company building roads under the USAID SPR-SEA program in southern Afghanistan.
-Manage US$21.5M road construction project building a 105km link between Damana and Nesh.
-To date have prevented over $1M in overcharges by subcontractor.
-Monitored road construction projects in provinces of Helmand, Zabul, Uruzgan, and Kandahar.
-Using site visits and intelligence data, negotiated with subcontractors to uncover deficient work and motivate improved performance.
-Trained Afghan staff and subcontractor employees to develop and implement recovery schedules for underperforming projects.
-Tracked security incidents and local community issues to anticipate potential trouble areas. -
Assistant Project Manager-- Kandahar, Afghanistan
Central Asia Development Group (CADG)
(International Trade and Development industry)
May 2008 — February 2009 (10 months)
Quality Manager and Assistant Project Manager for a leading development company restoring infrastructure in southern Afghanistan.
-Developed comprehensive and contextually appropriate quality program applicable to numerous development projects underway in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan
-Through intense cultural adaptation, delivering Quality Assurance services to remote and dangerous areas of Afghanistan that are inaccessible to conventional organizations.
-Writing Scope of Work documents, environmental assessments, and complete implementation plans for $15 million Accelerated District Reconstruction Program (ADRP) on behalf of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). (See http://tinyurl.com/ddu9gj )
-Wrote comprehensive ISO9001 quality manual and 8-week ISO implementation plan for runway project at Kandahar Air Field
-Developed and oversaw internship program for the training of fourth-year Afghan civil engineering students. -
Quality Inspector
Parkson Corporation
(Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Environmental Services industry)
August 2006 — June 2007 (11 months)
-Reviewed external inspection reports and developed formal quality procedures for internal company use at ISO-9001 certified manufacturer of water treatment equipment.
-Reviewed quality documentation supplied by vendors to determine suitability for shipment.
-Collaborated with Engineering Department on issues involving headworks screens, polymer injection devices, clarifiers, membrane filtration equipment, aerators, and others.
-Developed Excel program that presented rolling forecasts of inventory and allowed buyer to reduce standing inventory by about 10%. -
Construction Inspector-- post-Katrina New Orleans
Peak Technical Services
(Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Staffing and Recruiting industry)
October 2005 — December 2005 (3 months)
-Monitored debris removal activities for subcontractor under U.S. Army Corps of Engineers during recovery operations related to hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
-Achieved impeccable, zero-injury record while supervising safety of loading operations at street level.
-Avoided government client’s overpayments by estimating load sizes in trucks arriving at dumpsite.
-Intercepted smuggling of 50 cubic yards of construction debris into federal wildlife preserve. -
QA/QC Inspector-- Fallujah, Iraq
KBR
(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; KBR; Oil & Energy industry)
July 2004 — July 2005 (1 year 1 month)
QA/QC Inspector under the Logistics Civilian Augmentation Program (LOGCAP)
-Conducted internal inspections and audits of services provided to U.S. Armed Forces in Iraq.
-Increased profitability by identifying discrepancies between actual work methods of various company departments to standard operating procedures.
-Inspected company-constructed facilities for quality of construction.
-Investigated unusual incidents and situations, such as food delivery problems between main and satellite dining facilities, potable water contamination tanks incident, and living conditions at several camps.
-Performed engineering analysis and computational evaluation of equipment and structures.
-Wrote inspection reports detailing root causes of major deficiencies.
G Scott Alamanach Mikalauskis’s Education
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U.S. Army Combat Lifesaver Course
40 hour certificate , Emergency medical care , 2008 — 2008
Advanced first aid roughly equivalent to a civilian EMT. Course included basic trauma life support, chest needle decompression, initiating an IV, wound care, tourniquets, etc.
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University of Chicago
Swahili 2001 — 2002
- Graduate Student at Large
- Taught class on proper grammar of Swahili noun-classes- Activities and Societies:
- Graham School of Continuing Studies
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University of Illinois at Chicago
B.S. , Mechanical Engineering, Neuroscience, International Studies , 1996 — 2002
-Delivered a presentation to the Neuroscience Group on the calcium kinetics of dark-adapted vertebrate photoreceptors.
- Designed a water clock.
- Advised student ASME group on model airplane project.- Activities and Societies:
- AIAA, ASME, Journal Club
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Barat College of DePaul University
B.A. , Humanities, Religious Studies , 1991 — 1995
- Beat history professor in a one-on-one debate over political theories of Machiavelli and Confucius
- Editor for Ecrivez, the school's literary journal
- Vice-President of the Science Club
- Involved in miscellaneous theatrical performances- Activities and Societies:
- Science Club, International Club,
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National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS)
1988 — 1990
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The Flight Center at Palwaukee Airport
Private Pilot's License ,
Aerodynamics, navigation, FAA regulations, meteorology, radio usage, aircraft instrumentation, etc.
- Activities and Societies:
- AOPA. FAA checkride passed 1996.
Additional Information
G Scott Alamanach Mikalauskis’s Websites:
G Scott Alamanach Mikalauskis’s Interests:
Water treatment, writing, international travel, expatriate work, literature, aviation
G Scott Alamanach Mikalauskis’s Groups:
Public Awareness of Chicago Executive Airport (PACE)
Board of Ministers, Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd (Prospect Heights, Illinois)
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Expatriate Network -
NOLS Alumni -
LOGCAP Alumni -
Hurricane Katrina the Responders to a Disaster -
Overwatch Group Iraq and Afghanistan Contractors
G Scott Alamanach Mikalauskis’s Contact Settings
Interested In:
- career opportunities
- consulting offers
- new ventures
- expertise requests
- reference requests
- getting back in touch
