Amentum is shining a spotlight on the dedicated individuals who serve in the intelligence community. They play a vital role in safeguarding our nation’s security and dedicate their careers to gathering, analyzing, interpreting information to provide critical insights at the highest levels of government. Using innovative technologies and methodologies with strong collaboration they stay ahead of evolving threats that could impact our security. We thank them for their service and appreciate their efforts to protect our freedom. Our next spotlight is on Russell H. Henson Jr., Program Manager, Intelligence, National Security.
What is your professional and personal background?
I have over 40 years’ experience in the Operations Maintenance and Engineering fields. For the past 18 years, I have held various managerial positions at Amentum, including roles in Building and Grounds, External Facilities, Operations Manager, Deputy Program Manager, and Program Manager. I hold a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering and a Graduate Certificate in Information Systems. Additionally, I have 21 years of hands-on experience with labor unions, including 5 years with local 602 Steamfitters and 16 years with Local 32 BJ SEIU and Local 99 IUOE through FRAME and predecessor contracts. In my spare time I enjoy competitive target sports.
What is your role at Amentum?
Currently, I am the Program Manager (PM) for the FRAME program. In this role, I manage and oversee a highly skilled team of managers, union workers, and SCA workers who provide 24/7 operations and maintenance support to our customer.
Describe a typical workday at Amentum for you (Day in The Life):
The FRAME program is responsible for keeping the customers mission moving by ensuring the lights are on and maintaining the flow of water and air. You never know what challenges will present itself from power interruptions, floods, elevator entrapments, fire alarms, plumbing issues, weather issues, and AC/heat issues. Daily coordination with senior customer leadership is essential. I often serve as the point of contact for formal discussions and handling sensitive personnel issues within our high-security environment.
My responsibilities include program staffing, ensuring workforce continuity, managing cost controls, budgeting, scoping, planning, estimating, procurement, scheduling, change management, tracking, contractor dispute resolution, and leadership. These tasks are daily occurrences that must be handled promptly and with the highest priority to ensure the contract remains successful and maintain strong customer relations.
Overseeing two unions brings its own set of daily challenges, requiring the full attention of the management team to prevent interruptions to the mission and ensure continuous customer support.
What do you enjoy about working for Amentum and what do you find most rewarding about supporting the Intelligence Community?
What I enjoy most about supporting the Intelligence Community is the customer mission and building strong customer relationships. Over the past 18 years, I have developed many long-lasting relationships. Ensuring the customer’s mission can continue is my top priority. It’s a small community, so it’s important to build lasting relationships with all members of the intel community, including its most senior members, as you never know when you will meet again. These lasting relationships are vital to Amentum’s success.
What I like about working for Amentum is that, despite minor differences of viewpoints, we are ONE TEAM when it matters most. Every level of management rolls up their sleeves and pitches in to ensure the customer mission is a success. There is nothing too big or small that the Amentum team cannot accomplish.
