Of all the business achievements she had for Jacobs Federal Government despite the pandemic, the one that makes Kate Kronmiller proudest is helping ensure all federal contractor workers were paid despite the closure of their work locations.
“My proudest moment of 2020 was when Congress, in a bipartisan manner, approved paying all contractors across all federal agencies during the pandemic to remain in a ‘ready state’ to allow the prompt return of essential workers to their federal worksites to support priority national programs,” Kronmiller said.
According to Kronmiller, Jacobs workers stepped up in 2020 to support rocket launches at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, critical national security system operations, Energy Department’s nuclear facility clean-up, operations and management support to EPA, Army research and development, test and evaluation range support, the Interior Department’s Park Service and many other federal agencies.
After 35 years working on aerospace, defense and commercial programs for Rockwell, Boeing, United Space Alliance and Orbital Science Corp, it made sense to ask Congress and the administration to provide dedicated contractor workers across all federal agencies — not just a few — a paycheck to be kept in a “ready state” to return to work at a moment’s notice, she said.
She believes Jacobs’ ability to return its highly skilled employees to the federal agency sites as promptly as needed was enabled by Section: 3610 of the CARES Act.
Why Watch
Kronmiller said she anticipates the administration’s American jobs plan will create many opportunities for Jacobs. The plan includes major cross-agency funding increases for building infrastructure, tackling climate change, investing in research and development to solve numerous societal problems, building high-speed broadband to reach 100% coverage at affordable prices, promoting clean energy, improving cybersecurity and — her personal favorite – eliminating racial and gender inequities in R&D, science, technology, engineering and math. Kronmiller believes companies like Jacobs should lead advocacy efforts to help ensure the plan’s success and allow America to rebuild a new economy.
Kronmiller said the pandemic has shown how critical it is to provide all Americans access to broadband to allow all students and workers the same opportunities, no matter where they live or their race or gender.
Finally, she is personally excited President Joe Biden is supporting NASA’s Artemis program, which will launch the first women and the first astronaut of color to the surface of the moon. She plans to watch that launch in person at the Kennedy Space Center.
See the entire “Top 30 Space Execs to Watch in 2021” list here.
