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Meet Kay Vasquez, executive administrative specialist in the Albuquerque District

USACE-Albuquerque District
Published Jan. 15, 2025
Kay Vasquez, executive administrative specialist, USACE-Albuquerque District

Kay Vasquez, executive administrative specialist, USACE-Albuquerque District

Meet Kay Vasquez, executive administrative specialist in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - Albuquerque District.

The Albuquerque District’s Women’s Support Group is proud to support Vasquez and all the women who are part of the district team! This is the first in a series of features highlighting some of these amazing women who contribute to the district’s daily successes and many achievements!

Vasquez is originally from Omaha, Nebraska, but has moved around a lot as she followed her husband’s civilian career for the past 35 years, including three times overseas (Heidelberg and Wiesbaden, Germany, and Naples, Italy). She has a strong administrative background and worked for several state and federal agencies. “So, I jumped at the chance to lead in an administrative capacity” at the district, said Vasquez.

“My one-year anniversary [with the district] is on Jan. 28, 2025!” she said.

Among Vasquez’s numerous duties and responsibilities in the district’s Executive Office are overseeing the district’s executive calendar and the commander’s schedule and travel; tracking all correspondence that requires the commander’s signature and ensuring everything is signed; and leading the Administrative Community of Practice (Admin CoP) in the district. She is, in her words, “allowed the privilege of working with our district admins to improve our day-to-day processes to better serve all the employees working for SPA [Albuquerque District].”

Additionally, she also works closely with the Deputy Commander, the Deputy for Planning Programs & Project Management (DPM) and the district’s strategic planner (SIG) “to organize and corral the many places our executive staff are required to be.”

Vasquez says “the best part about my position is that I get to connect with all the divisions within the Albuquerque District. I enjoy working with people in different career fields and it amazes me how diverse our workforce is and how we have a direct impact in our communities. Work is work but it’s the people that make the job interesting and worth coming into the office.”

While her job requires a lot of communication and attention to detail, the biggest challenge she faces is a lack of time to finish all the things that need to get done. “As an organization, I think that applies to all of us,” she said. 

a collection of various Polish pottery piecesDuring her time in Germany and Italy, she discovered a love of traveling and discovered Polish pottery. “If you have never seen it, look it up online. It’s colorful and sturdy and I have acquired quite a collection and enjoy displaying all my special finds,” Vasquez said. “My pottery makes me happy.”

She offers the following advice to those starting out in the administrative field.

“The administrative field encompasses a lot of special nuances. You get to become a writer of sorts and a researcher of answers. You get to touch on personnel and budget issues, and finding ways of working within our many Army policies and regulations. As such, communication is the key to everything we do. I may not know an answer to a question, but I will reach out, research, discuss, and communicate back to you the best direction to go. No two days are ever the same, so being flexible and embracing change is a must. Just because we did something one way in the past, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t continue to look for better and more efficient ways to assist our teams to move forward in the future.”