There’s no shortage of shipyard families at Newport News Shipbuilding. But Alexandria Barrow following in her father Gerald Johnson’s footsteps to become a shipbuilder didn’t seem likely at first.

“It actually wasn’t in my plan at all,” Barrow said.

After high school, she earned a degree in accounting and worked in the field for a couple of years. However, she wanted more growth potential and looked toward the NNS Apprentice School. In 2008, she began her shipbuilding career as an X33 apprentice.

“It caught me by surprise, but we did have some discussions about it. I thought it was a good option for her because I know how the shipyard and Apprentice School provide opportunity for advancement and promotion,” said Johnson, a shipbuilder for 36 years who also began his career as an X18 apprentice. “I knew she would do well. But I never thought my daughter and I would be working in the same place.”

Johnson, an X82 superintendent, and Barrow, an X32 general foreman, now both work in the Virginia-Class Submarine (VCS) Program. Both also are among the shipbuilders who are being honored with the 2023 President’s Model of Excellence (MOE) Award.

Barrow, a first-time MOE recipient, is being honored as part of the project titled “Cross-Functional Team Collaborates to Achieve First-Time Quality on Submarine Hull Tile Installation.” She said the team has worked hard and achieved an 80% improvement in first-time quality between Virginia-class submarines New Jersey (SSN 796) and Massachusetts (SSN 798).

“I joined the X32M team as a general foreman in 2021, after being a foreman in X33 for five years.  I recognized that a team is strong when we work together as one unit. A leader is only as good as their team, so I knew I had to be fully vested and engaged with them so they could see that we are in this together,” Barrow said. “It’s still an ongoing process, but to see how far we’ve come makes it all worth it.”

Johnson is being honored as part of the project titled “Virginia-Class Program Sets the Example for Construction Operating System (COS),” and he agrees that leadership and accountability are critical. The team worked to successfully implement the COS, which focuses on changing leadership behaviors to create a problem-solving culture by establishing clarity through transparency, strengthening collaboration and driving progress with personal ownership and accountability. 

“It definitely caught me by surprise, but I’m honored to be part of the team,” he said of the MOE win. It was Johnson’s second time receiving the honor. In 2019, he was awarded an MOE for leadership.

While both Johnson and Barrow work in the VCS Program, their on-the-job interaction is limited. “We work the same boat, but different areas of the boat. We sit in some of the same meetings so I do get to witness her behavior and how she handles herself, and I’m pleased,” Johnson said. “She knows her business.”

Barrow said she is grateful for the MOE award and for the opportunity to work with her father.

“He’s part of the construction team, and I work the trades so we go back and forth every now and then about that, but it’s fun,” she said. “Sometimes he forgets I don’t actually work for him, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”