Will Davis shows that to be a leader, you must be willing to serve
2016-10-26
For Hispanic Heritage Month, Johnson Space Center is honoring an employee whose character, courage and commitment has helped shape him into the person he is today.
For Will Davis, a specialty engineer within JSC’s Safety and Mission Assurance (S&MA) Directorate, making meaningful contributions to the world around him is something he feels called to do. It’s also why, despite having numerous responsibilities in S&MA to ensure the hardware we use for space missions meets rigorous requirements and standards, he still finds time to serve on two Employee Resource Groups (ERGs)—the Hispanic ERG (HERG) and Out and Allied ERG—as well as other professional organizations outside of work. He also happens to be the national president of MAES – Latinos in Science and Engineering, a nonprofit organization that promotes the development of 21st-century leaders in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
“My big thing is social responsibility, leadership, outreach, but the idea that everyone has a responsibility to give back to the community that they come from,” Davis said. “I like to think that the energy that I’ve brought to the HERG, to Out and Allied and some of my other outside organizations has hopefully made a difference in people’s lives.”
While Davis served a two-year term as secretary of the HERG in 2014 and 2015, he is the chair elect for Out and Allied in 2016 and will be its chair in 2017.
“HERG had a lot more personnel available to help them out, so I felt that Out and Allied needed the help more,” Davis said of the transition, though he still supports the HERG in a communications role.
Seeing what is needed—and responding to that need—is something that comes instinctually for Davis, who was also recently honored with the Talento Biligue de Houston’s Servant Leadership Award and one of two NASA Equal Employment Opportunity medals. When he came onto MAES at the Board of Directors level, he was the only young person of the bunch.
“Everybody else was 20 to 30 years my senior,” Davis said. Immediately, he became concerned about the sustainability of the leadership of that organization.
“So I started working, being a mentor to all the younger students who were surfacing as leaders of the organization and building that community,” Davis said. “At this point, about a third of the Board of Directors are students who I have mentored and have already stepped up and taken leadership roles. They really appreciate being connected to the executive leadership, and you see that same desire here at JSC with Emerge. Access is a huge way to ensure the retention of those people going forward [and for them] to know they have an influence where the center is going.”
Davis finds his recent successes—all because of his willingness to serve his community—vindicating.
“There’s a lot of people who believe and talk about the fact that diversity is kind of fatigued, and the whole [inclusion and innovation] effort has fizzled,” Davis said. “Maybe the label has, but the intent has not. In an environment where more and more people are being disconnected through technology, or more lonely, more depressed and dealing with psychological and belonging issues, it’s all the more important to ensure that we’re doing everything we can to foster an inclusive culture at JSC.”
Davis is not only passionate about creating a welcoming culture at JSC, but also a robust safety culture. In S&MA, Davis feels that drive acutely. Though he has many irons in the fire, one area he concentrates on is anti-counterfeiting.
“Anti-counterfeiting is related to my quality activities—essentially making sure that whatever we build our spaceflight hardware out of is authentic,” Davis said. “Especially now with the global supply chain, you’re seeing a lot more counterfeits and fraud out there. The last thing you want is to be halfway to Mars with something that’s not built up to the right level of strength or technical expectations.”
Davis works with a variety of systems and databases to find the sweet spot between verifying the quality of NASA’s hardware, but not in a way that’s cost burdensome to the government.
“We can throw everything we want at a piece of hardware, but if it’s so expensive to get in space, it doesn’t matter,” Davis said. “It’s trying to be reasonable. What’s the driver behind what you’re doing and what is the value that you’re actually adding to the product?”
Davis agrees that we need to explore, and we need to do it affordably—but never, ever to the detriment of crew safety.
“When we have procedures in S&MA and quality assurance, people may not appreciate why those procedures are in place, but they were put in place because something happened in the past,” Davis said. “And that history can’t be forgotten.”
Catherine Ragin Williams
NASA Johnson Space Center
For Will Davis, a specialty engineer within JSC’s Safety and Mission Assurance (S&MA) Directorate, making meaningful contributions to the world around him is something he feels called to do. It’s also why, despite having numerous responsibilities in S&MA to ensure the hardware we use for space missions meets rigorous requirements and standards, he still finds time to serve on two Employee Resource Groups (ERGs)—the Hispanic ERG (HERG) and Out and Allied ERG—as well as other professional organizations outside of work. He also happens to be the national president of MAES – Latinos in Science and Engineering, a nonprofit organization that promotes the development of 21st-century leaders in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
“My big thing is social responsibility, leadership, outreach, but the idea that everyone has a responsibility to give back to the community that they come from,” Davis said. “I like to think that the energy that I’ve brought to the HERG, to Out and Allied and some of my other outside organizations has hopefully made a difference in people’s lives.”
While Davis served a two-year term as secretary of the HERG in 2014 and 2015, he is the chair elect for Out and Allied in 2016 and will be its chair in 2017.
“HERG had a lot more personnel available to help them out, so I felt that Out and Allied needed the help more,” Davis said of the transition, though he still supports the HERG in a communications role.
Seeing what is needed—and responding to that need—is something that comes instinctually for Davis, who was also recently honored with the Talento Biligue de Houston’s Servant Leadership Award and one of two NASA Equal Employment Opportunity medals. When he came onto MAES at the Board of Directors level, he was the only young person of the bunch.
“Everybody else was 20 to 30 years my senior,” Davis said. Immediately, he became concerned about the sustainability of the leadership of that organization.
“So I started working, being a mentor to all the younger students who were surfacing as leaders of the organization and building that community,” Davis said. “At this point, about a third of the Board of Directors are students who I have mentored and have already stepped up and taken leadership roles. They really appreciate being connected to the executive leadership, and you see that same desire here at JSC with Emerge. Access is a huge way to ensure the retention of those people going forward [and for them] to know they have an influence where the center is going.”
Davis finds his recent successes—all because of his willingness to serve his community—vindicating.
“There’s a lot of people who believe and talk about the fact that diversity is kind of fatigued, and the whole [inclusion and innovation] effort has fizzled,” Davis said. “Maybe the label has, but the intent has not. In an environment where more and more people are being disconnected through technology, or more lonely, more depressed and dealing with psychological and belonging issues, it’s all the more important to ensure that we’re doing everything we can to foster an inclusive culture at JSC.”
Davis is not only passionate about creating a welcoming culture at JSC, but also a robust safety culture. In S&MA, Davis feels that drive acutely. Though he has many irons in the fire, one area he concentrates on is anti-counterfeiting.
“Anti-counterfeiting is related to my quality activities—essentially making sure that whatever we build our spaceflight hardware out of is authentic,” Davis said. “Especially now with the global supply chain, you’re seeing a lot more counterfeits and fraud out there. The last thing you want is to be halfway to Mars with something that’s not built up to the right level of strength or technical expectations.”
Davis works with a variety of systems and databases to find the sweet spot between verifying the quality of NASA’s hardware, but not in a way that’s cost burdensome to the government.
“We can throw everything we want at a piece of hardware, but if it’s so expensive to get in space, it doesn’t matter,” Davis said. “It’s trying to be reasonable. What’s the driver behind what you’re doing and what is the value that you’re actually adding to the product?”
Davis agrees that we need to explore, and we need to do it affordably—but never, ever to the detriment of crew safety.
“When we have procedures in S&MA and quality assurance, people may not appreciate why those procedures are in place, but they were put in place because something happened in the past,” Davis said. “And that history can’t be forgotten.”
Catherine Ragin Williams
NASA Johnson Space Center
Will Davis, a specialty engineer within JSC’s Safety and Mission Assurance Directorate, receives the agency Equal Employment Opportunity medal from JSC Director Ellen Ochoa and JSC Deputy Director Mark Geyer. Image Credit: NASA/Bill Stafford
From left, Johanna Petrocelli, Davis, Ochoa and Linda Riviera pause for a picture at the Houston Pride Parade. Image courtesy of Will Davis.
Davis poses with JSC's mascot, Cosmo, at the Houston Hispanic Forum Career Education Day. Image courtesy of Will Davis.