Congratulations to Paige Wack, Trade Compliance Manager, on being presented with the HII Compass Award for Compliance for Ingalls Shipbuilding.
The annual award recognizes one individual at each HII division and the Corporate office.
For Paige, the recognition came as a surprise and an opportunity to reflect on a career she never expected to have.
“I am honored,” she said. “It makes me feel like I'm doing a good job.”
Paige did not grow up planning to work in trade compliance.
In fact, she did not know the job existed.
She knew she wanted to do something connected to the international world, maybe travel or work for an international company, but she wasn’t sure. While job hunting after graduating from college, she came across an opening for an import-export analyst.
“I thought, ‘Well, that sounds really cool,’” she said.
That was her introduction to trade compliance.
Everything else came from learning the work, asking questions and continuing to build her knowledge through experience and training.
Today, she leads the Trade Compliance team at Ingalls, helping protect the company's technology, products and information.
WORK BEHIND THE WORK
Trade compliance may not be something most shipbuilders think about every day.
But Paige’s work can touch a lot of what they do.
Drawings, specs, photos, technical information that needs to be shared with a vendor.
Trade compliance helps ensure information and defense-related data are handled appropriately and accessed only by people authorized to receive it.
That means shipbuilders do not need to know every regulation, but they should know when to ask.
“If you ever have a question about whether the data you have in your hand can be given to someone, ask the question,” Paige said. “Compliance protects you and the company.”
That focus on strengthening the company's compliance program is one reason Paige was selected for the Compass Award. Since taking on additional responsibility for Import/Export and Anti-Corruption compliance in 2023, she has helped update key compliance processes, strengthen controls and improve training to help shipbuilders better understand their responsibilities.
“Paige’s leadership and commitment to doing things the right way exemplify the standard we strive for at Ingalls,” said Daniel Marks, Vice President of Contracts & Pricing. “Trade compliance is critical to protecting our people, our technology and our mission, and Paige approaches that responsibility with professionalism, curiosity and integrity. We’re proud to see her recognized with the Compass Award.”
AN EVER-CHANGING ROLE
One reason Paige has stayed interested in the work is that it does not stand still.
Trade compliance includes both exports and imports. Changes in tariffs and international regulations can affect the work, sometimes quickly.
“The tariffs that have been implemented over the last two years have really made us focus on the day-to-day news coming out,” she said.
The team must stay informed, understand the changes and help others across the company understand what they need to know.
Paige closely monitors those changes and works to understand what they could mean for Ingalls, helping keep division leadership informed and prepared.
The team has to stay informed, understand the changes and help others across the company understand what they need to know.
That constant learning is part of what makes the work interesting.
“A lot of people don't know this type of work exists,” she said.
Neither did she.
PROTECTING THE MISSION
Receiving the HII Compass Award for Compliance gave Paige the opportunity to travel to the Corporate office and meet HII President and CEO Chris Kastner and other members of the executive leadership team and spend time with the other award recipients.
She also had the opportunity to sit down one-on-one with Ingalls President Brian Blanchette.
“I recognize how rare of an experience that is, and I’m very appreciative of it,” she said. “It was a fantastic opportunity to ask questions and learn more about the business.”
Still, when asked about how she earned the recognition, she keeps her answer simple.
“I'm just doing my job. If we can't be compliant with quality, trade compliance, safety, that's going to affect the products that we give our customer.”
Congratulations, Paige!