CRANE – The Crane Regional Defense Group was launched Thursday morning at WestGate.
In 2020 the White River Military Coordination Alliance proposed to create a citizen-led committee, set to create a grassroots vehicle for Crane at the local and federal level.
The citizen-led committee was established through partnerships between the chambers of commerce, county councils, financial institutions, and local business leaders.
CRDG is referred to as the Chamber of Commerce of Crane, with the mission to preserve the strategic value of Crane by supporting local outreach and legislative initiatives that protect military installations in the region and state.
“NSWC Crane now has a seat at the table with policymakers, thanks to the hard work and commitment of its employees,” said Dr. Angie Lewis, Techincal Director NSWC Crane.
The group is seeking to expand the technical and industrial jobs across the full life cycle in research, development, acquisition, production, logistics, depot, demilitarization, defense-related opportunities as well as overall growth, and diversity of the defense of the economy in the region.
This group will serve as a catalyst to assist other government and private organizations in promoting the Logistics, Depot, and Production assets at CAAA and the Science and Technology, assets at NWSC Crane in the larger Indiana Uplands communities.
The Keynote speaker for Thursday’s event was Lawrence County’s own Dr. Angela Lewis who is the first woman to be named Techincal Director at NSWC Crane in February 2021.
The main goal of the group is to bring small and large businesses that conduct business with Crane into a group that can talk to one another and works with one another to promote the greatness of Crane Naval Base.
One of the businesses in attendance today was netlogx, of Indianapolis which is a woman-owned consulting services company that offers professional services to help companies as well as state government hoping to work in the federal government that deals with change initiatives. Whether this is an IT change or some other type of process improvement within a company.
The company offers expertise in business process reengineering, project management, and organization change management.
In combating the nation’s greatest threats, NSWC Crane is the indispensable mission expert, leveraging a deep technical heritage to deliver solutions in expeditionary warfare, strategic missions, and electronic warfare through innovation and strategic partnerships.
NSWC Crane has a huge economic impact with 3,421 employees who receive $308.6 million in salaries, $158.1 million in benefits, $1.393 billion in contracts awarded, and $247.5 million in contracts for work performed in Indiana.
The group hope to have about 40 members by the first of the year, with several additional meetings and opportunities for the local business communities to get involved with NSWC Crane.
Former Lt. Governor Becky Skillman and Lawrence County Commissioner Rodney Fish were in attendance for today’s launch.
