Capt. Chad Wanner pictured at Microsoft during the Education with Industry mid-tour review in 2021. After completing his fellowship, Wanner joined the Air Force Institute of Technology’s Civilian Institution Programs office as the EWI program manager. (Contributed photo)
 

Capt. Chad Wanner recently joined the Air Force Institute of Technology’s Civilian Institution Programs office as the Education with Industry program manager. Wanner brings a unique perspective to the role having been a EWI fellow, completing his tour in 2022. He brings a breadth of knowledge about the EWI experience to his new role as administrator; guiding and directing the fellows through their program.

The EWI program, sponsored by SAF/AQ and managed by AFIT, is a highly selective, competitive, career development program designed to improve the technical, professional, and management competencies of Department of the Air Force military and civilian members. Fellows are embedded for 10 months with top tier public and private sector companies to bring back industry best practices to build, sustain, and retain a mission-ready workforce, as well as learn how to better partner with industry.

“We always tell our fellows to reach out and find insight to industry. What is it that these companies are doing faster or better and how can we use that to solve a problem on our side of the house, whether it's on a micro or macro level, to save our warfighter,” said Wanner.

Currently, there are 79 fellows in the EWI program including officer, enlisted and civilians from the Air and Space Forces. The fellows are assigned to 42 companies including large corporations like SpaceX and Google who employ a wide array of career fields. “Amazon has eight different fellows right now, ranging from weather to program management to engineering,” said Wanner.

Established 75 years ago, the program initially was for military leaders at the lieutenant colonel and colonel level and has worked its way slowly to focus more on the junior force. “That way we have them understand what senior leaders are doing on the civilian side of the house and then as they grow in rank, they can better communicate with our industry partners because that's what the military is now - we deal with contractors every day,” said Wanner.

Wanner initially learned about the EWI program through the AF Special Experience and Exchange Duties Guide. “I thought it was a unique opportunity to work for a company for 10 months,” said Wanner. “I ended up going to Boeing in Seattle, working on the P-8A Poseidon Maritime Patrol Aircraft program.”

One aspect of working for industry that was a bit of a culture shock for Wanner was the concept of a flat organization, but the benefits were apparent to him very quickly. “When you walk into a room you don't know who the boss is right away. They do it that way so people can come forth with ideas and not have any sort of discouragement about it, or be scared to talk to anyone. It was pretty fantastic,” said Wanner.

In his program manager role, Wanner has implemented a process for the fellows to develop a resume based on their EWI experience to demonstrate the skills learned during the program and demonstrate the larger return on investment to the DAF.

“Working with an Amazon, a Boeing, a Microsoft, is just something that a lot of these fellows don't ever get or have experience with in their life, so the biggest benefit is an understanding of how the company operates,” said Wanner. “Getting in there and working with CEO level senior leaders on the civilian side of the house can really help you in your future because now you have a better understanding on how to better write a contract or how to talk to someone in business.”

For more information about the EWI program, visit www.afit.edu/EWI