1. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Major General Merdith W. B. (Bo) Temple
Acting Commanding General
Acting Chief of Engineers
Major General Merdith W. B. (Bo) Temple assumed duties as the Acting Chief of Engineers and Acting
Commanding General on 17 June 2011. As such, he is in command of the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers, which has over 36,000 employees, and manages an over $40 billion annual program. He
also remains as the Deputy Commanding General and Deputy Chief of Engineers.
Major General Temple’s previous assignment was as the Deputy Commanding General of Civil and
Emergency Operations (DCG-CEO) for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. As the Nation’s primary
planner, designer, builder, and operator of flood control, navigation, environmental restoration, and
multi-purpose water resource projects, he managed the Army’s $10 billion annual Civil Works Program.
Additionally, he was responsible for the federal emergency flood fighting effort, recovery operations, and
emergency engineering and public works support in response to natural or manmade disasters. As the
DCG-CEO, Major General Temple served as the President of the U.S. Section of the International
Navigation Association (PIANC), President of the Corps’ Coastal Engineering Research Board, and
Executive Director of the Inland Waterways User Board.
Prior to serving as the DCG-CEO, Major General Temple was the Deputy Commanding General of Military
and International Operations, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, where he was responsible for policy,
program, and technical functions in the execution of over $20 billion of design, construction, and
environmental programs for the Department of Defense and other federal agencies and foreign countries.
Before coming to Headquarters, Major General Temple served as Commander of the North Atlantic
Division for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Other previous assignments include duty as the Theater
Engineer (C7), Combined Joint Task Force Seven, Baghdad, Iraq and Commander of the Corps’
Transatlantic Programs Center in Winchester, Virginia. He also served as the Assistant Chief of Staff,
Operations (G3), XVIII Airborne Corps and commanded both the 20th Engineer Brigade (Combat) (Airborne
Corps) and the 307th Engineer Battalion (Combat) (Airborne) at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
Major General Temple has also served as a Platoon Leader in the 44th Engineer Battalion, Korea and in the
548th Engineer Battalion (Combat) (Heavy), Ft. Bragg; and served on the staff of U.S. Army Europe & 7th
Army, Germany. He commanded A/307th and later served on the 307th Engineer Battalion staff in Saudi
Arabia, during the Persian Gulf War. Major General Temple served at the NATO Headquarters in Turkey,
with the U.S. Army Personnel Command Center in Virginia, and as a Reserve Component advisor with the
Readiness Group in Denver, Colorado.
Major General Temple, a Virginia native, was commissioned in the Engineer Branch in 1975. He earned a
bachelors degree in civil engineering from the Virginia Military Institute and a Masters degree in civil
engineering from Texas A&M University. He is also a graduate of the U.S. Army Command and General
Staff College and the U.S. Army War College, and is a registered professional engineer in the
Commonwealth of Virginia.
Major General Temple’s military decorations include the Legion of Merit (two oak leaf clusters), the Bronze
Star Medal, Joint Service Commendation Medal, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the Army Meritorious
Service Medal (six oak leaf clusters), Joint Service Commendation Medal, the Army Commendation Medal
(four oak leaf clusters), the Army Superior Unit Award, and the Master Parachutist Badge.
BUILDING STRONG®
U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS – HEADQUARTERS
www.usace.army.mil

2. Biography
Nirmala Krishnan
The Boeing Company
Manager, IT Engineering Systems
Engineering, Operations & Technology
Nirmala Krishnan is a manager responsible for supporting Aerodynamics Performance Software
for all Commercial Airplane models including 787 and 747-8 product development. She is part
of Engineering Systems in Information Technology of the Engineering Operations & Technology
Division of The Boeing Company, Everett, WA. She is a member of the Engineering Systems
workforce planning strategy team that contributes to the people strategy and employee
engagement plan for employees within the Engineering Systems discipline.
She manages a team of engineers and information technologists in developing and
implementing Flight Software that is used by pilots all over the world for operations of Boeing
Commercial airplanes. She also manages a team that is responsible for supporting Airplane
Performance Guarantees software that is used by Boeing Commercial airplanes Sales&
Marketing organization for the potential sale of the new airplanes.
In her earlier assignment at Boeing, Krishnan was a senior manager in Platform Systems and
Sub Systems Technology under Boeing Research & Technology. She was responsible for
Technology development in Component Assurance & Standardization, Autonomous systems

3. and Sensors Applications in Vehicle Management Systems. In this capacity she oversaw the
Research & Development in key technology areas with a multi-million dollar budget.
Before this she was a first line manager supporting the 747-8 Product Derivative Program in the
Reliability, Maintainability & Testability (RM&T) Engineering organization. The mission of
Reliability & Maintainability Engineering is to aim for 100% reliable and maintainable airplanes
in service. She managed a team of around 25 engineers who worked with design engineers in
various systems and volume Teams in improving the schedule reliability and reducing
maintenance cost by incorporating design enhancements that will improve the overall reliability
and maintainability at the Airplane Level.
Krishnan’s earlier management positions included serving as Digitally Controlled Airplane
configuration/Manufacturing Resource Management (DCAC/MRM) Production Manager in
Shared Services Group (SSG), Systems Functional Test Application Manager and as Passenger
Services IPT leader in Connexion by Boeing.
Krishnan is an active member of the Society of Women Engineers and has presented many
papers at the SWE conferences. She has also been one of the judges for the Boeing Team Tech
Competition for several years. Her paper on “Women Leadership in the New Millennium” won
the best paper award in 2000. She is an Alumni Board Member of the University of Washington
Business School and hosted the Information session on MBA programs at Boeing in Everett in
2008. Krishnan served on the Boeing Associate Technical Fellow / Technical Fellow Regional
Selection Board in 2006 and 2008. She was awarded the American Society of Engineers of
Indian Origin (ASEI) “Corporate Engineering Excellence” award in November 2010.
Krishnan has a Bachelor of Science and Master’s degree in Physics from University Of Madras.
In addition she has a Master of Software Engineering from Seattle University. She also received
an MBA in Technology. Management from University of Washington and an MBA from City
University, Bellevue, WA in Information Systems

4. Lakeshia Neerhof is the Counter Rocket, Artillery and
Mortar (C‐RAM) Contractor Manning (CCM) Force
Readiness Deputy in Huntsville, Alabama. In this role, she
is responsible for the force generation, administrative
readiness, deployment and sustainment of hundreds of
contractor personnel who support Force Protection
Operations.
She began her career at Northrop Grumman in 2006 as
the Integrated Platform Solutions (IPS) Materials
Manager, where she supported the integration efforts of
multiple command and control projects by leading the
team that managed over $30M in inventoried equipment.
Lakeshia was a core member of the 2007 Missions Systems Sector Systems Application and
Products (SAP) implementation, which led to her appointment as the IPS SAP Manager and Site
Champion. In this role, she developed business processes and translated organizational
requirements into deployed functionality within SAP.
She also served as the Production Lead for Distributed Common Ground System‐Army (DCGS‐
A), an Army Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) system. In 2008, she became
the Deputy Product Manager for Command Post Platform Light (CPP‐L), a modular mobile
Command, Control, Communication and Computer System (C4S), where she led the material
acquisition and integration efforts. In 2009, Lakeshia was assigned to the role of Product
Manager for Harbormaster Command and Control Center (HCCC), which provides command
and control capability to monitor the movement of maritime vessels.
Lakeshia is a 2010 Women of Color Technology Rising Star recipient. She is a US Army Veteran,
having proudly served her country as a Satellite Communications Operator. Lakeshia is also a
Project Management Professional (PMP) and a Certified Professional Property Administrator
(CPPA). She holds a Bachelor of Science in Liberal Studies from Excelsior College in Albany, NY.