Ms. Shands was born in Roswell, New Mexico. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business from Wayland University and a Masters of Science degree in Management from Stanford University, where she studied as a SLOAN Fellow. She retired as a SES in January 2003 with more than 38 years of service with the Department of the Army.
Ms. Shands’ civil service career began in 1964 with the Army Materiel Command (AMC) in St. Louis, Missouri. Starting as a clerk-typist, she quickly advanced as an intern to the position of Inventory Manager supporting troops in Vietnam and participated in the prototype OASIS program designed to provide national-level asset visibility of material located in that combat zone.
She transitioned to automated systems development when the Army began standardizing logistics systems at all echelons of the defense supply system. She was instrumental in the design and deployment of automated processes to compute inventory and budget requirements for the Army’s Commodity Command Standard System, the Standard Army Intermediate Level System, and Standard Army Retail Supply System. Because of her efforts, the Army was the first Department of Defense service to generate and use an automated supply budget below the national level.
She served as the Chief of Material Management, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, Logistics, Headquarters United States Army Pacific where she was instrumental in implementing direct supply support at the division and non–division levels, and transitioning the 25th Infantry Division to the Light Infantry force structure. Subsequently she served as the Headquarters Department of the Army Program Manager for the proof of principle test for Single Stock Fund, a program that she would later, as an SES, help implement across the Army. Then, as Deputy G-4 for HQ, US Army Europe, she was a key player in deploying and sustaining troops to the Balkans war and in implementing Radio Frequency Asset Tracking throughout the theater.
Ms. Shands’ last assignment was as an SES with Headquarters Department of Army G-4, as Director of Sustainment. She oversaw the implementation of such transformational programs as Single Stock Fund, National Maintenance Program, and the Logistics Modernization Program – the Army logistics enterprise resource program. She instituted a DOD Supply Chain Management Course at Penn State University. She stood up and commanded the G4 off-site operations center following the 9-11 attack on the Pentagon and led the staff in supporting the War on Terrorism.
During her 38+ years with Department of Army, she had a history of being the first woman to serve in executive and managerial positions in her organization. In retirement, she founded a woman-owned small business, consulting in logistics operations. She continued to support the Army by training Army personnel in developing the Army Working Capital Fund budget for inclusion in the annual President’s Budget.
Among the many awards she received are the Distinguished Member of the Quartermaster Regiment, Membership in the Order of St. Martin, numerous Distinguished and Meritorious Civilian Awards from the Secretary of Army, and the 2004 Business Woman of the Year for the State of Florida.