The eighth annual Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy (MCPON) Delbert D. Black Leadership Award ceremony was held Oct. 22, during the 2015 MCPON Leadership Mess Symposium in Suffolk, Virginia.

"This year's MCPON Delbert D. Black Leadership Award honoree is forward-deployed, so we set up the next best thing," said MCPON Michael Stevens.

Stevens contacted award recipient Command Master Chief (CMC) Gregory Carlson on the telephone as more than 100 master chief petty officers at the symposium listened on.

"I could not imagine a more suitable candidate to receive this award than Master Chief Carlson," said Stevens. "Greg, you're truly a quiet, humble, servant leader, who puts Sailors before yourself and establishes the conditions that provide everyone around you with the opportunity to be successful."

Carlson serves as CMC aboard the guided-missile cruiser USS Normandy (CG 60), where his selfless commitment to Sailors, ability to foster growth up and down his chain of command and inexhaustible energy to promote excellence, was recognized by his force and fleet master chiefs, among others, leading to his nomination and ultimate selection.

Carlson received the award which recognizes a senior enlisted leader who contributes to the improvement of deckplate leadership in the Navy and who represents the traits of being a quiet, humble, servant leader--the traits of a chief petty officer.

"Master Chief Carlson is the CMC every Sailor and commanding officer hopes for," said Rear Adm. Christopher W. Grady, commander, Naval Surface Force Atlantic. "He energizes everyone around him, peers, subordinates and superiors alike, and his leadership has been tested, resulting in a selfless commitment to excellence."

Candidates are considered annually through an exhaustive ranking and review and ultimately one senior Sailor who embodies the characteristics of MCPON Delbert Black is selected.

During his 30 years of distinguished service to the Navy, MCPON Black was an exceptional deckplate leader, committed to Sailor and family advocacy. He possessed the highest levels of moral, ethical and professional behavior and unquestionable integrity.

In January 1967, he was selected as the Navy's first MCPON. During his tenure, Black served as an advisor to the many boards dealing with enlisted personnel issues, and as the enlisted representative of the Department of the Navy at many special events

For more information on the Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy visit http://www.navy.mil/local/mcpon.