VICENZA, Italy –
Logistics Readiness Center Italy’s newest employee of the quarter has the perfect job working for the U.S. Army. With a bachelor’s degree in foreign languages and literatures and a love of travel and experiencing different cultures, Erika Rubagotti is right where she’s supposed to be, she said.
“I love all the experiences, and that's why I'm very happy to work for the U.S. Army. Here, I see and experience a different culture and language every day,” said the Italian local national employee and senior budget analyst at LRC Italy’s resource management office (S-8) who speaks Italian, English and Spanish fluently.
And Rubagotti said she’s equally happy about her recent selection as LRC Italy’s employee of the quarter (senior grade) for 4th quarter, fiscal year 2023.
Due to heavy employee turnover, for the last four months of fiscal year 2023 Rubagotti was the sole employee at LRC Italy’s resource management office and was responsible for closing out all the end of fiscal year budget and funding requirements for her organization. The work she accomplished during this critical timeframe was instrumental in LRC Italy’s decision to select her as employee of the quarter.
“I'm very satisfied and proud because all the people here – my supervisor and my director and everyone – they recognized all the work I did and how I managed everything, closing out the year without any errors and pending transactions,” said Rubagotti. “It's very satisfying for me to be selected as the employee of the quarter because that means that I did an excellent job with limited resources and support.”
Rubagotti started working at LRC Italy in July of 2020. Before that, she was working as a budget analyst with U.S. Army Garrison Italy for about seven years. Living in Vicenza her whole life, the 52-year-old proud mother of a teenage son and graduate of Padova University has now worked with the Army in Vicenza for over 23 years.
“I started as a temporary hire with the 414th Contracting Office filling in for an employee who was on maternity leave. From there, I was able to find other positions where I was also needed. In total, I was a temporary hire employee with the U.S. Army for almost three years,” said Rubagotti, who also worked for more than 10 years at the former 22nd Area Support Group in the directorate of logistics’ transportation division and procurement section.
“And it’s now 10 years more that I’ve worked in the budget environment,” said Rubagotti, who currently manages a $2.6 million annual budget for LRC Italy. “I truly have a wide variety of work experience in different offices, organizations and services.”
“Gaining all this information and experience – as much as possible – it’s very helpful and interesting to me,” said Rubagotti, who over the years has worked in contracting, transportation, procurement, customer support and customer relations, budget, and plans and operations. Her resource management office is assigned to LRC Italy’s plans and operations division.
“I'm very happy to be selected as LRC Italy’s newest employee of the quarter,” Rubagotti said, “and it's very important for me to know that I’m being recognized for doing an excellent job.”
LRC Italy is one of eight LRCs under the command and control of the 405th Army Field Support Brigade. LRCs execute installation logistics support and services to include supply, maintenance, and transportation as well as clothing issue facility operations, hazardous material management, personal property and household goods, passenger travel, non-tactical vehicle and garrison equipment management, and property book operations. When it comes to providing day-to-day installation services, LRC Italy directs, manages and coordinates a variety of operations and activities in support of USAG Italy.
LRC Italy reports to the 405th AFSB, which is assigned to U.S. Army Sustainment Command and under the operational control of the 21st Theater Sustainment Command, U.S. Army Europe and Africa. The brigade is headquartered in Kaiserslautern, Germany, and provides materiel enterprise support to U.S. Forces throughout Europe and Africa – providing theater sustainment logistics; synchronizing acquisition, logistics and technology; and leveraging U.S. Army Materiel Command’s materiel enterprise to support joint forces. For more information on the 405th AFSB, visit the official website at www.afsbeurope.army.mil and the official Facebook site at www.facebook.com/405thAFSB.