A civilian leader has been installed as the head of a new office at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
Members of the Air Force Band of Flight set the stage Tuesday for a unique leadership ceremony: the installation of Amanda Gentry as the first director of the Integrated Development Office–commonly called IDO.
"Today, I am honored to appoint Ms. Gentry. She is absolutely the right person to lead this new organization," said General Duke Z. Richardson.
According to Richardson, the IDO will make sure airmen have what they need to respond to global threats from China, Russia, Iran and North Korea.
Gentry notes the IDO is unique because it brings all purchasing efforts for the U.S. Air Force under one office.
"This office will take the requirements that the war fighters have, how they actually want to fight, and then we'll turn that into what are the things the Air Force actually needs to buy and field for them whether that's planes or whether that's logistics equipment," Gentry said. She also stressed her team’s success is linked to its partnerships with the Integrated Capabilities Command and with private industry leaders.
According to Gentry, the IDO will consolidate and steam line Air Forces purchases.
"Before the IDO these development activities were spread out in offices all across the Air Force. Some of them had the staff and the funding to do this really well. A lot of them did not. Also, they all followed different processes to be able to do this work," Gentry said. "So it was really important to have a single focal point that the requirements community could come to, as well as the rest of the acquisition community could come to you to make sure that we're all singing to the same sheet of music."
By mid 2025, the IDO will grow to about 200 employees with an initial operating budget of more than $309 million.
