When Lt. Christopher M. Gregory arrived at Navy Reserve Forces Command’s information‑technology directorate, he saw more than legacy systems and manual bottlenecks; he saw opportunities to catapult the Force into the digital future. In just three years, his innovations have cut thousands of labor hours, accelerated onboarding for tens of thousands of Sailors and civilians, and set new Service‑wide standards for automation and artificial intelligence.

Gregory’s first breakthrough tackled the Nautilus Virtual Desktop (NVD) onboarding maze. By collapsing a multi‑step process into a single, automated email trigger, he boosted enrollment efficiency by 500 percent and integrated more than 18,000 users.

“As a prior SELRES Sailor, I understand drill weekend busy work and the administrative burden we face,” said Gregory. "As a TAR Sailor, I strive to leverage technology to alleviate these burdens and give our Force  the bandwidth they need to focus on warfighting and maintaining their work-life-balance while serving.”

Building on that success, he partnered with the Department of the Navy Consolidated Card Program Management Division to tame the administrative burden of Government Travel Charge Cards. Gregory engineered a Robotic Process Automation (RPA) workflow that, for the first time, pulled Citibank data directly into Flank Speed, slashing past‑due balances by 68 percent and saving an estimated 2,500 Sailor hours every month.

Never content to stop at incremental gains, Gregory next prototyped the Navy’s first fully digital‑signature pipeline and assisted with piloting the Reserve AI Navigator (RAIN), a generative‑AI tool now empowering Reserve Sailors with rapid data‑driven recommendations. Both efforts showcase his philosophy that cutting‑edge commercial tech belongs in the hands of every warfighter, not locked behind a classified lab door.

Beyond his code and dashboards, Gregory evangelizes modernization wherever Sailors gather to solve hard problems. He has delivered keynote addresses at DoN IT East, the Federal BizApps Summit, the NAVWAR Buildathon, and the Army Materiel Command Buildathon, challenging audiences to think bigger, automate faster, and measure what matters.

His achievements resulted in his selection as the Human Resources Junior Officer of the Year (JOOY). Still, Gregory deflects praise to the team of Sailors, developers, civilian data scientists, and cross‑functional partners who helped turn visions into reality.

“When innovating with state-of-the-market technologies, we must accept risk and recognize that failing is not failure. This is especially critical as a war-fighting organization, as every second we spend on administrative burden is time that could have been leveraged to hone our competitive edge and grow together as a cohesive team,” he said, underscoring his commitment to mentoring the next generation of digital leaders.

Whether refining onboarding workflows, wiring RPA into back‑office finance, or opening Sailors’ eyes to the promise of AI, Lt. Christopher M. Gregory embodies the Navy Reserve’s relentless push for readiness through innovation. In a fight where seconds and clicks matter, his work ensures the Fleet stays one step, and several script automations, ahead.