Last-minute call sends North Philly native from the baseball diamond to the Pentagon

A last-minute phone call on vacation set Giovanni Morales on a new trajectory inside the federal workforce, vaulting the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support supervisor into the Department of War’s Executive Leadership Development Program just days before it began—after he had already been turned down once.

“She was like, ‘Hey, someone dropped out of the program, and you’re next on the list,’” Morales recalled of the program coordinator’s urgent request. “I was like, ‘Oh, wow. Can I let you know tomorrow?’ And she said, ‘I kind of need to know in the next ten minutes. If not, they’re going to the next person.’”

He said he took a quick consult with his wife and committed. “It was one of those things where I knew this was the opportunity that was meant for me,” he said. “So, I talked to my wife, made the decision that I was going to go through with it and figured I would tackle whatever came at me.”

Morales, who works just minutes from where he grew up in Philadelphia’s Hunting Park, has long knit leadership to relationships and service. As a standout at St. Joseph’s Prep and then a scholarship baseball player at California University of Pennsylvania, he learned to recalibrate when natural talent was no longer enough.

“When I first got to college, on the first day of practice, I was immediately humbled to the fact that I was no longer in Philadelphia,” he said. “I was no longer one of the best players, and I had to earn my spot.”

By junior year, teammates voted him captain, a nod to how he tried to lead off the field as much as on it. “Off the field, it was about establishing relationships with my teammates and getting to know them,” he said. “I wanted to show them who I was as a person and be someone they could rely on and look to during difficult times.”

He brought the same ethos to his church, serving as music director and often singing the national anthem at events, even as he navigated doubts about his youth. “In the church space, you’re not seeking recognition or doing it for yourself,” Morales said. “I was stepping into the role of servant leadership, focusing on what I could do to empower the people around me and build up those who may not have the skill or the ability.”

After college, he cut his teeth in international sales for a lumber company and then shifted into the unforgiving pace of retail distribution, running a non-conveyable warehouse. “I just loved the fast-paced nature of logistics and the fact that no day was really the same,” he said. “But it was a difficult job, working 15 to 16-hour days with no time off, and the Tuesday before Black Friday, I resigned.”

A month later, he landed at Naval Supply Weapons System Support as a logistics management specialist, his entry into federal service. He spent more than three years there before moving to DLA Troop Support in 2019, ultimately becoming a business support branch chief. “I loved the position, the scope of work and everything that had to do with it,” he said. “It was my first entry-level position into government service, and I just fell in love with working for the government.”

The promotion brought rapid change—retirements, new hires, shifting roles—and Morales responded with process updates and team-building. Yet he sensed a plateau. “I was challenged, but I felt like something was missing,” he said. “I felt like I was losing that fire that I started with; that go-getter mentality. I wanted to shoot for the stars, to find something formidable that would really push me out of my comfort zone.”

That push arrived with the ELDP opening. Orientation in Norman, Oklahoma, came with imposter syndrome as he scanned a room of military helicopter pilots, federal special agents and surgeons. “I looked around at these amazing career fields and thought, ‘I’m just this guy from North Philly, why am I here?’” he said. “I started comparing myself to other people in the program, but comparison steals your worth.”

Peers soon elected him to lead the 64-person cohort during orientation, a selection he says reset his confidence. “That experience showed me that not only do I have a seat at the table, but I also have a voice,” Morales said. “It has given me confidence that I have seen grow professionally.”

Over the next 10 months, he logged an intensive travel schedule—spanning installations and commands from Fort Sill to NATO headquarters—designed to expose emerging civilian leaders to joint, interagency and international missions. “Meeting the United States ambassador to NATO and five other European ambassadors to discuss the Arctic region was unbelievable,” he said. “The opportunities and the experiences were just out of this world.”

The exposure reframed his day-to-day. Back in Philadelphia, Morales connects administrative work to frontline needs more directly than before, he said, citing a successful briefing of a personnel initiative to the department’s top human resources official and seeing how back-office agreements translate to care on the ground. “Oftentimes we don’t see the impact that a simple support agreement has on the warfighter,” he said. “But having this opportunity, I’ve seen firsthand how our support agreements impact hospitals in Fort Benning.”

Following graduation at the Pentagon, he returned to DLA Troop Support with a sharpened leadership framework built on relationship, adaptability, integrity, accountability and resilience. The renewed focus, he said, has reset his ambitions.

“Leading with purpose, inspiring through action and developing the people around me all ultimately impact the mission,” Morales said. “I know now that I could be the next SES somewhere, whether it’s here or elsewhere.”