Roster change
Kathleen Rundle, associate chief information officer of the Agriculture
Department's National Information Technology Center, recently was installed
as chairwoman of the fiscal 2002 Greater Kansas City Federal Executive Board.
The board coordinates the field activities of federal agencies and programs
in the greater Kansas City area. In addition to Rundle, the USDA is represented
on the board by Steven Tanner, director of the Technical Services Division
of the USDA's Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration.
***
Nancy Victory, assistant secretary of Commerce for communications and
information and administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information
Administration, has named:
* Michael Gallagher, formerly of Verizon Wireless, to be deputy assistant
secretary of Commerce for communications and information starting Nov. 2.
* William Bailey III, formerly of CoreExpress Inc., to be NTIA senior
adviser; he started Oct. 11.
* Stephen Madden IV, formerly of the USDA, to be NTIA special assistant;
he started Oct. 10.
***
Daniel Goldin, NASA administrator for nearly 10 years, announced he
will resign his post effective Nov. 17. Goldin will work with the agency
before he leaves office to identify an interim acting administrator.
As he makes the transition to the private sector, Goldin said he has
accepted an interim position as a senior fellow for the Council on Competitiveness
in Washington, D.C.
During his tenure, Goldin initiated a revolution to transform America's
aeronautics and space program. Despite lower budgets, his "faster, better,
cheaper" approach enabled NASA to deliver programs of high value without
sacrificing safety.
***
The following are among the senior executives who received the 2001
Distinguished Executive Award this month:
* Robert Anderson, deputy commissioner for trademark operations at the
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Anderson is recognized for leading the
transformation of trademark operations from an organization mired in labor-intensive,
paper-based processes to one that uses technology to benefit its customers
and employees.
* Paris Genalis, deputy director of naval warfare in the Office of the
Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics. Genalis
was honored for implementing his vision for change with significantly reduced
resources by championing innovative approaches based on acquisition reform
principles; sharing technology and acquisition techniques; establishing
strong networks and sharing costs with international partners; and developing
staff training and mentoring programs.
* John Garing, commander for the Defense Information Systems Agency,
Western Hemisphere. He has led his workforce of 2,500 employees into becoming
a world-class information technology provider of choice.
* Blaise Durante, deputy assistant secretary for management policy and
program integration in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air
Force for Acquisition. His acquisition reform initiatives have resulted
in more than $30 billion in savings and cost avoidance.
* David Finkleman, chief technology officer for the North American Aerospace
Defense Command and the U.S. Space Command. With the Space Command assuming
new missions in computer network defense and computer network attack, Finkleman
has consolidated capabilities to predict computer network attacks.
* James Speer, principal deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force
for financial management. Speer's accomplishments include developing and
fielding the first-ever professional development program for all financial
managers and working with other functional areas to implement the Defense
Department's paperless initiatives.
* John McLaurin III, deputy assistant secretary for military personnel
policy. McLaurin implemented a revolutionary educational program for soldiers
— Army University Access Online.
* Craig College, assistant deputy chief of staff for programs. College's
extraordinary leadership of the Army's resource allocation process enabled
the department to fund the Army Transformation, the most significant change
in Army structure and strategy in the past 40 years.
* Victor Ferlise, deputy to the commanding general, U.S. Army Communications-Electronics
Command. Ferlise is responsible for conceiving, creating and planning a
revolutionary approach to Army Wholesale Logistics that will use best commercial
practices to provide a completely new wholesale logistics system at no additional
annual cost to the Army.
* David Altwegg, deputy assistant secretary for theater combat systems
in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research, Development and Acquisition.
Altwegg's efforts have been at the forefront of leading constructive change
in technical programs and in the Navy's acquisition process.
* Richard Hopf III, deputy assistant secretary for procurement and assistance
management in the Office of Management, Budget and Evaluation at the Energy
Department. Among other things, Hopf is recognized for reducing DOE's procurement
cycle time by up to 70 percent; increasing worker productivity by 600 percent;
reducing expenditures for contract support services by more than $400 million;
saving more than $65 million through consortium purchasing; and saving tens
of millions of dollars a year by empowering customers to directly buy through
purchase cards.
* R. Schuyler Lesher Jr., director of the Office of Financial Management
and deputy chief financial officer for the Interior Department. Lesher laid
the groundwork for financial systems reform, improving accuracy and consistency
of financial data. As a result of his direction, the financial statements
for all of the department's bureaus, as well as the department's consolidated
financial statements, have received unqualified audit opinions.
* Henry Longest II, deputy assistant administrator for management in
the Office of Research and Development at the Environmental Protection Agency.
Longest has transformed the ORD's laboratories and centers into world-class
leaders of environmental research through risk-based decision-making, peer
review of scientific proposals and products, competitive selection of research
and a customer focus.
* Donna Bennett, commissioner of the Federal Service Supply at the General
Services Administration. Among Bennett's noteworthy accomplishments is her
restructuring of the federal government's purchase, travel and fleet card
programs into what is commonly known as GSA SmartPay.
* William Berry, deputy director of NASA's Ames Research Center. Berry
has guided, prodded and converted a research institution into a streamlined,
highly effective enterprise.
* Jeremiah Creedon, director of NASA's Langley Research Center. Creedon
led the theoretical development and validation of automatic landing systems
concepts that have since been designed into modern transport aircraft.
* Donald Dittemore, manager of the space shuttle program at NASA's Johnson
Space Center. Dittemore is leading an aggressive upgrade effort designed
to keep the space shuttle flying safely and efficiently in the coming decades.
* W. Michael Hawes, deputy associate administrator for space development
at NASA. Hawes' development of generic operations products for satellite
deployments helped create the simplest and least costly shuttle missions
to integrate and operate.
* Earle Huckins III, deputy associate administrator for space science
at NASA. Huckins is internationally recognized for his leadership, innovation
and technical management skills in directing the development and operation
of complex space systems.
* Ralph Thomas III, associate administrator for small and disadvantaged
business utilization at NASA. Thomas changed the focus of NASA's small-business
program from one that focused on how to help small businesses to one that
emphasizes how small buinesses can help NASA perform its mission.
* Samuel Venneri, associate administrator for aerospace technology at
NASA. Venneri fills two NASA leadership positions: NASA chief technologist
and manager of the Aerospace Technology Enterprise. Because of his efforts,
NASA's long-term investment in technologies supporting information technology
has increased by more than $50 million per year and has been integrated
into NASA's Earth science, space station and space shuttle operations and
the development of advanced reusable launch vehicles.
For a complete list of winners, go to the Office of Personnel Management's Presidential Rank Awards page.