GSA's Janice Mendenhall dies

GSA FTS Region 4

Janice Mendenhall, a 24-year employee at the General Services Administration and longtime advocate for fostering government/industry partnership, died July 23 in Atlanta. She was 55.

Mendenhall served in GSA's Federal Technology Service for the past 19 years, most recently as assistant regional administrator for Region 4 in Atlanta. There she oversaw the development and use of information technology and telecommunications contract offerings that GSA provided for federal agencies across the Southeast.

She coupled that position with an active involvement in the greater government and contractor community, where many will feel her absence, said Alan Balutis, executive director and chief operating officer of the Federation of Government Information Processing Councils.

"You can't even begin to estimate the impact her loss will have," he said.

Mendenhall was vice president of the eastern region of FGIPC and was always working behind the scenes to support programs the council held internally for federal employees and in conjunction with the group's commercial counterpart, the Industry Advisory Council.

She also served on the board of directors for the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association's Atlanta chapter and had won many awards, including the Presidential Meritorious Service award in 1999 and the GSA Distinguished Service award. She was a Federal 100 honoree in 1994, an awards program operated by Federal Computer Week.

"Everything revolved around her," Balutis said. "She just saw the benefits and took so much pleasure out of doing the things she saw as right to build that partnership across government."

The funeral will be held 2 p.m. July 26 at Patterson Arlington Chapel in Atlanta, with the burial at Arlington Memorial Park. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Lovett School in Atlanta. FTS is also developing plans to accept donations for a memorial at the agency.