Roster Change

Richard Ferris has been assigned to the position of director of the Office of Human Resources and Equal Employment Opportunity at the Office of Personnel Management.

"As a key player in President Bush's HR initiatives, OPM must show leadership from within and be flexible in responding to the unexpected," OPM Director Kay Coles James said in announcing Ferris' assignment Feb. 27. "Rich has demonstrated time and time again his ability to respond to change, to anticipate the unexpected and to proceed in a manner that is respectful to both customers and employees."

Ferris previously served as the associate director of OPM's Investigations Service. Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Ferris and his staff have provided around-the-clock security clearance and investigations services to major federal customers, including the Defense Department.

Also since Sept. 11, Ferris has been the chairman of a "Go Team" for the Federal Aviation Administration to plan and implement a program to oversee the hiring of 30,000 baggage handlers, screeners and others with a security role.

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Len Pomata, former president and chief executive officer of Litton PRC Inc., will become president of webMethods Federal, a new business unit of webMethods Inc., effective March 11.

Pomata will spearhead the continuing development of webMethods' federal practice. He will be actively involved in operations and sales. WebMethods is a leading provider of integration software.

Pomata, who has been in the industry for 30 years, was at Litton PRC for 18 years in a wide variety of positions, serving his last five years, until 2000, as president and CEO. He built Litton PRC into a federal giant of more than 7,000 employees and $800 million in revenue. Northrop Grumman subsequently acquired Litton PRC.

During 2001, Pomata served as senior vice president of Oracle Corp., in charge of business development for a number of its industries.

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Marta Brito Perez has been named the Office of Personnel Management's project director for human capital performance, OPM Director Kay Coles James announced Feb. 28.

Perez will oversee the development and implementation of policies and programs that promote the human capital component of the President's Management Agenda and ensure their full integration. She will begin her duties at OPM in mid-March.

Perez most recently served as the director of the Office of Human Resources for Montgomery County, Md.

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Marie Colton has been named director of the Office of Research and Applications (ORA) at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service. She replaces James Purdom, who retired last year.

ORA provides guidance for the development of spacecraft and sensors. It conducts oceanographic, land surface and atmospheric research on the use of satellite data for monitoring environmental characteristics and changes.

"The Office of Research and Applications is a very dynamic group of scientists, technicians and support staff," Colton said. "Our researchers are studying ways to improve weather and climate forecasting using new applications of satellite data."

Before being named director, Colton served as deputy director of the division and was acting director. She came to NOAA two years ago from the remote-sensing program at the Office of Naval Research, Arlington, Va., where she managed Navy research efforts in remote sensing.

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Jefferson Howell Jr. will become the director for NASA's Johnson Space Center April 1, the space agency announced last month.

Howell is a retired Marine Corps lieutenant general and former commander of Marine Forces, Pacific. He is employed by Science Applications International Corp. and is currently senior vice president and program manager for SAIC's Safety, Reliability and Quality Assurance contract at the space center.

He replaces Roy Estess, who had been temporarily assigned to the space center as acting director. Estess will return to his duties as director of NASA's Stennis Space Center.

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Manuel Miranda has been named vice president of training and simulation at Unitech Inc., the company announced Feb. 27.

Miranda is responsible for overseeing and expanding Unitech's training and simulation line of business, which has been involved in providing homeland security-related training solutions for federal, state and local customers.

Prior to joining Unitech, Miranda was a general manager at Identix Corp., where he directed the company's information technology and biometric solutions divisions.

Before that, he served in a variety of management positions at Unisys Corp. for 18 years. He was recognized as program manager of the year in 1999 for Unisys Federal.

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Retired Army Lt. Gen. Joe Ballard, who was commanding general of the Army Corps of Engineers from 1996 to 2000, has been appointed to Material Technologies Inc,'s board of advisers, Matech announced March 4.

Ballard and his company, The Ravens Group LLC, will develop strategies to help Matech with potential business opportunities, primarily within the federal government.

Matech is engaged in the research and development of metal fatigue detection, measurement and monitoring technologies.

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John "Jack" Cook has joined Decision Systems Technologies Inc. as a director of business development, DSTI announced Feb. 22.

Cook will support DSTI's Science and Information Technology Group, which concentrates on the integration of Earth and space science IT.

His previous positions include director of business development and sales at ACS Government Services and vice president for C.J. Vincent Associates.