Acknowledgments
This book represents a group effort, and the group is large. It includes leaders and professionals from over a dozen different federal agencies, most of the consulting staff at FMP, several esteemed human capital professionals external to but closely associated with FMP, and of course the publisher, Management Concepts. We can’t begin to do justice to what each has contributed, but we’ll try.
Department of Transportation, Office of the Inspector General. Thanks to Calvin Scovel (Inspector General), Ann Calvaresi-Barr (Deputy Inspector General), and Susan Dailey (Assistant Inspector General for Administration) for graciously sharing the details of what they have accomplished to strengthen the OIG’s leadership and organizational culture.
United States Agency for International Development. Thanks to Dr. Robert Baker (management analyst and team lead, OHR/PPIM/Planning), George Thompson, P.E. (senior human resources advisor, OHR/PPIM/Planning), and the rest of the Office of Human Resources planning team for their vision, leadership, and creativity in building and implementing a best-in-class workforce planning tool.
Customs and Border Protection. Thanks to Robert Hosenfeld (former Assistant Commissioner for Human Resources) for sharing data and telling the exciting story of one of the major staffing successes in recent memory.
National Science Foundation. Thanks to Cary Kemp Larson (New Executive Transition program manager), Marilyn Dickman (former Deputy Director of Human Resource Management), and Emily Herchen (former project manager) for their leadership and support in transforming NSF’s onboarding programs.
Center for Veterinary Medicine. Thanks to Jackie Salter, Shannon Bradbury, April Jones-Tate, Heather Weiser, and Brooke Mulkins for their vision, leadership, and continued dedication to CVM’s best-in-class onboarding program.
Department of Veterans Affairs. Thanks to VA for the opportunity to share the vision of its remarkable and ongoing human capital initiatives. With programs like MyCareer@VA and VA for Vets, VA has offered tremendous leadership in the areas of employee engagement and development.
Patent and Trademark Office. Thanks to Danette Campbell (telework senior advisor) for enthusiastically sharing USPTO’s history and accomplishments with telework.
Flight Standards Service. Thanks to Chris Heizer (assistant Training Division manager) and Deborah Stephenson (manager, Integrated Curriculum branch) for recounting the long journey FSS has made to transform its technical training curriculum.
Social Security Administration. Thanks to Reginald Wells (Deputy Commissioner for Human Resources), Ralph Patinella (Acting Associate Commissioner for Labor-Management and Employee Relations), Wanda M. Jones (Acting Deputy Associate Commissioner for Labor-Management and Employee Relations), Kathy Jeffries (Executive Officer, Office of Human Resources), Jim Parikh (Center Director for Program Policy, Automation, and Training), and Chris Bowser (human resource specialist).
National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. Thanks to the agency for supporting us in telling the story of its award-winning HR system built on pay bands and performance pay.
Air Force Research Laboratory. Thanks to Michelle Williams (Director, Demonstration Project Office), who has lived contribution-based compensation for over a decade, for sharing her observations and insights into the contribution-based compensation concept and its impact at AFRL.
National Archives and Records Administration. Thanks to Analisa Archer (former Chief Human Capital Officer), Deborah Dodson (Acting Chief Human Capital Officer, and Director, Human Capital Planning and Accountability), Lisa Ratnavale (former Business Systems manager), and Constance Jodon (Director of Talent Management) for contributing their perspectives on transforming a traditional human resources function to a more modern, strategic partner within the agency.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Thanks to Jeri Buchholz (Chief Human Capital Officer) for championing the NASA success story and to Candace Irwin (former Director, Workforce Systems and Accountability Division), Michael Stewart (lead for the Human Resources Information Systems team), and Daniel Costello (Workforce Systems team) for providing us with the history and context of their systems and for continuing to promote HR technology excellence at NASA.
Department of Labor. Thanks to Alvin “Chip” Black (Director, Office of HR Systems) and Albert Sloane (Director, benefits.gov) for providing their valuable insights related to change management and communications efforts for supporting large-scale HR technology implementations.
National Institutes of Health. Thanks to Phil Lenowitz (Deputy Director, Office of Human Resources) for providing detailed data and valuable insights into the critical elements of success in delivering both strategic and operational excellence.
We have worked closely with many of these federal leaders and their staffs on the initiatives described in this book. Some started out as FMP’s clients; others were introduced to us through the process of writing this book. We consider all of them our partners and associates in the continuing effort to create and implement effective, efficient, world-class best practices across the federal government. They have contributed overwhelmingly to the stories and case studies related in this book, freely sharing their thoughts and insights; their comments are their own and do not purport to represent their agencies. We can’t thank them enough. Of course, any errors or omissions are the authors’ own; we hope our contributors and readers will let us know if there’s anything we’ve haven’t gotten quite right.
In addition to the FMP authors identified in each chapter and highlighted at the end of the book in About the Authors, we would like to acknowledge Justin Weis for editing and assembling the case studies presented in this book. In addition, most of the consulting staff at FMP were involved in some way in one or more of the book’s chapters by tracking down information, providing insight and ideas, reviewing drafts, assembling data, and any number of other important tasks that go into the development of a book like this. As always, FMP’s staff is the secret to everything we do.
We consider FMP to be a community, and that entire community was instrumental in writing this book. Some in the FMP community helped us directly by authoring all or part of a chapter. Specific acknowledgements go out to Dr. Kathryn Newcomer of George Washington University for writing the foreword, Paul Thompson for playing a lead role in writing Chapter 8, Ilona Birenbaum for contributing her insights and experiences related to Chapter 1, and Robert Hosenfeld, former assistant commissioner for human resources at Customs and Border Protection.
In addition to these direct contributors, others in the FMP community played major roles in helping us conceptualize the book, identify cases studies, and track down people and information. Special thanks go to Kathryn Medina, OPM Executive Director of the CHCO council; Dan Blair, President and CEO of the National Academy of Public Administration; and Myra Howze Shiplett, President of Randolph Morgan Consulting and a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration.
Finally, Management Concepts has been endlessly tolerant of our new and changing ideas for the book, our delays, and our ignorance of all that goes into an endeavor such as this. Thanks to Myra Strauss for holding our hand through the process.