TOPICS
TOPICS
Bush picks former OMB controller to head OPM
President Bush on Friday tapped Linda M. Springer, the former Office of Management and Budget controller, to head the Office of Personnel Management.
If confirmed, Springer, who also was chairwoman of the Chief Financial Officers Council, would oversee the management of government retirement and benefits programs and lead the administration on human resource issues. At OMB, Springer led efforts to strengthen internal controls to build a reliable foundation for financial reporting. She oversaw the shift in financial systems control from the Treasury Department's Joint Financial Management Improvement Program to OMB, and pushed agencies to receive clean financial audits and meet financial reports deadlines.
Springer left the OMB post on Jan. 25.
Prior to Springer's government work, she was the senior vice president and controller of Provident Mutual Life Insurance Co. A graduate of Ursinus College outside Philadelphia, Springer also served as Penn Mutual Life Insurance Co.'s vice president and product manager.
Clay Johnson, OMB deputy director for management, said in a statement that Springer has demonstrated that she can achieve results through her work in the private sector and as OMB's controller.
"Linda Springer has extensive knowledge of modern personnel practices and has proven that she can work well with Congress," Johnson said. "These will be assets as she works with Congress and agencies, as well as federal employees and the unions that represent them, to better recruit, motivate and retain quality federal workers."
The National Treasury Employees Union said in a statement that they look forward to hearing Springer's views on personnel rules, employee rights, retirement benefits and federal employee and retiree health care issues.
American Federation of Government Employees spokeswoman Enid Doggett said they want to look closely at Springer's record and past experience.
"We hope we can have the same collegial relationship we had with her predecessor," Doggett said, referring to former director Kay Coles James, who stepped down at the end of January.
COMMENTS
- Of course change is not always bad. You've been a federal sector HR Specialist for two years and you miss being the strategic partner at the table you were at in the private sector. Why do you think this is the case? I've been involved in federal sector HR for over a dozen years in many, many different organizations. I can tell you that you are not at the table because we HR professionals scare the willies out of the accountants. We operate on a different set of principles, utilizing a different skill set and basically think very differently from your average financial officer. The fact that you are not at the table as a strategic partner isn't an accident. The fact that most HR Departments are run by CFO/Admin officers isn't an accident. The fact that the new Chief "Human Capital" officer at OPM will soon be the former head of the CFO Committee isn't an accident. We've been pushed from the table deliberately to, in my opinion, allow finance and budget to supercede HR- to the detriment of every organization in the federal government. I don't share your optimism-- I think this is a terrible selection which only solidifies the federal government culture that human resource management and policy isn't very human focused at all. HR Specialist GovExec.com reader Posted March 22, 2005 8:20 AM
- I don't know Linda Springer at all, but the fact that she actually has private sector experience is encouraging to me. The fact that she is viewed as an "accountant" and not a born and bred "HR professional" only reinforces what those of us with private sector experience have known for many years. Either learn to support the mission and objectives of the organization by becoming results oriented and strategic, or your employer will find someone who is. I've been in federal HR for two years, and if change doesn't happen soon,you'll see even further decline of the profession. I have over 12 years in private sector HR, and I miss being an engaged professional. I miss having goals and objectives. I miss being respected as a contributor to my organization's strategic plan. A leader is a leader - regardless of their professional upbringing. If Linda is a TRUE LEADER, she'll respect the subject matter experts within HR. Those of us in support positions should be able to provide her with the information she needs to help federal sector HR transition to where we need to be for the future. Change is not always bad! GovExec.com reader Posted March 21, 2005 1:35 PM
- Please don't take this the wrong way- many of my relatives are accountants and CFOs in the private sector-- I have the utmost respect for financial management, but not when it diminishes professional HR. This is what I have been writing and screaming about for years. The new head of the Office of Personnel Management, the chief HR person in the federal government, has been selected and it's another accountant from OMB. And nobody thinks it is wrong or that HR should really be run by HR professionals. Clay Johnson says, "Linda Springer has extensive knowledge of modern personnel practices and has proven that she can work well with Congress," Johnson said. "These will be assets as she works with Congress and agencies, as well as federal employees and the unions that represent them, to better recruit, motivate and retain quality federal workers." Of course she has extensive HR experience, many federal government accountants now run HR programs but they run them in the same manner as they would their financial and budget offices. This goes to the very core of what is wrong with the federal government. While 10,000 of my HR peers have retired and their jobs red-lined, HR has been taken over by accountants. People are not machines but for the last few years federal employees have been treated as tools to accomplish agency missions. The people have become just human capital and this mind-set has been fostered by Chief Human Capital officers, the majority of whom are financial, budget types. HR should be a strategic partner alongside, budget, finance, and administration-- not a servant to these other partners. HR folks don't think like accountants but the silence out of HR today really does damage to the federal sector. The tension between HR and CFO is critically important for the mission and when HR reports to CFO, there is no tension, only subservience. Some of the core problems in recruitment and retention stem from the diminishment of HR in the federal sector. And now that there is supersized CFO/Admin officer running HR and OPM, the problem is just compounded. But I cry into the wind, the sad truth is that HR has been run by the CFO in the federal government for a long time now and my profession is just too weak to reclaim a chair at the table. HR Specialist GovExec.com reader Posted March 21, 2005 9:27 AM
