GovernmentExecutive.com

Agriculture
Michael Harrison
Assistant Secretary for Administration

Like many of his counterparts in other federal agencies, Michael Harrison has numerous responsibilities that fall under the general heading of "administration." As the Agriculture Department's assistant secretary for administration, Harrison also is the chief acquisition officer and the chief human capital officer. He oversees several other offices, including Agriculture's ethics office and its small and disadvantaged business shop - not to mention the department's board of contract appeals.

His background and experience are as varied as his job duties. He's a Harvard University-educated lawyer who has worked extensively as a business executive in the private sector, taught college, and has served in both the Marines and the Army. And he knows karate. "My role really is to be chief administrative officer; these are administrative functions," Harrison says. One of his major projects is moving the Agriculture Department from a paper-based to an automated acquisition system.

Harrison, who arrived at Agriculture in November 2004, has said the system will put the department "on par with what I've seen in the corporate world." As for workforce recruitment and retention, he is tackling those issues as a reporter would - asking the right people lots of questions about what works and what doesn't.

Harrison has managed or worked in every area he oversees. In 2002, he became president and chief executive officer of Cunningham Services, based in New York. He managed to drastically restructure the company, which provides legal and corporate services to law firms and corporations, and guide it to profitability. In the early 1990s, he served as vice president and general counsel of France's Evian Waters, a division of Group Danone.

Despite a whirlwind of professional activities, Harrison still finds time to devote to civic and charitable organizations, including the CityKids Foundation of New York.