OPM announces new executive team

Office of Personnel Management Director Kay Coles James announced the names of the four members of the agency's revamped executive team Tuesday.

The four executives-all of whom come from other jobs within government-will oversee the central human resources agency's four reorganized divisions. The tasks they will take on will include creating a new personnel system for the Homeland Security Department, preparing for reforms of the structure of the civil service and considering whether to outsource major human resources functions, such as retirement and insurance administration.

The executives will also attempt to gain the confidence of human resources directors across government, many of whom have come to see OPM as a protector of outdated systems and a hindrance to agencies' ability to manage their workforces.

Ron Sanders, the IRS' personnel chief, will direct OPM's Human Resources Program Development Division. The 150-employee division will oversee governmentwide policy on staffing, pay, benefits, labor-management relations, performance management and work-life programs. It will also be responsible for reform of the federal pay system. For the last four years, Sanders has overseen personnel reform at the IRS, including the implementation of a compensation system that replaces the General Schedule with a smaller number of broad pay bands. Sanders also led the effort to create a new performance appraisal system that ended the IRS' practice of giving nearly all of its executives and managers outstanding ratings.

Stephen Benowitz, director of strategic management planning at the National Institutes of Health, will be in charge of OPM's Human Resources Products and Services Division. The 1,900-employee division will run the government's retirement systems, insurance programs and background investigations oversight. The division also will handle products such as software and consulting services that compete with similar offerings in the private sector. Benowitz was previously the Treasury Department's personnel director.

Marta Brito Perez will head up OPM's Merit System Accountability and Human Resources Programs Division. Perez, formerly director of human resources for Montgomery County, Md., has worked on human capital issues at OPM since March. The 350-employee division will borrow its organizational model from private sector consulting firms. "Relationship managers" will serve as points of contact between OPM and agencies' human resources specialists, eliminating the need for the specialists to hunt down the right people to talk to within OPM. The division will follow the same structure as the Office of Management and Budget's resource management offices, with offices serving human resources agencies (such as Health and Human Services), natural resources agencies (such as Interior), national security agencies (such as Defense) and general government agencies (such as the General Services Administration). Another office will serve small agencies.

Clarence Crawford will be in charge of OPM's internal management division, which will have 580 employees. James hired Crawford in October to head up OPM's Office of Executive Resources Management, which handles Senior Executive Service matters. The switch puts Crawford in charge of financial management, contracting and human resources for OPM personnel. He will also oversee the Bush administration's human resources-related e-government efforts and manage OPM's restructuring.

James announced the restructuring last month. The four divisions created under the effort replace the agency's eight functional divisions, such as employment and workforce relations, and eight support divisions, such as procurement and technology. The inspector general, general counsel, communications and congressional relations offices will remain separate offices.

Federal human resources directors interviewed over the past several weeks have questioned whether the restructuring effort will turn OPM into an organization that helps them get their jobs done.

James said Sanders, Benowitz and Crawford were hired in 30 business days, compared with the usual six months it takes agencies to hire senior executives. Applications were due on Sept. 27, and James made offers on Nov. 8. OPM received 400 applications for the jobs.