Robert Danbeck

Office of Personnel Management
Robert Danbeck
Chief Human Capital Officer,
Associate Director of the Management Services Division

After more than three decades in the private sector, Robert Danbeck entered public service in 2003. He says the Sept. 11 attacks played a role in that decision after an IBM career of 35 years. "During that whole event, there was a heightened awareness on my part about the importance of working for the government and working for America," says Danbeck, who at that time was a vice president of human resources at IBM working in India. He also oversaw HR operations in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal and the Maldives. The New Jersey native also worked in Hong Kong and China as IBM's chief human capital officer.

At OPM, Danbeck has a broad portfolio. When he arrived in 2003, he was deputy associate director of the Center for Leadership Capacity Services, which provides executive and management training to federal employees. In March 2005, OPM announced a reorganization of its management and chief financial officer shop. Since then, Danbeck has served as associate director of the new management services division, which includes the offices of Information Services and Chief Information Officer; Contracting, Facilities and Administrative Services; Security and Emergency Actions; Human Capital Management Services; and Equal Employment Opportunity. The CFO's office is now a separate entity.

As the top human resources adviser at the agency responsible for federal human resources, Danbeck has the opportunity to make OPM a governmentwide model on such long-standing-and thorny-issues as streamlining federal hiring practices and developing more training opportunities. He says his private-sector experience prepared him well. Not only did he have to implement IBM's HR policies in various countries, he also had to make sure those practices were in line with local customs. "I learned how to work as a team and with a team," he says.