January 2015 Volume 35 No. 1

Published Exclusively for Members of the Senior Executives Association

Inside This Issue: «Report from the Hill: Recapping 2014 and Looking Ahead to Next Year...3 «Biennial Review of SES/SP Positions...5 «SES Performance Management Regs...5 «Obama Speech to Sr. Leaders...6-9 «SES Ratings, Pay, Awards Charts...11-13 «Notable Members: Jerome & Isabella Karle...13 «Member News...13-15

Senior Executives Association - The Voice of Career Federal Executives Since 1980

OPM Releases SES Pay, Ratings for 2013

President Obama Addresses Senior Leaders

SEA and The Volcker Alliance Announce DEAN’s List Collaboration

Obama Makes it Official: 1 Percent Pay Raise for 2015

See PAY/RATINGS on pg. 10

See PAY RAISE on pg. 2See OBAMA on pg. 6

See DEAN’S LIST on pg. 4

At the end of November 2014, OPM released its report on FY 2013 SES pay and performance appraisal systems.

The percentage of Senior Executives given performance awards (55.7%) de-creased by 12.9% government-wide from FY 2012 and the average amount of the awards ($10,212) decreased by 4.9%. The average salary adjustment for career, non-career and limited term SES reported for 25 agencies and de-partments was 1.6% ($2,718), up from 0% government-wide in FY 2012.

Government-wide, career Senior Executives rated at the highest level de-

On December 2, The Volcker Alli-ance, a new non-governmental organi-zation aimed at restoring trust in public institutions by improving government performance, and the Professional De-velopment League of the Senior Execu-tives Association (PDL) announced a partnership to engage the most accom-plished government administrators to provide their expertise to policymakers, senior government officials and research-ers. The corps of award-winning current and former senior federal officials will be known as the Distinguished Executives Alumni Network, the DEAN’s List.

The DEAN’s List will be comprised of past winners of the Presidential Dis-tinguished Rank Award, the highest honor given to Senior Professionals and

those in the Senior Executive Service, who are willing to provide objective, impartial, often confidential, and sound expertise to advise policy makers and serve as a resource to researchers inter-ested in producing high-quality, relevant research to improve the workings of the federal government. The network will also serve as a forum for Distinguished Rank awardees to connect with one an-other for advice and to take collective action if they see major opportunities for government improvement. Among the first DEAN’s List initiatives, mem-bers will be invited to provide feedback and advice on how academic institutions can best prepare those interested in pub-

On December 9, President Obama spoke to approximately 3,000 Federal senior leaders at the Washington Hilton Hotel in downtown Washington, DC. Registration for the event was on a first-come first-serve basis for members of the Senior Executive Service and other Senior Leaders (SL) and Scientific or Professional (ST) employees.

The event was emceed by OPM Di-rector Katherine Archuleta, and Presi-dent was introduced by Elliott Branch, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Acquisi-tion and Procurement at the Department of the Navy.

New Initiatives AnnouncedDuring his remarks, Obama an-

nounced a series of new initiatives, the first of which is the White House Lead-

ership Development Program for Future Senior Executives. The program will allow for talented federal employees “to rotate through different agencies on high-priority assignments, and then…bring back their new expertise to their home agency.” The goal is for these emerg-ing leaders to obtain experience solving problems across agencies throughout the government.

The second initiative, the White House Advisory Group on Senior Executive Ser-vice Reform, will be an advisory group on SES reform and will include both current and aspiring leaders. The group is intend-ed to provide advice on best practices in recruitment, hiring, development, and re-

President Obama issued an executive order on December 19 implementing a 1 percent across the board pay increase for federal employees under the General Schedule in 2015. The order also set new pay ranges for Senior Executive Service members and Senior Professionals. The new ranges are $121,956 - $183,300.

All pay raises for Senior Executives are discretionary with their agencies and are based on performance, however, OPM regulations permit raises to “main-tain relative position.”

A C T I O N�Senior Executives Association

Carol A. Bonosaro, Publisher • Jeff Spinella, Editor

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Expected Mailing Date: Month XX

Carol A. Bonosaro, Presidentseapresident@seniorexecs.org

Published Exclusively for Members of the Senior Executives Association

Barbara Pabotoy (Treasury)ChairDonald Bathurst (DHS)Vice ChairBonnie Hammersley (OSD)Treasurer Arnold Layne (EPA)SecretaryColleen F. Barros (HHS)Dr. L. Wayne Brasure (DHS)

Mailing Address:Senior Executives Association77 K Street N.E., Suite �600

Washington, DC �000�

Phone: (�0�) 971-3300 Fax: (�0�) 971-3317

Email: action@seniorexecs.org Web Site: www.seniorexecs.org

ACTION (ISSN #0899-7152) is the official publication of the Senior Executives Association. ACTION is published monthly, except for one combined issue a year. As part of their membership dues, members receive a subscription to the newsletter. The an-nual subscription price is $55. This subscription is a feature of membership and cannot be omitted from the dues payment. Periodicals postage is paid at Washington, D.C. and additional mailing offices.

Material in this newsletter is copyrighted by the Senior Executives Association. Articles may not be reproduced without prior written permission. Advertising rates, schedules and information may be obtained from SEA’s Director of Communications.

SEA ADMINISTRATION

Debra Roth, General CounselSteve Lenkart, Director ofMember & Agency Liaisonlenkart@seniorexecs.orgJenny Mattingley,Legislative Directorjmattingley@shawbransford.comMarc Owen,Director of Membershipmowen@seniorexecs.orgRyan Pearce, Registrarpearce@seniorexecs.org

Jeff Spinella,Director of Communications action@seniorexecs.orgBob Knisely, Director of Project Next Generationknisely@seniorexecs.orgAndy Uscher,Director of Corporate Relationsauscher@seniorexecs.orgVicky Zorrilla, Office Manager &Membership Administratorvicky@seniorexecs.org

Financial Services: Dennis Boyd, Association Managers, Inc

Dr. Walter Bryzik (Retired, Army)James Corbett (NRC)Robert E. Corsi, Jr. (Air Force)Glenn A. Costie (VA)Dr. Walter F. Jones (Navy)Diane Randon (Army)George Triebsch (Labor)Jose Villar (Energy)Linda Washington (Retired, DOT)

CORPORATE ADVISORY BOARD

HEALTH CARE PARTNERBlueCross.

Federal Employee ProgramBlueShield.

BrookfieldRelocation

NiI Deloitte

Long Term CarePartnersNORTHROP GRUMMANi

IiIC

NVEINC

Continued PAY RAISE from pg. 1

Quote/Unquote“54. A majority of Americans who

went to the polls Nov. 4 believe that the ‘government is doing too many things better left to businesses and individuals,’ while just 41 percent think ‘the govern-ment should do more to solve problems.’ Those numbers suggest that the long-run-ning battle over what government can and should do (and how much it should do) is tilting back toward the smaller-is-better crowd that dominated in the mid- and late 1990s. The early years of Obama’s presidency were defined by a belief that government might need to do more than it had during the latter days of the George W. Bush administration. (Think Hurricane Katrina.) But the pendulum is in the process of swinging back to the

government-shrinkage folks.78. How people feel about their gov-

ernment is this number, which represents the percentage of people who say you can only ‘sometimes’ (60 percent) or ‘never’ (18 percent) trust Washington ‘to do what is right.’ That’s stunning. The number is partly attributable to a Repub-lican-flavored electorate and the natural suspicion among many within the GOP of the federal government — particularly when it’s run by a Democratic president. But the number is so high that it’s hard not to see the problems surrounding the Internal Revenue Service, Veterans Af-fairs and, of course, the National Security Agency’s spying revelations as part of that deepening distrust among broad swaths

of the American public.”

“The 9 Most Fascinating Numbers from National Exit Polls,” Chris

Cillizza, WashingtonPost.com¸ November �3.

BloombergGOVERNMENT

The salary boost marks the second 1 percent increase in a row for the entire white-collar federal workforce. Before that, a three-year pay freeze had been in effect.

Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., who helped craft the recent massive fiscal 2015 spending bill that included the civilian pay raise, said “this pay increase for federal workers is well-deserved and appropriate, and I’m pleased that the president has made good on the plan that we worked out as part of the omnibus budget.”

From: Govexec.com

January 2015 3 Senior Executives Association

Offense, Defense, and Everything in Between: Recapping 2014 and Looking Ahead to Next YearBy Jenny MattingleySEA Legislative Director

Report from the Hill

“Due to continued scandals, ‘accountability’ became the word of the year in Congress

when it came to Senior Executives.”

If the past year is any indication, fed-eral employees and Senior Executives in particular will continue to be on Con-gress’ radar in 2015. Because Congress just ended a two year session, any leg-islation that did not get signed into law is moot and any proposals that Mem-bers of Congress are still interested in will have to be reintroduced in the new Congress. Looking back at the propos-als that gained some momentum over the past year is instructive as it indicates what SEA members can expect to see pushed next year. There are also several issues that have been largely under the radar, but will be back in the spotlight in 2015 that will also affect how Congress deals with the federal workforce.

Looking Back – 2014 RecapAlthough some agencies, such as

IRS and EPA, suffered bud-get cuts under the recently passed “CRomnibus,” which will affect not only programs and services but also the em-ployees that administer them, very little actually passed that directly impacted the federal work-force through pay, benefits and pen-sions. This was not for lack of trying by Members in both the House and Senate. Many proposals were introduced to ban or cap SES performance awards, allow agency heads to claw back performance awards already given in the face of al-leged misconduct, or ease protections to make it easier to fire Senior Execu-tives. The one glaring exception to this is the VA bill that was signed in to law and allows the agency head to fire Se-nior Executives without the usual Title 5 protections and a very truncated appeals process post-termination.

Comments made over the past few months by several Members of Con-gress indicate that expansion of the VA termination process is something that they would like to be expanded to the rest of the SES and possibly the rest of the federal workforce. Several Members have also indicated ongoing support

for bonus claw backs as well as claw-ing back pensions for employees under investigation or who resigned during an investigation.

Due to continued scandals, “ac-countability” became the word of the year in Congress when it came to Senior Executives. What many of the so-called scandals highlighted were broader man-agement issues that required a conver-sation about best practices and agency resources in some cases, but instead became political issues wielded by both parties to score political points. Instead of IG and GAO reports being used con-structively to highlight and address real problems, they have been used as the basis for punitive legislation that does not actually address the issues in ques-tion. This trend is likely to continue in 2015, especially as the Presidential elec-tion draws closer.

The year was not just about facing down these challenges. SEA spent a lot of time building new relationships on the Hill and working to strengthen existing coalitions such as the Government Man-agers Coalition (GMC) of which SEA is a founding member. Much of this work is in preparation to not just play defense in the coming year, but, rather, for SEA to take a more offensive stance in iden-tifying and pushing legislative reforms aimed at making the government more effective and ensuring that Senior Execu-tives, and all employees, have the neces-sary tools to do their jobs well.

Looking Ahead to 2015The coming year will yet again be

one of challenges for the federal work-force. The Committees of jurisdiction in Congress have changed membership, so we do not yet know what priorities the incoming Chairmen and subcommittee chairs will push. Through public state-ments made recently, we do know that

incoming Oversight & Government Re-form (OGR) Committee chairman Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) is interested in potentially expanding at-will employ-ment throughout the federal workforce, curtailing the use of administrative leave, and continued oversight of the IRS, Affordable Care Act, and embassy security. Likely chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC), Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) has indicated an inter-est in regulatory reform, securing the borders, and holding hearings to ex-plore how federal pay and benefits stack up against the private sector, especially for higher level employees.

Despite the passage of the Cromnibus, which funded most of the government through fiscal year 2015, budget pres-sures will remain. Domestic agency bud-gets remained relatively flat. Agencies will need to find funding to implement a 1% pay raise for employees. Tough de-

cisions about investments in the workforce, agency operations, and technology also lie ahead, not to men-tion that sequestration is scheduled to return in fiscal year 2016 absent a congres-

sional agreement to end the across-the-board cuts. SEA will be discussing the return of sequestration with lawmakers, including the imperative that agencies be given time to plan for and prepare for sequestration, should it be allowed to go back into full effect.

Going forward, SEA and its partners in the GMC and across the federal com-munity will seek to capitalize on some of the management issues raised in re-cent years. We’ll be seeking small-bore legislative and policy victories to ad-dress known issues, improve the govern-ment management and operations, and demonstrate the Association’s commit-ment to good government. Furthermore, we’ll continue our efforts to push back against efforts to legislate by anecdote, and to preserve the integrity of the civil service by educating Members and staff about the dangers of at-will employment for career Senior Executives and federal employees.«

A C T I O N4Senior Executives Association

Continued DEAN’S LIST from pg. 1

lic service for maximum success in gov-ernment.

“This network has been a long time dream of the Association,” said Senior

Executives Association President Carol Bonosaro, “and we are grateful to The Volcker Alliance for enabling us to be-gin building the DEAN’s List. For far too long, the government has failed to take advantage of the invaluable re-source these awardees represent. With the support of The Volcker Alliance, we are able to develop the means to change that. We trust that the awardees will join us enthusiastically in this venture.”

The Volcker Alliance President Shel-ley Metzenbaum noted, “We count on the federal government to manage many complex challenges of great import to the quality of our lives. We need the fed-eral government to do that well. That is why The Volcker Alliance is proud to in-clude the Senior Executives Association among our growing network of govern-ment, educational institutions, business, and public interest enterprise partners we are working alongside to promote effective execution of public policies and to rebuild public trust in govern-ment. The DEAN’s List promises to be a great resource for advancing those goals

by engaging the top one percent of the most highly regarded senior executives and senior professionals in the federal government and allowing elected of-ficials, appointees, other government leaders, and researchers to access their invaluable expertise.”

As the first step in this process, PDL has sent e-mails to Distinguished Ex-ecutives and Senior Professionals who received their awards in 2008 through 2014. Many have responded and PDL will be following up to locate those for whom contact information is out of date. For those who received their awards earlier and who wish to partici-pate in the DEAN’s List, please send an e-mail with current contact information to SEAPresident@seniorexecs.org.

The second step will be to convene an initial meeting of those interested in participating in a planning group to ham-mer out the details of how the List will operate. Finally, PDL will seek funding to obtain the resources (primarily staff and necessary software and IT services) to fully operationalize the Network.«

Suggested Reading: Bring Back the

BureaucratsOn December 10’s Your Turn with

Mike Causey on Federal News Radio, Mike spoke with University of Penn-sylvania political science professor and author John Dilulio. Dilulio’s book Bring Back the Bureaucrats: Why More Federal Workers Will Lead to Better (and Smaller!) Government makes a case against sequestration and across-the-board cuts in favor of more federal employees. To listen to a re-cording of the full show, go to http://bit.ly/1r3ezUd or visit federalnewsradio.com, click “Causey,” and then click “Your Turn w/ Mike Causey” under

Pay, Benefits & Workforce Shows.

January 2015 5 Senior Executives Association

OPM Sends Memo on Biennial Review of SES and SP Positions for FY16 and FY17

On December 12, OPM Director Katherine Archuleta sent a memo to heads of executive departments, agen-cies, and Inspectors General with in-formation and guidance regarding the biennial review for their needs for SES positions.

Federal agencies are required to submit a written request to OPM during each even number calendar year follow-ing an examination of their SES position needs for each of the two fiscal years be-ginning after such calendar year, pursu-ant to 5 U.S.C. 3133(a). Agencies also submit a similar written request to OPM for their positions in the SL and ST pay systems following the same examina-tion, although this is not expressly re-quired by statute.

Agencies were required to complete and submit the “Biennial Allocations Request” template by December 31,

2014, indicating their intent to “main-tain, increase, or decrease their estab-lished executive resource allocations…and/or request changes in their executive resources allocations, such as a redesig-nation of positions (e.g., from General to Career Reserved), or a conversion of existing allocations, (e.g. from SES to SL), for FYs 2016 and 2017.”

Agencies requesting FY 2016 and FY 2017 changes to their executive al-locations must also submit written jus-tification and documentation to OPM by April 1, 2015. The information agen-cies must submit to justify requests for additional allocations include:

• “Identification of specific posi-tions”

• “Description of the particular cir-cumstances giving rise to the needs”

• “Specific results expected from each additional position, and the impact

to agency mission and/or Administra-tion goals;

• Identification of funding or other resources to support the new allocations, including reprogramming of resources and revision to functions within each agency, aligned to agency priorities;

• Prioritization of all established and proposed positions…by their rela-tive significance and impact to agencies’ mission requirements…;

• Numbers of vacant positions, and length of time position remains vacant; and

• Extent to which individual posi-tions meet SES functional criteria.”

To read the full memo and to ob-tain its attached documents (“FY 2016-2017 Executive Resources Biennial Allocation(s) Request template” and “Executive Resources Biennial Allo-cations Guidance”), go to http://1.usa.gov/1wmOHmP. «

OPM Issues Regulations to Codify Uniform SES Performance Management System

The Obama administration contin-ued its focus on career senior leaders in federal government, proposing new regulations to standardize performance management of agencies’ top civil ser-vants.

The Office of Personnel Manage-ment released on December 10 a pro-posed rule to update a three-year-old statute requiring agencies to implement performance standards for Senior Exec-

utive Service employees. OPM clarified and updated a standardized appraisal system available for all agencies, though its use is not required.

The proposal will provide “an updat-ed framework and system standards for agencies to use in designing their SES performance management systems,” OPM wrote in the rule. OPM will ramp up oversight of each agency’s appraisal system to ensure it falls within the gen-eral, governmentwide construct.

Each agency would have to desig-nate an official to oversee the perfor-mance management system and issue guidelines for appraisal, and OPM will designate an official of its own to over-see those officials. The rule also would expand the power of performance re-view boards, allowing them to weigh in on performance awards for those in the SES. The boards would be required to consider overall agency performance when making their recommendations.

The new guidance would expand the rating levels for senior executives from

three to five. The new categories would be outstanding, exceeds fully success-ful, fully successful, minimally satisfac-tory and unsatisfactory.

“These standards balance the need for a governmentwide approach to SES performance management with agency flexibility,” OPM wrote.

The Senior Executives Association has long called for a more uniform ap-proach to SES evaluations, arguing standardization would clarify how exec-utives are rated and create less disrup-tion for those moving among agencies.

The proposed rule “shows OPM is really interested in encouraging agen-cies to use a standardized system,” said Jenny Mattingley, SEA’s legislative di-rector.

Mattingley added that several agen-cies have opted into OPM’s appraisal system. Even those agencies that con-tinue to implement their own systems would require review by OPM under the new system.

Interested parties have 60 days to of-fer comments on the proposal.

From: GovExec.com

Quote/Unquote“…accountants in the public

and private sectors need to develop methodologies for capturing the cost of deferred maintenance and show this in financial accounts for what it is – borrowing from the future. What

is counted counts.”

“Our Loss of Faith in the Fu-ture,” Lawrence Summers, The

Washington Post, December 8.

A C T I O N6Senior Executives Association

Red buttons at the December event denoted VIP status

Commentary: President’s SES InitiativesBy Carol Bonosaro, SEA President

tention of senior leaders. SEA obtained an informal list of

those who have been named to the advi-sory group. They are:

Arleas Kea (FDIC), John P. Benison (HUD), Charles Addington (Interior), Anthony Regalbuto (State), David J. Monroe (Treasury) Susan K. Pasco-cello (USAID, SEA Member), Michael J. Johnson (Interior), Timothy F. Cur-ry (OPM), Tamara Ashford (Justice), John James (Editor’s note: John James was listed at both Justice and Energy), Christina Chiappe (USDA), Pape Cisse (Transportation), Eric Hernandez (State), Noha Gaber (EPA), Valerie Bonham (HHS), Bridget Bean (SBA), Molly Fan-non (Smithsonian Institution), John Gill (HHS), Reginald F. Wells (SSA), Alice Maroni (PBGC), Michael L. Aguilar (NASA), Wanda Nesbitt (State), and Jose D. Riojas (VA).

The third initiative is the creation of a non-monetary award to recognize employees who provide exceptional customer service, titled the Customer Service Awards Program. This award is open to all federal employees and serves to recognize their high performance, pro-vides the Administration an opportunity “highlight outstanding customer service and initiatives leading to customer ser-vice improvements,” and hopes to “iden-tify effective practices which can be rep-licated,” according to a blog post from OPM Director Archuleta. The program includes two levels of awards – Secretary

Continued OBAMA from pg. 1 Customer Service Awards handed out by agencies, and a limited number of Presi-dential Customer Service Awards.

In concluding the speech, Obama mentioned the exceptional performance of several executives, including SEA Lifetime member Dwight Ink, who served under seven different presidents.

Prior to the President’s remarks, a panel consisting of Interior Secretary Penny Pritzker, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, and Labor Secretary Thomas Perez fielded questions from the audience, as well as from the mod-erator, Rosemary Hart, Senior Counsel, Office of Legal Counsel, Department of Justice.

SEA ReactionWhen the meeting was announced

SEA President Carol Bonosaro welcomed the news with regret it has not happened sooner as the Association had been call-ing for such an event since the President’s first inauguration. She told GovExec.com that “His failure to meet with career SES has been a strategic omission until now. We’re delighted the president is making time in his schedule.” She added the ca-reer corps “badly needs a morale boost.”

Joe Davidson reported her reaction in his Washington Post column. “It’s always baffled me that a president wouldn’t just do this early on, because it sets a tone, not only for the career executives, but also the political appointees, who then get the message that the career executives are part of the team,” Bonosaro said.

In the past three administrations, George W. Bush met with them twice,

Bill Clinton never did, and George H.W. Bush spoke to about 3,000 members at Constitution Hall, inviting some career executives to appear with him on stage. “The message [the elder Bush] was send-ing was so clear,” Bonosaro said. “It was, ‘You’re an important part of my team, and I value you.’ When they walked out of there, they would have walked on wa-ter for him.”

Following the event, which she at-tended, Bonosaro praised the President’s remarks, saying he said all the right things, but that she was surprised at the relatively low number of senior leaders chosen to receive the 2014 Presidential Rank Awards, though the honorees were in the audience. Davidson reported that, while she commended the President for his “sincere” and “genuine” remarks — “he did a really good job” — she added, “Then why is he being so parsimonious with the Presidential Rank Awards?”

To hear Bonosaro’s Federal News Radio interview on the speech, go to http://bit.ly/16N2byN, and visit http://bit.ly/1va8gd0 to watch her interview with local Washington’s News Channel 8 show “Government Matters.”«

SEA is well aware that too many able GS-14’s and 15’s, who would make prime candidates for the SES are dissuaded by the many detrac-tors to serving in the executive corps. Further, the opportunities for details are limited, with no resources which enable placing interested employees in temporary assignments in other agencies. With the growing empha-sis on the need for cross-agency col-laboration, opportunities to gain that experience are particularly welcome. The White House Leadership Devel-opment Program for Future Senior

Executives can provide them with exactly that experience and contrib-ute to attracting talented employees to aspire to the SES. How these em-ployees will be selected for the pro-gram and how, exactly, the program will operate will be important, and SEA will look forward to learning more of the details and having an op-portunity to weigh in.

The second initiative, the White House Advisory Group on Senior Executive Service Reform, is far less clear. There is no information available regarding how the mem-

bers were chosen or on its charter, beyond its description as providing “advice on best practices in recruit-ment, hiring, development, and re-tention of senior leaders.” I expect to learn more early in January. In the meantime, it’s a promising sign that the Administration apparently values the experience and views of career Senior Executives. How the Administration intends to balance the views of this group with those of the Association – if and when they might differ – is an open question.

January 2015 7 Senior Executives Association

Another View of the President’s Meeting with the SES

By Francis Rose

President Barack Obama’s remarks to the Senior Executive Service today were intended to be a step toward re-versing the declining morale of the Senior Executive Service. But he may have made things worse.

The latest data on the federal work-force shows that potential and current public servants believe working for the federal government is a worse deal for themselves now than it was on Jan. 20, 2009. The senior leaders President Obama spoke to today view their jobs as more difficult, the bureaucracy as more frustrating and the future as more challenging than on the President’s inauguration day. And young people increasingly view the private sector, academia and the non-profit world as a See SES REFORMS on pg. 8

Obama SES Reform Plan Makes Problem Worse, Not Better

Excerpts from President Obama’s Address“…What I can do is tell you how im-

portant you are not just to me, but to the country.

Many of you do what you do at ex-traordinary sacrifice. You could work at a lot of places. You made a decision at some point in your life to serve your country -- your country is stronger be-cause you made that decision. You keep America running -- our airports, our em-bassies, our financial system. You take care of our troops and their families. You do it without fanfare – in fact, doing your job right often means nobody hears about you. They only report when something goes wrong, or when there’s a shutdown and suddenly somebody notices -- oh, we need that and nobody is doing it.

And in recent years, it’s gotten more challenging for so many of you. You work under tough circumstances, wheth-er it’s sequestration, pay freeze, shut-down, and, more importantly, a political climate where folks too often talk down government for cheap applause.

So my main message is, thank you. But part of my message today also is to recognize that we do have an issue that we’ve got to address, and that is, Ameri-cans don’t trust government like we used

to. Part of that is a very deliberate strat-egy of trying to undermine government. Part of it is political opportunism. But part of it is our need to constantly adapt to the demands of the 21st century.

That’s why we need you, and that’s why we need the best and brightest of coming generations to serve… but there are some things that we can and should do better together.

…We have to constantly ask our-selves, how can we serve Americans bet-ter? How can we yank this government into the 21st century and make it smarter and faster and more responsive?

…Our senior leaders here and around the globe are the best of the best. I have to tell you, by the way, increas-ingly, we’re attracting folks from the private sector to come and work with us and help brainstorm with us around issues, and it always amuses me when they have been around here for a while and they report back to me, wow, these people are really smart, they really work hard. Yes, it shouldn’t surprise you.

… Which brings me to two public ser-vants that many of you know…Dwight Ink was a member of the civil service under seven Presidents -- briefed Presi-

dent Eisenhower, led the recovery effort after the 1964 Alaskan earthquake.

…When he was 70, he retired -- kind of. He stayed active on the issue he’s most passionate about, and that’s strengthening the civil service, helped lead public administration organiza-tions, wrote articles about how to make government better. Today, Dwight is 92. He’s still at it. He and his wife, Dona, are here with us here today. I’d ask all of you to join me in giving Dwight and all the retired civil servants here a big round of applause.

…So that’s the kind of spirit of service that built America. That’s the commitment that keeps America strong. And now it’s up to us to build upon the work that generations of public servants have done to make our nation stronger and more prosperous. And every day, I am proud to be your partner.

…There is no greater opportunity to help more people, to make a bigger dif-ference… than to be in the positions that we are privileged to be in right now…. I want you to wake up every day knowing that the President of the United States appreciates you for making that differ-ence.”

much better path to job satisfaction than the government.

So President Obama’s comments today may have made the SES morale problem worse, not better, for three rea-sons:

1. The President spoke as though his administration invented the impor-tance of recognizing federal employee excellence. “We’re creating an award to recognize outstanding service,” he said. “I’m surprised this hasn’t been done be-fore, but we’re going to start.”

The President’s proposal for a new Customer Service Awards program is overdue, but SESers can be excused for being less than impressed by this effort; and the idea is far from a new concept to recognize those who go above and be-yond. The government started recogniz-

ing excellence among Senior Executives even before there was a Senior Execu-tive Service. The government presented the first Presidential Rank Awards in 1978; the Civil Service Reform Act that established the SES didn’t take effect until 1979.

President Obama himself broke that award streak, though, when the White House canceled the awards in 2013. The Office of Personnel Management continued collecting nominations that year, and the awards were reestablished this year. But it still rings hollow for the President to now claim, as though it’s shiny and new, “We are going to honor the people who do this job best.”

2. He’s recycling the original point

A C T I O N8Senior Executives Association

Continued SES REFORMS from pg. 7 Someone in the White House should brief him on how agencies are respond-ing to recommendations to Government Accountability Office and agency In-spector General reports, or how his own political appointees have devised per-formance improvement plans that they depend on career civil servants to im-plement, or even how his own Office of Management and Budget is conducting Stat sessions to get off-track programs back on track.

Not everything President Obama said was an insult to the federal work-force. He recognized the “extraordinary sacrifice” that some federal employees make. “You made a decision at some point in your life to serve your country; your country is stronger because of that decision,” he said. And he acknowl-edged that pay freezes (he proposed), the shutdown, and the current political climate against the federal government and its employees (driven by some con-

servative Republicans) create “tough circumstances” that employees are working under.

The President took his textbook shots at Republicans and the media. “[The media] only report when some-thing goes wrong, or when there’s a shutdown, and somebody notices, ‘Oh, we need that, and nobody’s doing it,’” he said. But when he hammers the me-dia for “focus[ing] on the one thing that goes wrong, instead of the 99 things that go right” and tells the SES corps “that’s not going to change,” he’s only partially correct.

Maybe The Washington Post won’t tell his administration’s success stories. Maybe The New York Times won’t, or the TV networks. But Federal News Ra-dio and other media outlets that cover the business of the federal government agree — never before has an administra-tion gone to such lengths to not cooperate

of the Senior Executive Service to create something he calls “new.” The Office of Personnel Management says “Current and aspiring executives have the option to participate in mobility assignments.” That sounds remarkably similar to the concept behind Obama’s White House Leadership Development Program. “Tal-ented civil servants are going to have a chance to rotate through different agen-cies on high-priority assignments,” the President said, “and then they’ll bring back their new expertise to their home agency.” Another program that already exists allows employees to go on detail to an agency outside their current ones, and return to their home agencies at the end of that detail.

3. He’s content to examine the SES problem for the last two years of the ad-ministration instead of doing something about it. “We’re creating a White House Advisory Group on Senior Executive Service reform,” the President said. “It’s going to include leaders from large and small agencies, as well as rising leaders — we want to hear from them too.” Will this group examine this research from 2009? Or this pro-posal for SES reform from September 2012? Or this book from 2013? Or the newest one, just released two weeks ago? Or any of the others that have come down the road since 1979? The work on needed-reforms for the SES has already been done. There is remarkably little disagreement and much consensus. But President Obama missed an opportunity to take action, instead of proposing an-other blue-ribbon panel to admire the problem instead of fix it.

Even the President’s famous delivery was off, as if he were almost annoyed to be giving the speech. His comments, at times, came close to scolding. On sev-eral occasions, he delivered advice these SESers already knew, with a tone that implied his were new ideas, never be-fore discovered. He told the group, “If we’re not engaging in self-reflection, and try[ing] to figure out how every sin-gle day we can be doing our jobs a little bit better, then we’re failing the Ameri-can people.” He’s right — and agencies across government are already doing it.

with news outlets that want to highlight good management and success stories. Filling media liaison positions across the executive branch with political ap-pointees, who assume the worst when the media calls, is a sure-fire recipe for a terrible public response to disasters like HealthCare.gov. When the “big boys” who don’t cover the government every day go looking for those success stories and find none, it becomes hard for them to tell a narrative other than “this is how the government always does things.” And that blackens the black eye federal employees have even more.

Finally, Mr. President, what took so long? Why did you wait nearly six full years to tell your career leaders they’re important? It fits the theme that even the President’s biggest fans hold, that the ad-ministration has been absent on manage-ment issues since it took office. Former Deputy Secretary of Labor Seth Harris gave a convincing presentation at the

Management of Change conference in May 2014, in which he expressed his admiration of President Obama, and especially Vice President Biden. He then proceeded to explain how and why the White House had no manage-ment agenda in its first term, and how his agency adapted. When one of your biggest fans can’t see where you’re leading, you’ve got a big problem.

The plan President Obama intro-duced today might have worked if he introduced it when he first came into of-fice almost six years ago, fresh off his promise to “transform Washington” and “make government cool again.” But he’s introducing a plan that will take several years to execute, with only 25 months to make it happen. The odds are long that it will make any difference at all — and in that vacuum, the problem is likely to get worse, not better.

In Depth host Francis Rose inter-views government executives and con-tractors about the latest news affecting the way federal employees do their jobs. In Depth airs Monday-Friday, 4-7 p.m. EST, on 1500AM in Washington, D.C. Listen live on FederalNewsRadio.com or find archived episodes online.

From: FederalNewsRadio.com December 9, 2014

“The work on needed-reforms for the SES has already been done. There is remarkably

little disagreement and much consensus. ”

January 2015 9 Senior Executives Association

SEA Members Francine Kerner and Paul Kendall with Congressman Delaney

SEA Continues Direct Outreach to Members of CongressSEA Members Meet with Congressmen Delaney and Whitman

In the last edition of ACTION, SEA’s government affairs team reported on a new initiative to bring SEA members to Capitol Hill or local area district of-fices to meet directly with Members of Congress. SEA began this initiative be-cause it is clear that many Members of Congress do not interface with Senior Executives as individuals, but typically only when the Senior Executive is rep-resenting his or her agency.

There is quite a bit of misunder-standing about who Senior Executives are, with a few high-profile “scandal” executives forming many Members’ perspectives on Senior Executives, and how the system works. While this is less of an issue within the local area delegation, SEA members have been effective at offering specific stories of how policies affect them as federal employees…and constituents.

Over the past month, SEA has continued its local area delegation meetings, this time bringing members who live in their districts to meet with

Congressman Delaney (D-MD) and Congressman Wittman (R-VA). (SEA members who are active government employees attend these meetings on their own time.) Both meetings were productive and we came away with a better understanding of both Members’ priorities and also areas where SEA can work with them to tackle challenges.

We also had a good conversation with Congressman Delaney about mobility and other career development initiatives and his interest in identifying best prac-tices to make the SES system more ef-fective. Congressman Wittman shared his interest in examining leadership development in the military and what type of similar focus could be applied

to the SES, and the SES development pipeline for promising General Sched-ule employees, as well as his desire to work with SEA to gather information to dispel myths about the SES held by other Members of the House. Both Congressmen were supportive of the federal workforce and we have plans to work with them in the coming Con-gressional session.

SEA will continue to set up meet-ings with the remaining Members of the local area delegation over the next few months and will work to continue meetings with Members of Congress

on a more regular basis.«

“We conducted an anonymous poll on our website yesterday, asking federal employees: ‘What feeling best describes your reaction to President Barack Obama’s announced reforms to the Senior Executive Service?’ As of [December 10] at 4 p.m., 40 percent of the respondents said they felt ‘indifferent,’ 29 percent said ‘It was a start,’ and 13 percent were ‘Excited for the reforms.’ Eighteen percent of those responding said they were

‘disappointed/frustrated’ and that the reforms ‘don’t go far enough.’” …

“Francis, I think you are right on point. While perhaps well intended, the administration has simply missed or ignored the abject need to get out front of the challenges and crises facing the federal workforce. Indeed, in many ways, the ‘whole of government’s’ workforce (including feds, contractors, non-profit employees etc.) have been marginalized in recent years and, as my colleague Kymm McCabe would say, commoditized. I was in the audience in NY when then candidates Obama and McCain took a night off from the campaign for a forum on national and community service (including public service). It was there the President stated that he wanted to ‘make public service cool again.’ Unfortunately, little has been done in the way of follow up. And while one can applaud the steps the President outlined yesterday, it is also true that they are very limited, mostly unoriginal (indeed, some are already in law or policy), and far too little too late. We need an empow-ered, talented, supported federal workforce that is focused on innovation and a very different future. Sadly, as you note, recent surveys suggest we’re not getting there and the minimalist initiatives announced yesterday won’t move the ball. There are a lot of barriers to progress, some of them partisan, some of them involving key constituencies of the President’s own party. But barriers are not an excuse for a lack of effort.” — Stan

Soloway, president, Professional Services Council

“Feds Praise, Criticize Obama’s Proposed SES Reforms,” Michael O’Connell, FederalNewsRadio.com, December 10.

Quote/Unquote

A C T I O N10Senior Executives Association

Continued PAY/RATINGS from pg. 1

decreased by 2.2% to 45.2% in FY 2013. All career ex-ecutives rated in FY 2013 were in five-level systems (Out-standing or Equivalent, Exceeds Expectations, Fully Suc-cessful, Minimally Successful, or Unacceptable). In FY 2012, 399 Senior Executives were still rated in four-level rating systems.

The average performance award for those rated Out-standing was $11,139, 6.6% of salary before adjustment. Unfortunately, only averages are available, so there is no way to determine the range of awards.

Departments or agencies with the greatest percentage of career executives rated at the highest level were State (95.2%), Justice (78.5%), USAID (76.2%), SSA (71.0%), and “All Other Agencies Combined” (60.0%).

Those with the smallest percentage rated at the high-est level were VA (21.7%), OMB (23.2%), GSA (25.4%), Defense (30.6%), and HUD (32.9%). One department and 4 agencies experienced steep declines in the percentage of Senior Executives receiving performance awards; they are Defense (-62.8%), NASA (-57.8%), NSF (-57.2%), and OMB (-45.0%). SSA, Transportation, and GSA had an increase in the percentage of Senior Executives receiving performance awards of 52%, 11.4%, and 9.8%, respec-tively.

See the data on ratings, pay adjustments and perfor-mance awards by agency on pages 11-13.«

SES Logo Products StoreFor further product information, detailed descriptions,

and to order visit SEA online at .seniorexecs.org

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Member: $275.00Non-Member: $335.00

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wwwPrices are before tax and do not include shipping

January 2015 11 Senior Executives Association

Career SES Performance Ratings, FY 2012-FY 2013

AGENCY

FY 2012 FY 2013

Percent Change FY 2012-FY 2013Career

SES Rated

Percent at HighestLevel

CareerSES Rated

Percent at HighestLevel

Agriculture 286 47.6% 283 45.9% -1.7AID 17 88.2% 21 76.2% -12.0Commerce 253 54.9% 245 52.7% -2.2Defense 1,131 27.1% 1,132 30.6% 3.5Education 55 41.8% 57 45.6% 3.8Energy 386 44.0% 377 33.7% -10.3EPA 237 33.8% 247 38.1% 4.3GSA 61 29.5% 63 25.4% -4.1HHS 358 54.5% 359 39.6% -14.9DHS 521 53.6% 512 55.3% 1.8HUD 71 0.0% 79 32.9% 32.9Interior 216 53.2% 209 47.4% -5.8Justice* 642 75.4% 363 78.5% 3.1Labor 129 42.6% 134 44.8% 2.2NASA 390 57.4% 389 36.8% -20.6NSF 71 54.9% 69 55.1% 0.2NRC 139 30.9% 139 33.8% 2.9OMB 54 31.5% 56 23.2% -8.3OPM 49 30.6% 44 45.5% 14.9SBA 35 62.9% 38 57.9% -5.0SSA 125 78.4% 138 71.0% -7.4State 133 54.9% 146 95.2% 40.3Transportation 172 39.0% 167 48.5% 9.5Treasury 411 42.6% 394 43.9% 1.3VA 327 24.2% 323 21.7% -2.5All Others 599 63.6% 563 60.0% -3.6GOVERNMENTWIDE 6,868 47.3% 6,547 45.2% -2.1

*FY 2013 data for Justice does not include FBI-DEA SES members, which are excluded from the SES under 5 U.S.C. 3132 (a)(1)

A C T I O N

CorrectionIn the December 2014 issue of

ACTION, Republican House Repre-sentative Kevin McCarthy was erro-neously listed as representing Texas in the page 3 article “To the Lame Duck and Beyond.” He represents

California’s 23rd district.

OPM Announces Governmentwide SES Situational Mentoring Program

On December 11, OPM Director Katherine Archuleta sent a memo to Chief Human Capital Officers, Deputy Chief Human Capital Officers, Chief Learning Officers, and Offices of Diversity of Inclu-sion announcing the launch of the Govern-mentwide Situational Mentoring Program for Senior Executives.

The program, which was developed by OPM for cross-governmental use as part of the President’s Management Agenda’s goal to “Build a World-Class Federal Management Team Starting With the Se-nior Executive Service,” involves short-

term discussions to enable the obtaining of “valuable ideas and guidance on high-impact issues, problems, challenges or opportunities” for Federal executives who are new to the SES or transitioning roles.

The program also intends to provide “an important value to Federal agencies by enhancing the Federal Government’s executive capacity through enterprise coordination, collaboration, information-sharing, and knowledge management.”

Executives will easily be able to con-nect to mentors across agencies through OMB’s MAX site, where a new Situation-

al Mentoring portal will be hosted.Experienced SES members interest-

ed in committing as short-term mentors should email hrdleadership@opm.gov or contact their agency Executive Resources office.«

A C T I O N12Senior Executives Association

Salaries for Career, Non-Career and Limited Term SES Members, FY 2012 - FY 2013

AGENCY

FY 2012 FY 2013Average Rate of

Basic Pay BeforeSalary

Adjustment

AverageSalary

Adjustment

Average Salary Adjustment as

Percent of Basic Pay Before Adjustment

Average Rate of

Basic Pay BeforeSalary

Adjustment

Average Salary

Adjustment

Average Salary Adjustment as

Percent of Basic Pay Before Adjustment

Agriculture $165,384 $0 0.0% $165,322 $2,432 1.5%AID $166,756 $0 0.0% $164,458 $1,880 1.2%Commerce $165,042 $0 0.0% $164,822 $3,849 2.3%Defense $165,833 $0 0.0% $165,189 $2,391 1.4%Education $170,213 $0 0.0% $167,788 $2,988 1.8%Energy $168,142 $0 0.0% $168,174 $3,032 1.8%EPA $168,165 $0 0.0% $167,000 $2,100 1.3%GSA $162,688 $0 0.0% $163,456 $1,369 0.8%HHS $168,329 $0 0.0% $167,726 $3,318 2.0%DHS $165,198 $0 0.0% $165,290 $1,838 1.1%HUD $171,283 $0 0.0% $170,807 $4,234 2.4%Interior $161,155 $0 0.0% $160,863 $1,689 1.0%Justice* $168,028 $0 0.0% $168,961 $3,358 2.0%Labor $165,310 $0 0.0% $164,480 $5,492 3.3%NASA $165,025 $0 0.0% $166,768 $3,139 1.9%NSF $171,876 $0 0.0% $171,713 $2,750 1.6%NRC $165,902 $0 0.0% $165,678 $3,047 1.8%OMB $167,813 $0 0.0% $166,030 $1,504 0.9%OPM $167,147 $0 0.0% $166,727 $1,740 1.0%SBA $167,366 $0 0.0% $166,620 $1,941 1.2%SSA $165,377 $0 0.0% $165,671 $3,569 2.2%State $166,560 $0 0.0% $166,326 $1,647 1.0%Transportation $160,339 $0 0.0% $160,377 $2,466 1.5%Treasury $164,165 $0 0.0% $163,603 $4,743 2.9%VA $164,094 $0 0.0% $163,671 $1,420 0.9%All Others $167,760 $0 0.0% $167,869 $2,150 1.3%GOVERNMENT-WIDE

$166,097 $0 0.0% $165,890 $2,718 1.6%

*FY 2013 data for Justice does not include FBI-DEA SES members, which are excluded from the SES under 5 U.S.C. 3132 (a)(1)

Senior Execs Face Pressure to Boost Employee Engagement

As part of the President’s Manage-ment Agenda, senior executives begin-ning this year may see their performance reviews affected by their agency’s em-ployee engagement scores in the annual Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey.

According to a draft memo obtained and reported November 28 by Federal News Radio, greater use of the survey scores will help fulfill President Obama’s cross-agency priority goal involving “people and culture.” The proposal is designed to boost “federal workforce en-gagement in order to achieve greater out-comes for the public and ensure federal employees work in productive environ-ments,” the memo said.

Specifically, the administra-tion’s goal is to raise employee engagement scores to 67 per-cent by 2016—in the 2013 sur-vey, that score actually dropped a point to 63.

“The focus on the 15-ques-tion employee Engagement In-dex is based on strong evidence that engagement is correlated with mission performance,” said the memo, written in coopera-tion with the Office of Personnel Management and the Presiden-tial Personnel Office. “For ex-ample, one Gallup study found that engaged private sector or-ganizations have 3.9 times the earnings per share growth rate compared to organizations with lower engagement in their same industry…This goal for federal agencies can only be met if we use the feedback from employ-ees to inform actions by each leader, manager and supervisor, and empower supervisors at unit levels to improve employee en-gagement locally.”

OMB Deputy Director for Management Beth Cobert sees the memo as “a genuine opportu-nity,” she said at a recent meeting of the National Council on Fed-eral Labor-Management Rela-tions, according to Federal News Radio. The survey, she said, “is

only valuable when people use it.”The memo tasks agencies with track-

ing their progress on engagement four

Aggregate Career SES Pay Distribution - FY 2013

RATING

Perc

ent R

ated

at

Leve

l

Aver

age

Sala

ry

Befo

re A

djus

tmen

t

Aver

age

Perfo

rman

ceAw

ard

Average PerformanceAward as a Percent of

Salary Before Adjustment

H Pattern (6,547)Outstanding or Equivalent (5) 45.2% $168,627 $11,139 6.6%Exceeds Expectations (4) 44.0% $165,192 $8,756 5.3%Fully Successful (3) 10.4% $162,930 $8,208 5.0%Minimally Successful (2) 0.3% $165,628 $0 0.0%Unacceptable (1) 0.1% $160,949 $0 0.0%

times a year using the OPM data review process called HRStat.

From: GovExec.com

January 2015 13 Senior Executives Association

Jerome and Isabella Karle at their retirement ceremony in 2009

You’re In Good Company: SEA’s Notable MembersEach month ACTION will feature a

distinguished member or former mem-ber. This is the third in the series.

At an age when most people are packing up their offices and planning their retirement years, Jerome Karle won the Noble Prize for chemistry.

He was 67 when he became a Nobel Laureate in 1985, and both he and his wife, Isabella, served the United States Government for a combined 127 years, both retiring on July 31, 2009. Both were SEA members for nearly 25 years.

This couple was certainly a dy-namic-duo in scientific research. While Jerome Karle won a Nobel Prize for de-veloping a special technique to measure molecules by crystallizing and X-raying them, his wife had an equally impres-sive career.

In fact, Jerome Karle’s “special” technique didn’t win wide acceptance until his wife developed its practical applications. “The ef-forts of Mrs. Karle are also truly deserving of an award of the level which we have received,” Jerome Karle told a press gath-ering at the Pentagon when it was announced he had won the Nobel Prize.

Isabella Karle has earned an impressive list of honors, re-ceiving the National Medal of Science, the highest scientific honor bestowed by the President of the United States, the presti-gious Bower Award and Prize in Science from the Franklin Insti-tute, the Gregory Aminoff Prize from the Swedish Royal Acade-my of Sciences, and SEA PDL’s Executive Excellence Award, as well as the Presidential Distin-guished Rank in 1986, to name just a few.

In the beginning, however, it wasn’t just scientific curiosity that brought Jerome and Isabel-la Karle to the Naval Research Laboratory, it was each other. When they signed up with the government in the mid-1940s, it was both because of the oppor-tunities presented and the fact

that it was one of the few places that would employ a husband and wife.

Since first meeting in a chemistry lab as undergraduates at the University of Michigan, this couple always worked in the same building together, wherever their careers took them.

Jerome Karle spent most of his No-bel Prize money on scholarships, in-cluding a gift to his old high school in Brooklyn, NY which used the funds to buy photography equipment.

During the course of their distin-guished careers, the Karles were never lured away from their jobs as civil ser-vants. Despite some serious offers from big business and academia, the two re-nowned scientists continued to use their expertise for the benefit of public ser-vice until retirement.

“I could have made a lot of money...and some people thought I was crazy,”

Jerome Karle said. “But liking what I do is most important.”

Jerome Karle passed away in 2013 and was survived by his wife and three daughters – all of whom work in scien-tific fields.«

Career SES Performance Awards, FY 2012-FY 2013

AGENCY

FY 2012 FY 2013 Changein Aver-

age Award Amount

FY 2012-FY 2013

Percentage Point Change of Career

SES Receiving Awards FY 2012

- FY 2013

Average Award

Percentof SES

ReceivingAwards

Average Award

Percentof SES

ReceivingAwards

Agriculture $9,122 82.9% $9,122 81.3% $0 -1.6AID $11,250 60.9% $14,545 50.0% $3,295 -10.9Commerce $10,935 74.7% $11,243 72.2% $308 -2.5Defense $10,325 80.0% $9,306 17.2% -$1,109 -62.8Education $14,621 58.2% $11,765 67.8% -$2,856 9.6Energy $10,343 74.2% $10,021 73.2% -$322 -1.0EPA $11,077 72.4% $11,661 64.4% $584 -8.0GSA $10,780 10.7% $8,176 20.5% -$2,604 9.8HHS $8,553 93.1% $9,942 83.7% $1,389 -9.4DHS $9,791 83.3% $9,344 82.7% -$447 -0.6HUD $9,171 86.4% $10,320 58.8% $1,149 -27.6Interior $9,856 82.7% $9,609 79.7% -$247 -3.0Justice* $14,721 51.8% $13,453 60.4% -$1,268 8.6Labor $11,442 69.3% $10,782 73.2% -$660 3.9NASA $11,642 62.6% $8,492 4.8% -$3,150 -57.8NSF $10,414 71.3% $12,159 14.1% $1,745 -57.2NRC $8,730 94.5% $9,516 80.4% $786 -14.1OMB $10,037 50.0% $8,571 5.0% -$1,466 -45.0OPM $9,099 83.3% $9,130 75.9% -$31 -7.4SBA $13,119 97.1% $9,008 81.4% -$4,111 -15.7SSA $8,839 5.2% $11,258 57.2% $2,419 52.0State $10,769 47.5% $8,480 53.2% -$2,289 5.7Transportation $9,103 70.4% $9,166 81.8% $63 11.4Treasury $14,003 58.3% $12,498 58.3% -$1,505 0.0VA $12,010 53.9% $9,159 63.3% -$2,851 9.4All Others $10,351 57.7% $9,926 65.1% -$425 7.4GOVERNMENTWIDE $10,735 68.6% $10,212 55.7% -$523 -12.9*FY 2013 data for Justice does not include FBI-DEA SES members, which are excluded from the SES under 5 U.S.C. 3132 (a)(1)

MEMBER NEWS

A C T I O N14Senior Executives Association

MEMBER NEWS

SEA Holds Annual Corporate Advisory Board LuncheonOn December 4, SEA held its an-

nual luncheon with members of the SEA Board of Directors and representatives of member companies of the SEA Corpo-rate Advisory Board.

After opening remarks from SEA President, Carol Bonosaro, and introduc-tions of participants, Cameron Leuthy, a Senior Budget Analyst from Bloom-berg Government, gave a presentation on the federal budget outlook, telling the group not to expect relief from federal spending cuts anytime soon. Cam-eron explained that se-questration was essen-tially a zero-sum game where increases in one program or agency had to be met by decreases somewhere else. He also presented which federal agen-cies are projected to have large budget increases, such as Commerce, and which agencies are likely to see big budget de-creases, such as HUD. To view the slides from this presentation, go to http://bit.ly/1zc1RAg.

The group discussed how the private sector could help the government deal with some of its budget and leadership

issues. Three issues were discussed: 1) making investments now in order to save money in the future, 2) driving the “scor-ing question” to find resources creatively to make good investment decisions and 3) demonstrating how government deals with its infrastructure investments. Also addressed was the apparent expectation of “zero risk” in government decision-mak-

ing and the need for the private sector to address Congress on eliminating laws and procedures which prevent good decisions from being made.

Deloitte representatives described an innovative contracting model, “share-in-savings,” where contractors make the initial investments and take the risks but can also share in government savings that are produced.

The group also discussed making

leadership and government service at-tractive again, the fact that workforce engagement is important to this process, and the need to consider what motivates different employees in the federal work-place, particularly the younger genera-tion. Because of concern that the “best and brightest” will not want to serve in SES positions in the federal government

in the future, attendees also addressed the in-creased risks in SES positions which are not balanced by either en-hanced pay, bonuses, or freedom to make good decisions for their agencies. SEA President Carol Bono-saro mentioned that the agencies that rank the

highest as the best places to work usually have the lowest percentage of political appointees.

Finally, the group considered the value of creating a “manual of practice” which would help senior executives find the right path. It seems that leaders of-ten know what they want to do but don’t know how to accomplish their desired outcomes – such a manual might serve as a guide for future leaders.«

Letter to the Editor - Firing Senior ExecutivesI was an SEA member for many

years until I retired from FCC in 2004I note with shock the discussion

about making easier to fire senior ex-ecs - I thought it was pretty easy in the past!

Indeed, in 1985 shortly after getting FCC to approve the decision that it now is the basis for both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth and has created billions in benefits (see http://www.marcus-spectrum.com/page4/SSHist.html and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0xhFrCl1HQ) I had a “near death experience” at FCC with at attempt to fire me.

I have documented this online re-cently (http://www.marcus-spectrum.com/resources/Cited-documents/1985-FCC-actions.pdf).

Fortunately, FCC dragged its feet and made many procedural mistakes so when they finally took action to push me out the door and Bill Bransford was able to confront them on all their errors and get them to agree to “internal exile” that ended up lasting 7 years. With the new FCC leadership in the Clinton Ad-ministration I was restored to essentially the same job although mental scars re-mains.

The results of the next decade of service are not as dramatic as the basis for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, though if you see a high speed Wi-Fi 802.11ad system in the next few years, that is the results of an initiative I took that was approved by FCC. (http://www.marcus-spectrum.com/page5/index.html)

I am telling you this in case you want to use this as an example of how the current rules have been abused and offer too little protection to career execs who act in the public interest.

I happen to be believe that if there are VA execs who both issued falsified reports and got bonuses based on those reports they should have severe penalties - possibly including criminal charges.

But the hell I went through is a real problem for those who try to act in the public interest and within the law.

I am willing to let you use this infor-mation in defending present policies.

Former SEA Member and Retired FCC Senior Executive Michael Mar-cus

January 2015 15 Senior Executives Association

MEMBER NEWSWelcome to SEA’s Newest MembersSEA would like to welcome and thank the following members who joined during November (not all members are identified since some elect, on their membership applications, not to have their names published):

Rowdy Adams, retired, Department of Homeland SecurityFred Gortler, Department of the ArmyDr. J. Brian Hall, Department of DefenseEvelyn Kappeler, Department of Health & Human ServicesJames Kennedy, Broadcasting Board of Governors Paul Mamo, Department of the TreasuryRobert Moriarty, Department of the Air ForceLaurie Park, Department of Veterans Affairs

New Lifetime MembersThanks to the following members who pledged their support of the Association by becoming lifetime members (not all members are identified since some elect, on their membership applications, not to have their names published):

Rowdy Adams, retired, Department of Homeland SecuritySue Dryden, retired, Department of DefenseDr. Robert Ross, Department of Agriculture

Special ThanksThank you to the following members who made donations to SEA to support our work. To contribute, please visit senio-rexecs.org/donate:

Dr. W. Gary Flamm, retired, Department of Health & Hu-man ServicesJanice Haith, Department of the NavyMaureen Viall, retired, Department of Defense

SEA Forms Two PartnershipsIntelligence Community LLC

SEA has established a partnership with The Intelligence Community LLC (TIC) for the benefit of both organizations. TIC was founded in 2011 as a global network of national se-curity professionals and has evolved to provide branding ser-vices in the national security social media space, job seeker as-sistance, and crowdsourcing solutions for the US government. Most recently, TIC has established an online marketplace for freelance work in national security.

This collaboration, which will foster improved dialogue on national security issues and challenges, will include invit-ing SEA members who serve in the national security arena to some TIC events. To learn more about TIC, please visit their website theintelligencecommunity.com.

Small and Emerging Contractors Advisory Forum

SEA has established a partnership with SECAF as a ben-efit to both organizations. SECAF assists small and emerg-ing companies to better understand the federal government

Calendar of WebinarsFinancial Intelligence - “Success and Failure in Retirement Investing”Tues., Jan. 13, 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.

In this episode, in addition to his monthly investment market review, Variplan LLC’s Mike Miles will explain how to define success and failure when it comes to retire-ment investing, the critical importance of these definitions and how they should affect your financial and investment decision making.

To register, go to http://www.eventbrite.com/o/sea-financial-intelligence-273448836.

To Be Announced: SEA is working on a webinar series on employee engagement to assist our SES members who are likely to find engagement on their performance standards in 2015.

Contribute to the Bill Bransford Helping Hands Fund

SEA asks its members to join us in honoring SEA’s former General Counsel Bill Bransford while assisting a cause that benefits federal employees. Consider a donation to the Bill Bransford Helping Hands Fund. Please visit www.feea.org/GiveBBfund.

including its practices, complexities, and opportunities. SE-CAF also serves medium to large government contractors by providing invaluable introductions to specialized small busi-nesses. These efforts enable the overall contracting commu-nity to work successfully in tandem.

With more than 350 members, the organization boasts one of the highest retention rates in the Washington, DC metropolitan region. Members include CEOs, COOs and CXOs of both small and emerging contractors. According to an independent member survey, 90 percent of SECAF members rate the organization as the most relevant and use-ful to their interests. By offering a variety of programs that support the mission of education, resources and advocacy, SECAF continues to grow as one of the premier organiza-tions in the region.

As part of improving the dialogue between Senior Execu-tives and the private sector to help both parties better under-stand their unique issues and challenges, SEA plans to invite its members to selected SECAF events. To learn more about SECAF, please visit their website at: www.secaf.org.«

A C T I O N16Senior Executives Association

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2015 is a Call to Arms for ExecutivesBy Steve LenkartDirector of Member and Agency Liaison

In December, the President addressed a large gathering of Senior Executives and Senior Professionals for the first time in his six-year tenure. To be in the same room as the Commander-in-Chief is al-ways inspiring, and when the President speaks on familiar issues that are part of our daily work life, even the harshest of critics may feel a little special, even if only for a moment.

While the President’s speech eventu-ally took more of a paternal tone than I prefer, he started with the right words by offering a thanks to all executives which was later followed by a cordial acknowl-edgement that all too often the successful work of the federal executive goes unrec-ognized. To that end, I suppose it is good that most did not get into this line of work for the love of unbridled gratitude, but it was nice to hear a little appreciation from the boss.

However, I am less confident that ex-ecutives needed a Presidential reminder of their daily obligation to make government more efficient and effective. In light of the Do More With Less mantra of the last sev-eral decades, executives work feverishly to balance the mandates of the American people with the political winds of the rep-resentatives they elect who typically offer more challenges than solutions.

I believe the President is aware gen-erally of the challenges that executives face every day, but it would be hard for him to comprehend fully the precision with which executives must operate to bear fruit from an abundance of irrational and conflicting forces. Political appoin-tees, congressional mandates, federal law and regulation, limited resources, ex-panding missions, and a sea of constantly changing management practices all work autonomously under their own direction and objectives. It is the executives—the long-term governors of the Executive Branch—who must align these forces long enough to get something done.

This is not to say that the President’s job is easy by comparison. He has his own mountain of woes that understand-ably leaves little time for contemplating the internal operations of government. Nevertheless, in his speech, the President expressed his interest in reforming the Senior Executive Service. He declared the creation of a White House advisory group on SES reform that will consist of a variety of stakeholders. Clearly, this ef-fort is to head off the Congress which has promised its own versions of reform as steered by several incoming committee chairs. The process itself of SES reform will extend quickly to people looking to make their mark, including former politi-cal appointees, authors, think tanks, uni-versities, service corporations and others,

all striving to the known as the best re-former. Ironically, except for us, none of them will share the burden of implemen-tation or life under the new reforms.

With the Congress increasingly tar-geting the Executive Branch for political gain through their crusade to shame ca-reer executives publicly by name, many of us are ready to engage and drive the venture to mend a beleaguered system. This is a conversation that we must own, and it is a process that we must win. To do that, we need to bring our thoughts, our expertise and our prowess as leaders together as an association in order to be as visible as possible.

This year is going to be a very active year for the SEA and its members. We will construct solid arguments, propose thoughtful remedies, and direct the com-ing plethora of conversations toward a healthy and stable government. This is an opportunity for the SEA and its members to create a system that provides executives with the tools needed to do their jobs in the 21st century. Our strength is in our numbers, so please encourage other ex-ecutives, senior professionals and GS-15 managers to join the SEA, or contact me to schedule an SEA information session at your agency or department. If there was ever a call to arms for the career leader-ship of the government, this is it!«

Steve Lenkart is SEA’s Director of Member and Agency Liaison. If you have any questions you would like answered, please contact Steve by e-mail at len-kart@seniorexecs.org.