Appointments and Resignations
Chief Operating Officer of the Federal Student Aid Office: Who Is James Runcie?
Runcie was promoted to acting CEO in May 2011. He oversaw the important move from bank-based student loans to those held by the federal government, which saved taxpayers billions of dollars. During his tenure, FSA has increased the direct loan portfolio of federal student loans from 9.2 million recipients representing $155 billion to 32 million recipients representing $1 trillion. read more
Director of the Office of English Language Acquisition: Who Is Libia Gil?
Gil undertook work in bilingual education at New American Schools, a non-profit research group that helped install education programs in public schools. New American Schools merged in 2005 with the American Institutes for Research, where Gil, as the organization’s managing director, developed the AIR Center for English Learners. She moved to CASEL in Chicago in 2011, becoming their vice president for practice. She held that position until joining the Department of Education. read more
Chief of the National Guard Bureau: Who Is Joseph Lengyel?
Early in his tenure as chief, Lengyel was faced with the controversy over re-enlistment bonus clawbacks from National Guard members. He said Congress had been informed of the clawbacks as early as 2012 but had declined to pass legislation that would have stopped them. Lengyel is from an Air Force family. His father, Lauren, was also an Air Force pilot and was shot down over Vietnam in August 1967. He was captured and held in a North Vietnamese prison camp until 1973. read more
Commander, U.S. Special Operations Command: Who Is Raymond A. Thomas III?
Thomas took his unit to Afghanistan three months after the 9/11 attacks and spent much of 12 years in Afghanistan. He then served 15 months in Iraq and, while there, survived a car-bomb attack on his armored vehicle. In 2013, Thomas went to work at the Central Intelligence Agency as its associate director of military affairs. The following year, he took over as commander of the Joint Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg, N.C., the unit that oversees secret counter-terrorism units. read more
Director of the Defense Logistics Agency: Who Is Andrew Busch?
Busch grew up in different places around the world, including five years in Saudi Arabia, while his father worked for airlines. He was recruited to the Air Force Academy to play basketball—at 6-foot-10, he was the Falcons’ center—and graduated from there with a B.S. degree. After earning his second master’s degree, Busch moved into logistics. His assignments were at the Defense Logistics Agency, Ogden Air Logistics Center, and at the Propulsion Management Center at Tinker AFB, Oklahoma. read more
Acting Director of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency: Who Is Shari Durand?
Durand started with the DTRA in 2003 as deputy associate director for business enterprise, working on the business side of the agency dedicated to stopping weapons of mass destruction. In 2007, she was made associate director, business enterprise/component acquisition executive and in 2012, Durand was made the agency’s executive director. She held that post until being named acting director in 2016. read more
Director of the Defense Information Systems Agency: Who Is Alan Lynn?
By 2000, Lynn was in the Network Management Division in the Pentagon. After the 9/11 attacks, Lynn was made division chief for the Commander in Chief for Operations and Support Division. In 2002, he took command of the 3rd Signal Brigade and was deployed to Iraq. Lynn returned to the U.S. and in 2005 moved into the office of the Army’s Chief Information Officer and became executive officer to the CIO. read more
Acting Director of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service: Who Is Dermot O’Reilly?
O'Reilly took a year off from his post at NRO to attend the National War College, earning his degree and returning to OSI as Deputy Executive Director. While in that post, he served for a few months in the Joint Counterintelligence Unit in Kabul, Afghanistan. In 2014, he was made the Defense Department’s Assistant Inspector General for Investigations, with responsibility for international operations, national security and cyber security. He held that post until taking over at DCIS. read more
Commandant, U.S. Army Command and General Staff College: Who Is Michael Lundy?
After being made deputy commanding general of the 1st Armored Division at Fort Bliss, Texas. Lundy was sent in 2012 to Fort Leavenworth as deputy commanding general of the Combined Arms Center-Training. He advocated for a Star Trek-like “Holodeck” training system for soldiers. Beginning in 2014, Lundy was put in charge of Army aviation at Fort Rucker. While there, he said the Army should de-emphasize drones and put more resources into manned aviation. read more
Director of the Defense Contract Audit Agency: Who Is Anita Bales?
In 2006 Bales was named deputy auditor in Forces and Financial Audits. Five years later she was made deputy director of DCAA, a post she held until being elevated to the top spot. Bales and the DCAA aided in the prosecution of high-ranking Navy officers and others in the “Fat Leonard” bribery scandal, in which a rear admiral pleaded guilty to accepting favors from Leonard Glenn Francis, who pleaded guilty in 2015 to bribing Naval officers to use U.S. ship facilities in Asia. read more
Administrator of the Rural Utilities Service: Who Is Brandon McBride?
Beginning in 2001, McBride was a grants specialist for Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Arkansas). In 2003, he was named Lincoln’s senior legislative assistant. McBride moved to the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry in 2009 as a senior staffer, where he remained until 2015. read more
Director of the National Technical Information Service: Who Is Avi Bender?
In 1994, Bender was named managing director for entertainment, media and communications for Price Waterhouse. He returned to federal services in 2006 as director of enterprise architecture for the Internal Revenue Service. In 2010, he moved over to the U.S. Census Bureau as chief technology officer. There, he tried to recreate a Silicon Valley atmosphere for his developers in the hope of bringing more innovative ideas to the agency. He remained there until moving to the NTIS. read more
Acting Administrator of the Food Safety and Inspection Service: Who Is Alfred Almanza?
Almanza’s work impressed then-Under Secretary for Food Safety Richard Raymond, who asked Almanza to come work for him in Washington as FSIS administrator. When Almanza was named deputy under secretary, he kept his responsibilities as FSIS administrator despite no longer having the official position. In 2015, Almanza instituted a new poultry inspection system that puts much of the responsibility for ensuring food safety in the hands of the processors, rather than the USDA. read more
Administrator of the National Agricultural Statistics Service: Who Is Hubert Hamer?
Hamer was a fellow on the Senate Budget Committee and worked on the staff of the Secretary of Agriculture. By the late 1990s, he was in charge of NASS’ Missouri office. In 2000, Hamer was made associate deputy administrator for field operations, where he oversaw 24 field offices. He moved up to be chair of the Agricultural Statistics Board in 2010, leading the publishing of market-sensitive crop reports. He remained there until being named to lead the agency. read more
President and CEO, National Railroad Passenger Corporation: Who Is Charles W. Moorman IV?
Moorman continued to climb the corporate ladder and in 2003 was named senior vice president of corporate services and later that year was made senior vice president for corporate planning and services. In 2004, he was named Norfolk Southern’s president, the following year its CEO and in 2006, Moorman added chairman to his title. He took the Amtrak job for $1 a year, plus incentives that could reach $500,000. He also serves on the boards of oil giant Chevron and Duke Energy. read more
Chairman of the National Council on Disability: Who Is Clyde Terry?
Terry certainly has experience with disabilities; he has been blind since birth because of a rare childhood glaucoma. While serving at NCD, he became the first blind person to “drive” an Audi automated car, taking a spin around the Washington, D.C., area. He has advocated for automated cars to accommodate disabled drivers. Another of his goals is to ensure fair wages for disabled workers, instead of a subminimum that some are allowed by federal law to receive. read more