May 2014 Volume 34 No. 5

Published Exclusively for Members of the Senior Executives Association

Inside This Issue: Report from the Hill: Staying Out of the Congressional Limelight...3 SEA President’s Comments...5 Fed Salaries of $200K...8

Devaluing Federal Career Leadership...9 Member News...10-11

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

House Votes toIncrease Feds’PensionContributions

See REPORT on pg. 4 See PENSION on pg. 7

Partnership’s Civil Service ReformReport Seeks Changes to the SES

Innovation Strategies Developed at SEA/Deloitte Forum

See FORUM on pg. 7

A new report entitled “Building the En-terprise: A New Civil Service Framework,”from the Partnership for Public Service andBooz Allen Hamilton, proposes ideas toupdate the federal civil service system.The report’s authors argue thegovernment’s General Schedule, pay andclassification system, and hiring system,which are over a half century old, are inneed of an update for the 21st century.

Also proposed are changes to theSenior Executive Service. The reportmakes the case that such an update wouldbetter situate the federal government torecruit, hire, and retain talent needed toaddress today’s complex, interagencychallenges. The report is organized arounda set of seven recommendation areas.

The first recommendation is to re-laythe foundation for a unified civil servicesystem with a set of common core prin-ciples across government. The report’sauthors say balkanized and disparate au-thorities for hiring and pay across gov-ernment have resulted in agencies com-peting for talent not only with each otherbut also with the private sector, and thatthe playing field needs to be leveled.

The second recommendation flowsfrom the first, and it is to establish a sim-plified and streamlined job classificationsystem for professional and administra-tive positions. The report proposes con-densing the General Schedule’s 15 grade

On April 1, SEA held “Breaking DownBarriers to Innovation: Strategies for Se-nior Federal Executives,” an interactiveforum presented in cooperation withDeloitte.

Following introductions by SEA Presi-dent Carol Bonosaro, the forum featured apresentation by William Eggers (photo atright), Global Research Director ofDeloitte’s Public Sector Practice and co-author of The Solution Revolution: HowBusiness, Government, and Social Enter-prises Are Teaming Up to Solve Society’sToughest Problems.

Eggers’ described an emerging organiceconomy breaking across traditional sec-tor boundaries in which people are pro-viding solutions to problems they are no-ticing in their community. This economy is

closing the gap between what citizensneed and what governments can tradition-ally provide by designing markets that pro-

duce public value, not dollars. For ex-ample, after citizens noticed terrible trafficcongestion and emissions in their com-munities, dozens of rideshare businesses

were created to alleviate the problem.Following Eggers’ presentation, at-

tendees broke out into one of four workgroup discussions based on their choice:The Human Capital Components of In-novation, Setting Infrastructure to Pro-mote Innovation, Using Innovative Tech-nology to Engage Employees, and Lead-ership Methods to Inspire and Foster In-novation.

With assistance from discussion mod-erators from Deloitte, each group spent abrief period of time initially discussing theoperational challenges that inhibit inno-vation within the framework of their workgroup, before devoting the majority of timeto concepts and strategies to address

The House passed an FY 2015 budgetresolution on April 10 that would requirefederal employees to contribute more totheir pensions and shrink the governmentworkforce.

The chamber approved the Republi-can budget shepherded by House BudgetCommittee Chairman Paul Ryan in a 219-205 vote. The concurrent resolution isunlikely to go anywhere since the Demo-crats control the Senate, and the legisla-tion does not carry the force of law.

A C T I O N2Senior Executives Association

Carol A. Bonosaro, Publisher • Jeff Spinella, Editor

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Expected Mailing Date: May 5th

Carol A. Bonosaro, Presidentseapresident@seniorexecs.org

Published Exclusively for Members of theSenior Executives Association

Dr. David Bray (FCC)Dr. Walter Bryzik (Retired, Army)Dr. Walter F. Jones (Navy)Diane Randon (Army)Charles Sepich (VA)George Triebsch (Labor)Marylouise Uhlig (EPA)William J. Valdez (Energy)Linda Washington (Retired, DOT)

Mailing Address:Senior Executives Association77 K Street N.E., Suite 2600

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SEA ADMINISTRATION

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

Jeff Spinella,Director of Communicationsaction@seniorexecs.orgMelanie Stinnett,Director of Project Next Generationstinnett@seniorexecs.orgAndy Uscher,Director of Corporate Relationsauscher@seniorexecs.orgVicky Zorrilla, Office Manager &Membership Administratorvicky@seniorexecs.org

Financial Services: Dennis Boyd, Association Managers, Inc

Barbara Pabotoy (Treasury)ChairDonald Bathurst (DHS)Vice ChairBonnie Hammersley (OSD)TreasurerMelanie Stinnett (Retired, Justice)SecretaryDr. Marc Allen (NASA)Colleen F. Barros (HHS)

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NORTHROP GRUMMAN

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A House panel approved legislationon April 9 that would freeze congres-sional pay for the sixth consecutive year.

The Appropriations Committee onvoice vote advanced its fiscal 2015 legis-lative branch spending bill, which in-cludes a provision preventing lawmak-ers from receiving a pay increase nextyear. Rank-and-file lawmakers currentlyearn $174,000 a year, while the Housespeaker takes home a $223,500 annualsalary, and the majority and minority lead-ers in both chambers receive $193,400 ayear.

At least one lawmaker, however, be-lieved it was time for a raise. Retiring Rep.Jim Moran (D-VA) who offered an un-successful amendment to the spendingbill to give members of Congress a perdiem for living expenses, said recentlythat lawmakers do not make enoughmoney.

“I think the American people shouldknow that the members of Congress areunderpaid,” Moran told CQ Roll Call inan interview. “I understand that it’swidely felt that they underperform, butthe fact is that this is the board of direc-tors for the largest economic entity in theworld.”

He added many members “can’t evenafford to live in Washington,” and manylawmakers live in “small little apartmentunits” or in their offices. Moran, who hasserved in the House for 23 years, hasconsistently fought for better pay andbenefits for federal workers. While themethods for determining the annual payraises of lawmakers and federal employ-ees vary slightly, the two are tied. Law-makers’ annual pay adjustments cannotexceed the annual base pay adjustmentsof General Schedule employees.

From: GovExec.com

Follow SEAPresident on TwitterSEA President Carol Bonosaro istweeting. Follow her by loggingin to www.twitter.com, visiting

www.twitter.com/seniorexec1, andclicking “Follow.”

MAY 2014 3 Senior Executives Association

Preparing for a Congressional Hearing is Your Best Bet forStaying Out of the Congressional LimelightBy Jenny MattingleySEA Legislative Director

Report from the Hill

GSA, IRS, VA, HHS – scandals, Con-gressional Investigations, and probably afew other things, come to mind when youthink about these agencies. What you mayor may not recall is that, as different asthese “scandals” are, there are a few com-mon denominators. Each of these agen-cies has handled programs that becamehighly politicized and led to messagingthat was far beyond the scope of any tech-nical policies and programs that were atplay. And each of them had career SeniorExecutives at the epicenter of the storm.

That Senior Executives play a role inoverseeing high-level programs and poli-cies has not been lost on Con-gress, nor has the fact that theymake convenient scapegoats.This focus on Senior Execu-tives and “scandals” has ac-tually led to much of the legis-lation that SEA has been fight-ing against over the past year.

Setting aside the issue ofwhether there is actually fault to be foundand whether any particular individual is toblame, what is clear is that the prepared-ness of Senior Executives to deal with thisnew climate in Congress has been lackingand has led to some unwanted focus onthe career SES corps. Poor preparation bySenior Executives who find themselves infront of Congress has often led not only tothe public scapegoating of Senior Execu-tives but to the introduction of legislationto allow agencies to put Senior Executiveson unpaid administrative leave, allowagency heads to fire Senior Executives, andto cancel performance and PresidentialRank awards.

One thing that may help Senior Ex-ecutives deal with this new focus is toprepare to testify for hearings by havinga greater understanding of Congress andhow it functions. Regardless of whethera Senior Executive is testifying on behalfof his or her agency or as an individual,or is meeting committee staff for brief-ings and interviews, there should alwaysbe some background research involved.This entails understanding how Congresshas been dealing with the particular is-

sue, and understanding how the particu-lar hearing may be conducted.

Senior Executives are often sent totestify before Congressional committeeswhen a hearing centers on a program theyoversee. In these instances, knowing thesubject matter may not be enough. Thetone on Capitol Hill has changed over thelast few years and many hearings (de-pending on the committee) have becomemuch more partisan and full of messag-ing and less about technical issues,policy drivers, and outcomes. Knowingwhat type of hearing you are likely to faceis a good start to preparing to testify. Ifthe hearing is on a high profile issue thatseveral Members of Congress (especially

if they are committee members) have beenoutspoken about, be prepared for themto all want to make a statement and getquestions in for the record. They may askthe same question that another Memberof the committee has already asked, andthey may not really wait for a response.Do not be frustrated by having to answerthe same or similar questions. Know thatthis is how a hearing may be conductedand continue to answer with the informa-tion you have prepared.

Sometimes, committee members willask witnesses questions not about thetechnical issue they are there to speakon, but about a related hot button topic.If this is the case and you cannot speakto the issue, it is appropriate to say thatthe issue they raise is outside the scopeof what you understood the hearing tobe about and that you do not have theinformation at hand but will go back tothe agency to the request and get thatinformation for them. Be aware that oneof the great frustrations of Congress thesedays is that they send endless requestsfor information to agencies and do notfeel that they’re answered in a timely man-

ner, if at all. If you do have to tell a Mem-ber of Congress that you need to get backto him or her, be prepared for this frustra-tion to be expressed.

Another thing that frustrates Membersof Congress at hearings (or in meetingsand interviews) is if they think a witness isbeing combative and withholding informa-tion. This frustration will be on display ifthe hearing is less about a technical issueand more about messaging around a highprofile topic. Any Senior Executive that hasto testify in this type of situation shouldwork with their agency Congressional Af-fairs office to learn if the Committee hasheld other hearings on this topic, what typeof questions were asked, where Members

of the Committee standon the issue, and whereany pitfalls were exposed.Understanding the land-scape and whether theprograms or policies be-ing examined during thehearing have become po-liticized will be a good

indicator of what type of treatment wit-nesses can expect at the hearing.

The same type of preparation andunderstanding holds true whether it is fora hearing or for a Congressional briefingor investigative interview. Knowing thepolitics and players involved providescontext. With this in mind, attacks andgrandstanding become less personal, butare expected. And if you have a sense ofthe types of issues and questions thathave been raised before, or what specificprogram or policy in which Members areinterested, you can be prepared to pro-vide information and respond to certainlines of questioning.

Poorly prepared witnesses at a hear-ing these days can lead, and have led,Congress to focus on Senior Executivesbroadly and on certain individuals. Al-though many Senior Executives think theywill not catch the attention of Congressbecause what they work on may seem likeit’s just their daily job, you can never betoo careful – or too prepared. Understand-ing Congress and the political landscapeis key to a strong witness performance ata Congressional hearing.

“...the preparedness of Senior Executives todeal with this new climate in Congresshas been lacking and has led to some

unwanted focus on the career SES corps.”

A C T I O N4Senior Executives Association

Continued REPORT from pg. 1

levels into five work levels that more closely align with the knowl-edge work most federal employees currently perform. Also pro-posed are dual tracks for management and technical specializa-tion.

Third, the report’s authors propose occupation-specific andmarket-sensitive compensation, while still allowing for differ-ences based on geographic location or levels of responsibility.

Fourth, the report’s authors propose improving performancemanagement in government by ensuring supervisors and man-agers have the skills and training they need to do their jobs, butalso by awarding above-market base pay raises for managerswho perform above expectations. No pay adjustments would beprovided for those with unsatisfactory performance.

The fifth area of recommendations focused on federal hir-ing. The report’s authors propose expanding hiring flexibilitiescurrently available only to “excepted” agencies, while maintain-ing core principles such as veterans’ preference, merit-based se-lection, diversity, and equal opportunity. Also proposed is hold-ing managers accountable for the talent they hire into their orga-nizations, charging OPM with developing assessment tools tohelp agencies identify best qualified candidates for vacancies,allowing direct-hire authority when agencies can demonstrate ashortage of highly qualified candidates, and making re-entry tothe federal workforce by former employees easier, while also en-suring that reentry accounts for new skills and experience.

The sixth area of recommendations are around em-ployee justice and accountability. The report proposes con-solidation of various forums currently available to employ-ees who have been disciplined or subject to other adminis-trative actions into a reconstituted MSPB. This proposalclosely resembles a position promoted by SEA in the past.

Reforms to the Senior Executive Service make up theseventh area of recommendations. The report’s authors saythat career leaders have become too agency-centric, and arenot fulfilling the original vision of the 1978 Civil ServiceReform Act of a unified but mobile executive leadership corpsfor the government. Compounding the problem, the reportstates, is that some agencies, such as those in law enforce-ment, defense, and intelligence, have different executivestructures than the rest of the government which makesmobility between these agencies and others more difficult.The report’s authors also lament that too many executivesare promoted for technical aptitude, rather than for manage-rial or executive skills and people skills.

The report’s authors propose the creation of a single,four-tier SES that allows opportunities for executives to worktheir way up as they develop skills and competencies andtackle increasingly larger issues. Executives at lower tierswould report to those at higher tiers. The proposed top tier(Tier 4) would be reserved for Senior Executives with dem-onstrated interagency, enterprise-level leadership experience.Tier 4 executives would be selected by a proposed Enter-prise Executive Resource Board operating under thePresident’s Management Council. Proposed pay for tier 1executives would be capped at Level III of the ExecutiveSchedule, pay for tier 2 executives would be capped at amid-point between Level III and Level II of the ExecutiveSchedule, and pay for tier 3 would be capped at Level II ofthe Executive Schedule. Tier 4 executive pay would be cappedat Executive Schedule Level I or the Vice President’s salary.

The report also proposes that new candidates for theSES “need to demonstrate the capacity to lead in a complex,interagency, intergovernmental environment.” The reportalso recommends reserving key agency management posi-tions for career executives, as well as reducing the overallnumber of political appointees.

SEA was twice briefed and solicited for input during thecreation of the report. While many of the proposals are in-triguing, as with all such large-scale reforms, the devil is inthe details. The report’s authors say their report is not meantto be prescriptive, but rather, they were hoping to start aconversation about the state of the civil service and theneed to modernize it to face the complex challenges of to-day. The debate is not new, as the problems identified in thereport and many of the proposed solutions have been raisedor tried before. Whether Congress takes on the debate isyet to be seen.

The report can be accessed online: http://o u r p u b l i c s e r v i c e . o r g / O P S / p u b l i c a t i o n s /download.php?id=237.

MAY 2014 5 Senior Executives Association

SEA President’s Comments: The Partnership ReportOverall, the question is whether the

Congress has an appetite for reformingthe civil service. Given the way in whichlegislation has been dealt with in this Con-gress, the prospects seem dim – certainlywith regard to pay reform, but hopesprings eternal.

With regard to specific recommenda-tions:

· Creating a unified personnel systemthat operates under a set of common coreprinciples and policies to level the play-ing field across the federal landscape inthe competition for talent.

When it comes to the SES, this horsehas left the barn. There are currentlyapproximately 88 pay systems equivalentto the SES and, within the SES, severaldistinct executive systems including theSenior Intelligence Service, the SeniorBiomedical Service, and the FAA Execu-tive Service (outside of Title V). Unravel-ing this crazy quilt, while desireable,would likely unleash fierce resistancefrom the affected agencies.

· Ensuring greater accountability andspeedier justice for employees disciplinedor fired for poor performance or miscon-duct by consolidating the multiple com-plaints and appeals channels into a one-stop process managed by a reconstitutedMerit Systems Protection Board.

This is critical and SEA has been sing-ing this song for years. But it also re-quires providing managers and execu-tives with better information regardingtheir options when it comes to handlingpoor performers, and engaging the sup-port of higher-level leadership, which isoften too quick to settle complaints andappeals (even though few of those whichgo forward are ultimately upheld).

· Creating a four-tier senior executiveservice that would better prepare accom-

plished career civil servants for high-levelagency positions and for managing com-plex, interagency, intergovernmental initia-tives.

My initial reaction is déjà vu all overagain. When the 6 rank system was abol-ished in 2004, a number of departmentsand agencies created a 3 tier system toreplace it, believing rank was important tomaintain. The tier system has resulted inits own set of problems, including lack oftransparency (no information regardingwhy positions are placed in specific tiersand no information regarding how onemoves from one tier to another). It may betime to consider putting a rank system backinto place – which could also address prob-lems with the performance pay systemwhich is close to having been decimated.

· I personally disagree with the top tieras proposed because, among other rea-sons, it would be under the control of thePresident’s Management Council, whichis composed of political appointees, andexecutives serving in such a corps mightwell find themselves targets of an incom-ing Administration of the opposite party.Here’s a radical idea – how about a coun-cil composed of career appointees to se-lect Enterprise Executives? Further, I be-lieve that executives can participate in adhoc groups to deal with complex, inter-agency issues by utilizing details; identi-fying the executives who could contributeeffectively to such projects would be facili-tated by a government-wide data base ofcareer executives.

· Filling key government managementpositions with senior career executivesinstead of political appointees to providea long-term perspective and leadershipcontinuity, and reducing the overall num-ber of political appointees.

The Partnership, happily, is singing

from SEA’s hymn book. We have proposedspecific legislation for several years to ac-complish precisely this.

A few stray thoughts:· Re: The Employee Viewpoint Survey

and the Partnership’s “Best Places toWork.” The EVS never defined senior lead-ers, so we don’t know with whom the faultlies for relatively low levels of respect– po-litical leadership or career leadership.

· Re: the value of multi-agency experi-ence. There is, no doubt, value in meetingtoday’s challenges in having experienceacross agency lines. But there is also valuein knowing the “business.” Not every jobrequires multi-agency experience, andsome which don’t still require high levelsof skill and experience. Most important,no mechanism exists – and none is recom-mended – for providing the processes toenable those on the executive track (orthose moving up the ladder) to obtain thatmulti-agency experience.

· Technical experts are mentioned justonce, with regard to being placed in Tier1. ST’s (Senior Professional and Scien-tific) are world-class scientists. More at-tention needs to be paid to them.

· With regard to the 10% cap on non-career SES, this – again – has been a pro-vision of SEA’s proposal for SES reformfor at least 10 years – so we couldn’t agreemore.

· The interesting point about ranks isthat the recommendation is that rank re-side in the position, although the origi-nal SES statute required that it reside inthe person. The difficulty was always thatrank tended to veer toward position. Thevalue of rank in person is the flexibility itprovides to leadership to place the per-son in the position where he/she is mostneeded, irrespective of the technical re-quirements of the position.

The Shrinking FederalWorkforce, In One Chart

The federal government lost 10,000 jobs in March, and thatis just the latest in a series of losses over the past two years.Sequestration and other budget cuts have forced civilian agen-cies to scale back — or in some cases freeze — their hiring.

The following chart shows how much federal employmenthas fallen in the past 24 months. It does not include U.S. PostalService employees.

From: GovExec.com

A C T I O N6Senior Executives Association

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MAY 2014 7 Senior Executives Association

The Federal Gender Pay Gap with Women One Third ofSES

The pay gap between male and femalefederal employees, with men in the betterposition, “has dramatically shrunk,” saysa report issued April 11 by the Office ofPersonnel Management.

From 1992 to 2012, the OPM found,the gap fell from about 30 percent to 13percent for federal white-collar positions.

“According to our comprehensive, in-depth review of 37 white-collar Federaljob categories, in 2012, women were paid87 cents for every dollar that a man waspaid,” OPM Director Katherine Archuletasaid in a blog post. “In 1992, women inthe Federal workforce made just 70 centson the dollar.”

Those statistics, however, fail to re-veal a more complex picture.

Diving deeper, the OPM found that insome cases there was a pay gap in favorof women. Sometimes the data indicatenear-parity. The big issue, however, ap-pears to be a lack of women in high places.

Women hold only about one-third ofthe Senior Executive Service (SES) posi-tions and not much more of the top Gen-eral Schedule slots, GS14 and GS15.

“That’s a number that needs to grow,”

Archuleta said.“For starters, we need to address the

imbalance of hiring in all occupations. ...That’s why we have made it a top priorityto mentor women who hold GS14 andGS15 positions to advance into SES jobs.”

Agencies must build stronger em-ployment and promotion pipelines forwomen, improve salary transparency andsimply obey the law, Archuleta said. “Wewon’t be satisfied until women workingin federal jobs earn the same as their malecounterparts, at every level.”

The wage gap is narrow for men andwomen in the top ranks, but the smallnumber of women there feeds the overallpay disparity. Women in senior executiveleadership roles were paid 99.2 cents forevery dollar men earned in 2012. For su-pervisors and managers, it was 95.6 cents.

Why, in the OPM’s words, do “womentend to be overrepresented in occupationswith lower maximum salaries andunderrepresented in higher-paying occu-pations, including STEM (science, tech-nology, engineering and math)-relatedfields.”

Nowhere in the report, which was de-livered five months after its due date, issexism mentioned.

Sexism, however, probably is less of afactor in government than it is in the pri-vate sector, “perhaps because of the meritprinciples which undergird governmenthiring and promotions,” SEA PresidentCarol Bonosaro said in an e-mail.

Bonosaro said the lack of equal SESrepresentation could be because of “thedemands of home and children (and noFederal family leave policy), as well as rem-nants of sex bias…and at least somewomen’s reluctance to toot their ownhorns and be aggressive about seekingopportunities.

“And, after all these years, there hasnot been a concerted effort to focus onimproving the representation of women; Ihasten to add that efforts to improve mi-nority representation have fallen short aswell.”

Bonosaro makes a good point. TheOPM also should investigate the lack ofemployees of color in the government’stop ranks. It’s a real problem.

Whatever the reasons for the lack ofwomen in top slots, it’s changing, albeitnot quickly enough.

Excerpted from The Federal Eye byJoe Davidson, from

WashingtonPost.com, April 11, 2014.

these challenges and foster innovation.The work-group discussion items and

ideas were recorded by each group onwhite boards specifically designed for theexercise. The white board for each groupincluded details of environmental con-straints and other challenges faced, alongwith best practices for overcoming theseobstacles and the next steps to take to

successfully put them in place. Theboards can be viewed on SEA’s website athttps://seniorexecs.org/2-uncategorised/

381-breaking-down-barriers-to-innova-tion-strategies-for-senior-federal-execu-tives.

This was the second innovation fo-rum SEA has co-sponsored with a corpo-rate sponsor in recent months. In Decem-ber, SEA and Northrop Grumman presented“Breaking the Barriers to Innovation: AForum on Promoting Dialogue and Inter-action Between Career Senior Executivesand the Private Sector.”

Continued FORUM from pg. 1

Continued PENSION from pg. 1

Some lawmakers, including Rep. ChrisVan Hollen (D-MD) and Rep. Rob Woodall(R-GA), offered unsuccessful alternativesto the Ryan proposal.

The Ryan budget blueprint proposesincreasing the amount feds contribute totheir pensions and eliminating a specialretirement supplement for certain employ-ees who retire before the age of 62. Theproposal would require federal employees,

lawmakers and congressional staff to con-tribute half to their pensions, with the gov-ernment contributing the other 50 percent.FERS enrollees would contribute 6.35 per-cent of their paycheck to their defined ben-efit.

The budget proposal also would getrid of the FERS Annuity Supplement,which benefits those who retire before theage of 62 and are not eligible for manda-tory retirement. The actual language in thedocument calls for “reform” to the special

retirement benefit but Ryan has suggestedeliminating it before. President Obama alsohas said he supports eliminating it.

The plan would eliminate the studentloan repayment benefit for federal work-ers as well and also recommends reduc-ing the government workforce by 10 per-cent through attrition by replacing oneemployee for every three who leave gov-ernment service. The proposal would ex-empt national security jobs. .

From: GovExec.com

A C T I O N8Senior Executives Association

Quote/Unquote“How would you compare this period

with years ago in terms of the way theworkforce is viewed?

It’s never been this bad...I worry aboutit. We (the Congress) have sent a mes-sage, and we do it every day in everyway, that the federal workforce is not tobe valued, not to be respected. It’s sym-bols, like freezing their pay...You wouldn’tdo that if you were you trying to recruitthe best and the brightest or even to re-tain the workforce that you have.

Federal employee morale, how wouldyou rate that?

It’s surprisingly higher than I wouldexpect it to be, given all of the punishingpolicies that Congress has directed itsway. I’m surprised the federal workforceis hanging in as well as they are. Theyhave every reason to be demoralized, es-pecially what has happened over the lastthree years...We have the best civil ser-vice in the world and the least corruptedlarge civil service in the world, and we’rebasically getting it on the cheap.

More Than 15,000 Feds Make at Least$200K

Most of the discussion of pay for federalemployees in recent months and years hasbeen about insufficient or non-existent raises,pay gaps and budget shortfalls.

A new database compiled byFedSmith.com using data from the Office ofPersonnel Management and other agencies,however, shows more than 15,000 federal em-ployees earned at least $200,000 in 2013.That’s roughly 1 percent of all federal work-ers on the list; some employees in nationalsecurity positions were not included in thedatabase.

The vast majority of the top 1 percent offeds were doctors at the Veterans AffairsDepartment. The highest earning employeewas a Veterans Health Administration doctorin Pittsburgh, who took in just more than$400,000 last year. More than 1,200 employ-ees made more than $300,000.

Other agencies that require a highly spe-cialized workforce paid several employees atleast $200,000, including the National Institutesof Health, Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention, Food and Drug Administration,Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Fi-nancial Housing Finance Agency, and the Se-curities and Exchange Commission.

All of these employees are paid on sys-tems specific to their agency or occupation.Some of these systems have much higherpay caps than the General Schedule, whichsets the salaries — before adjusting for lo-cality — at just less than $130,000.

Members of the Senior Executive Servicehave their pay capped at $181,500 for 2014.The highest paid feds on the ExecutiveSchedule, such as agency heads and the vicepresident, will earn $201,700. Deputy headswill receive less than $200,000.

BonusesMany federal employees are able to boost

their base salaries each year through bonuses.Most bonuses are relatively small —

fewer than 1,000 feds received a five-figureaward according to the database. Sixteen fed-eral employees received bonuses of morethan $50,000. The highest award was nearly$63,000.

From: GovExec.com See QUOTE/UNQUOTE on pg. 9

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MAY 2014 9 Senior Executives Association

Devaluing Federal Career Leadership - InexcusableAt a March 31 Senate Homeland Secu-

rity and Government Affairs Committee hear-ing, “outside experts” opined about “Cre-ating a 21st Century Government.” Thoseof us with years of Federal service are famil-iar with most of their critiques and sug-gested remedies. If not startlingly new, theystill point to real and systemic problems.

But one nostrum offered up at this hear-ing was galling.

President and CEO of the Partnershipfor Public Service Max Stier asserted theneed to recruit, especially from the privatesector, a new Senior Executive Service (SES)leadership cadre. He went so far as to sug-gest that the current 7,000-member careerSenior Executive Service is “a very insulargroup that doesn’t represent the kind ofskills and talents and enterprise view weactually need….”

A quick perusal of the accomplishmentsof the 40 to 60 Federal career executiveswho received the Presidential Distin-guished Rank Award in recent years quicklyreveals that Mr. Stier’s characterization oftheir “skills and talents” is absurdly wide ofthe mark. In 2012, the combined effort ofthese award winners yielded estimated sav-ings and cost avoidance to taxpayers of $94billion, and included hugely consequentialachievements in fields from astrophysicsto medical research to the saving of lives.

These high flyers are by no means alienpresences among otherwise blinkered bu-reaucrats. The SES corps is overwhelm-ingly a ferociously hard-working and dedi-cated group of men and women, whose longhours and deep expertise have accom-plished broad improvements in programperformance measures, despite shrinking,sequestered budgets.

Sadly, Mr. Stier’s devaluation of Fed-eral career leadership is a recurring themeamong so-called management experts whoanalyze the Federal government, generallyfrom the perspective of the private sector.“Why aren’t these Federal career executivesbold, innovative, broad-thinking entrepre-neurs? Why are they so ‘risk averse?’ Whydoesn’t the government just hire privatesector executives with the necessary agil-ity?”

The problems with this diagnosis andcure should be obvious. First, governmentis different than corporations – strictly

speaking, it’s not an “enterprise” at all andcertainly not a single one: it’s just over 2million employees (excluding the PostalService) carrying out more than a thousandindividually legislated programs, each sepa-rately conceived and structured by Con-gress and overseen and evaluated as such,often with overlapping and even contra-dictory goals.

Second, the climate of gridlock and po-litical one-upmanship that’s reigned inWashington for most of the past 35 years –and which becomes more extreme everyyear – is hardly conducive to liberating se-nior career executives to push the bound-aries. The opposite is true: successivePresidents, ever-mindful of the 24/7 mediacircus and endlessly elaborate polling, lardmore and more political appointees overcareer leaders, and those appointees usethe inescapable availability of email, Black-berry and iPhone to insist on prior reviewof practically every decision or communi-cation. Senior agency jobs, like the CFO,CIO, Chief Management Officer - once filledby the best and brightest among career lead-ers - are now overwhelmingly held by po-litical appointees.

Mr. Stier also suggested Congressshould do more investigative hearings toimprove the effectiveness of government.A fine theory, but in the poisonous atmo-sphere of recent years? “Gotcha” hearingsare all too often the only variety on offer.

And why not hire the Steve Jobs of theworld to promote creativity, or at least re-quire that new entrants have broad experi-ence across multiple levels and types of“enterprise”? As a now-retired SES whoattempted to fill numerous career executivepositions over a 23 year period, I can reportthat private sector whizzes aren’t flockingto take these jobs. Aside from the off-put-ting environment of continual kibitzing,they’re not enticed by the meager SES sala-ries – starting around $120,000, capped atjust above $180,000, and subject to politi-cally induced routine pay freezes and cur-tailment of the modest performance awardsbuilt into the SES pay system. Frequentlyit’s even difficult to get the best-qualifiedinternal candidates to apply, given the dis-proportionate levels of expectation andpressure of SES jobs versus lower levelpositions in the General Schedule. (Corpo-rate CEOs’ salaries compared to their jour-

ney level employees have gone throughthe roof, often 300:1 or more; the maximumSES salary ratio is no more than 3 to one –and often less.)

The notion of giving top Federal lead-ers genuine experience in multiple agen-cies or in cross-agency task forces is aperennial one. But such efforts take moneythat’s never quite available, and requirethe political leadership of Federal agen-cies to spare key executives for months ata time, notwithstanding the multiple crisesto be worked on in their home jobs.

On balance, the often harried 7,000-oddcareer Senior Executives do a phenomenaljob, despite the many obstacles to excel-lence that are inherent in their situation,including the largest impediment to for-ward-thinking innovation – thegovernment’s entirely irrational budgetsystem.

There’s no question that Federal man-agement can be improved, and must be.There’s no question that Congress andthe President could and should make seri-ous statutory and other changes to thestructure of the Senior Executive Service,and of the civil service as a whole.

But denigrating the skills and talentsof the dedicated souls who are currentlymaking things work better than anyonehas a right to expect – that’s inexcusable.

Shelby Hallmark is a retired LaborDepartment Senior Executive. A lifetimemember, he served on the SEA Board ofDirectors from 2004 to 2013 and as itsChair from 2006 to 2011. He receivedthe Presidential Rank of DistinguishedExecutive in 2003.

By Shelby Hallmark

Quote/UnquoteWhat words do you have for federal

employees as you prepare to leave?Hang in there. They’re needed. We

have no alternative to a professional,properly compensated, ethically disci-plined workforce. What would we dowithout the federal workforce? Wewould not be the country we are. Atsome point, the country’s got to recog-nize that.”

Retired Virginia Rep. Jim Moran.Excerpts from an interview by Joe

Davidson printed in Washington Post(The Federal Diary), April 6, 2014.

A C T I O N10Senior Executives Association

SEA Members Recognizedon Top IT Fed Lists

MEMBER NEWSMember Benefit of the MonthLaw Firm Consultations

The law firm of Shaw Bransford & Roth, PC, is pleased tooffer members of the Senior Executive Association two free ½hour telephone consultations in a year on separate federalemployment law matters, as well as a discount for those whoengage the firm to provide legal services.

Shaw Bransford & Roth (SBR) was founded in 1982 by G.Jerry Shaw, a former attorney in the IRS Chief Counsel Office;Shaw was a founder of SEA and its first President. He wenton to found the law firm, become the Association’s first Gen-eral Counsel, and dedicated his practice of law to assistingcareer Federal executives. Since then, SBR has become widelyrecognized as providing superior legal services to the careerSES corps.

SBR is devoted to providing legal advice and representa-tion to the federal community on federal personnel matters.SBR attorneys litigate cases before the Merit Systems Pro-tection Board (MSPB), the Equal Employment OpportunityCommission (EEOC), the Foreign Service Grievance Board,and federal courts. The firm has extensive experience dealingwith federal agencies and Congress, and is respected for bothits zealousness and professionalism. SBR has successfullyrepresented executives, managers, supervisors and employ-ees in nearly every federal agency on the full array of federal

Federal Computer Week (FCW), the federal technology maga-zine, has announced its annual “Federal (Fed) 100,” a list of 100government, industry, and academic leaders who have playedpivotal roles that affect how the federal government acquires,develops, and manages IT.

SEA would like to congratulate members Bryan Burnett, Na-tional Labor Relations Board, and Dawn Leaf, Department ofLabor, for being selected as winners.

Burnett, the CIO at NLRB, reduced core IT expenditures by$2 million and developed a next generation case managementsystem that cut down on duplicate efforts and streamlined docu-ment management. The system has been adopted by 80% of theBoard’s employees and will be fully adopted by all employeesby the end of 2014.

Leaf, the Deputy CIO at Labor, has undertaken a long-termproject that is consolidating infrastructure with the aim of shar-ing services among agencies, and also launched a veterans sec-tion for the My Next Move website that assists former servicemembers in finding employment that matches best with theirexperience and skills.

Winners are selected by FCW from submissions garneredfrom a call for nominations, and the 25th Federal 100 Awardsevent was held on March 20 at the Washington Hilton Hotel.

Dawn Leaf was also recognized in March on Fedscoop’s listas one DC’s Top 50 Women in Tech. The full list can be found atfedscoop.com/dcs-top-50-women-tech/.

employment law issues:· OIG, OPR, and OSC investigations· Congressional investigations· Misconduct actions· Performance actions· Security clearance and suitability actions· EEO claims and defense· Disability retirement claimsThe firm’s philosophy is simple. Partner Debra Roth said,

“We are client focused and results driven. We strive to identifyour clients’ goals and develop a full scale strategy to achievethem. Our advice is practical and delivered candidly, both ofwhich we believe is critical to the ability of a client to make awell informed decision.

The firm welcomes the opportunity to provide legal adviceand/or representation to SEA members. Often a matter can beresolved or a decision made with a brief conversation with anattorney, which is why SBR has offered SEA members two free½ hour consultations. You hope you’ll never need an attorney,but, if you are faced with an employment matter, we invite youto use your free ½ hour with our attorneys to obtain qualitylegal advice and assist you in making the best decision foryou.”

Learn how to maximize your value. Take “Putting Your Experience to Work,” a

two-day seminar for executives facing transition into a new job, a new organization or retirement.

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“This is a very practical course. The information, skill building and practice really increased my confidence. I used the techniques the first day after the seminar.”

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For more information and to register, visit www.seniorexecs.org

SEA Members have said:

MAY 2014 11 Senior Executives Association

MEMBER NEWSWelcome to SEA’s NewestMembersSEA would like to welcome and thank the following memberswho joined during March (not all members are identified sincesome elect, on their membership applications, not to havetheir names published):

Jo Anne Dimitriou, Department of the Air ForceDuane Flemming, Department of Veterans AffairsRosa Franco, retired, Department of Veterans AffairsJoseph Gangloff, Office of Government EthicsRobert Herting, retired, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corpora-tionMarie Kennington-Gardiner, Department of TransportationLavonne Liversage, Department of Veterans AffairsMiles McEvoy, Department of AgricultureMary Janis Mullaney, Department of Health & HumanServicesDenis Riordan, Department of Homeland SecurityRon Rosenberg, Department of Homeland SecurityJohn Wessels, American Battle Monuments CommissionMary Woods, Department of the Army

Thank YousSEA thanks the below members who made contributions inexcess of their annual dues:

Dr. Marc Allen, National Aeronautics and Space Adminis-trationEllen Bell, retired, Department of the TreasuryJohn Euler, retired, Department of JusticeJohn Ferguson, National Labor Relations BoardJacqueline Roundtree, Department of Housing & UrbanDevelopment

Calendar of Events“Financial Intelligence: Five Things EverySmart Investor Must Know”Tuesday, May 13, 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.

Hosted by Mike Miles, Federal Times’ financial expertand the SEA’s financial-planner-in-residence, Financial In-telligence explores and explains a variety of topics that areessential to the financial success of every Senior Execu-tive. The May session is a must-see for every SEA mem-ber with money to invest! This information-packed ses-sion will highlight the keys to investment success - theimportant things that you must know to get the most outof your portfolio.

To register, go to http://www.eventbrite.com/org/273448836. Each one-hour, second Tuesday of the monthlunchtime session will typically include a review of theinvestment market with advice for managing your port-folio, in-depth coverage of one or more key topics, andan opportunity for live questions and answers. Submityour ideas for topics to be covered in upcoming edi-tions of Financial Intelligence by emailing Mike atmmiles@variplan.com with “Financial Intelligence” inthe subject line.

Presidential Distinguished and MeritoriousRank Award ReceptionThursday, June 5, 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.

Sponsored by SEA’s Professional DevelopmentLeague, the reception will be held at the Department ofState Diplomatic Reception Rooms. The reception willrecognize the 2013 finalists for hte Presidential and Meri-torious Ranks (suspended last year). By invitation; SEAmembers may attend (if space permits) with a donation of$95.

“Getting Your Will and Estate Planning inOrder”Wednesday, June 18, 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.

Tom O’Rourke, Principal, Miles & Stockbridge, willprovide a comprehensive look at getting your affairs inorder, including the goals you should consider, and bothformal and informal planning tools for wills, trusts, andtax planning. If you haven’t completed your estate plan-ning, you can’t miss this webinar, and, if you have, thesession will provide a review and a nudge toward anynecessary updating. Be prepared, not only for the inevi-table, but also in the event of your incapacity. To registerto attend - either online or at the SEA office - go to https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ getting-your-will-and-estate-planning-in-order-tickets-11388089081

New Lifetime MembersThanks to the following members who pledged their support ofthe Association by becoming lifetime members:

Ron Rosenberg, Department of Homeland SecurityPeter Stipek, retired, Department of the Treasury

Continued ASK TIM from pg. 12

and grade if two pre-conditions are met; (1) the Limited TermAppointment is made without a break in service in the sameagency as the one in which the individual holds a career orcareer conditional appointment in a permanent, non-SES posi-tion and (2) the Limited Term Appointment is terminated forreasons other than employee misconduct, neglect of duty ormalfeasance.

Tim Dirks is SEA’s Director of Member and Agency Liai-son. If you have any questions you would like answered, pleasecontact Tim by e-mail at dirks@seniorexecs.org.

A C T I O N12Senior Executives Association

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Limited Term SES Appointments - What’s the Deal?ASK TIM

By Tim DirksDirector of Member and Agency Liaison

When we talk about SES employeeswe normally lump them into two catego-ries – career and non-career. That’s finefor most purposes, however, there doesexist a third category – limited term SESappointees. Limited term SES appoint-ments are a hybrid of sorts – bearingsome characteristics of both career andnon-career appointments as well as someunique features that provide agenciesmanagement and operational flexibilityand, in some cases, opportunities for em-ployees.

Recently, an SEA member askedabout the nature of limited term SES po-sitions and whether it is possible for acareer GS-15 employee to be appointedto one, and if so, what terms and condi-tions would apply. After doing a littleresearch, here are a few data points and asummary of OPM’s guidance on estab-lishing and filling limited term SES posi-tions.

Nature and Number of Limited TermPositions: There are two types of limitedterm appointments available for agencyuse: (1) SES Limited Term Appointmentsand (2) SES Limited Emergency Appoint-ments. SES Limited Term Appointmentscan be made for periods up to 3 years.SES Limited Emergency Appointmentscan be made up to 18 months. Agenciesare authorized by OPM to allocate up to

3% of their SES slots to SES limited termappointments. Limited term positionsmay be established without OPM’s priorapproval. However, OPM must autho-rize individuals’ appointments to limitedterm positions in advance unless theagency has a delegation in place permit-ting it to fill certain numbers/types ofpositions. Limited term appointmentsexpire automatically at the end of theappointment period but can, at theagency’s discretion, be terminated ear-lier.

Limited Term Appointments mayonly be made to “General” (as opposedto “Career Reserve”) SES positions.When filling an SES limited term posi-tion, agencies are not required to holda competition for or even announce theposition. Additionally, OPM Qualifica-tion Review Board review of anappointee’s qualifications is not re-quired. A review of OPM data in recentyears indicates that normally between100 and 150 SES Limited Term and Lim-ited Emergency positions are in use atany given time across the government,the vast majority of which are SES Lim-ited Term (as opposed to Limited Emer-gency) jobs.

SES Limited Term positions are ap-propriate when agencies have a specialproject, or non-recurring SES-level workthat is of limited duration (no more than3 years in length) and will expire, so that

at the end of the term, there will be nofuture need for the SES limited appointee.Examples of Limited Term SES situationsmight include:

· A law or Executive Order requires animportant new program to be establishedand completed within a 3 year period

· A program or mission normally led bya GS-15 requires a new SES-level leader toaddress new and substantially increased,but time limited, challenges

· Agency mission requirements sup-port a strategy of periodically making SESlimited term appointments of individualsfrom outside government with specialqualifications who are willing and able tomake important contributions to a time lim-ited, mission critical initiative

SES Limited Emergency Positions arefor use, according to OPM, to meet bonafide, unanticipated, urgent agency needs(all three conditions must be met) that donot exceed 18 months in duration

Agencies may fill these positions withqualified career employees who are vol-untarily willing to accept them. Such ap-pointees continue to receive health, re-tirement and other benefits while servingin the limited term appointment. Follow-ing termination of the appointment, a ca-reer employee (e.g., GS-15) is entitled tobe placed back in his or her former posi-tion, or a position of like status, tenure

See ASK TIM on pg. 11