By ROBERT BRODSKY and ELIZABETH NEWELL, Government Executive
President Obama's pick for chief performance officer is a government outsider, but observers say Jeffrey Zients' private sector experience could prove valuable in improving federal programs and reducing waste government-wide.
Zients, who also would serve as deputy director for management at the Office of Management and Budget, is a departure from Obama's first selection for the two positions because his experience is almost exclusively in the consulting and business community. Original nominee Nancy Killefer had served in several top Treasury Department positions during the Clinton administration; Killefer withdrew her name from consideration in February after issues with her personal income tax filings surfaced.
While Zients is not well-known in government circles, his private sector work earned him a spot on Fortune magazine's list of the richest Americans under 40 in 2002. He served as chief executive officer and chairman of the Washington-based Advisory Board Co. and as head of the Corporate Executive Board, a spin-off organization.
The firms, which were established by Washington businessman David Bradley, provide best practices and customized market research on health care and financial management. Bradley is the owner of Atlantic Media, the parent company of Government Executive and National Journal.
"It's a fantastic model that, if brought to the public sector, could do a lot to help agencies decide which new management fad is really worth pursuing," said Robert Shea, who served as associate director of administration and government performance at OMB during the Bush administration and is now director of consulting firm Grant Thornton LLP's global public sector. "I don't know if he plans to use any of those methodologies in his [deputy director for management] job, but I hope he would."
By KELLIE LUNNEY, Government Executive
President Obama on Saturday named a Washington-area entrepreneur and management consultant as the government's first chief performance officer.
Jeffrey Zients also will serve as deputy director for management at the Office of Management and Budget, Obama said during his April 18 radio address. A multimillionaire who made his money as a management consultant, Zients currently runs Portfolio Logic, a firm that invests in business services and health care companies.
"Jeffrey will work to streamline processes, cut costs, and find best practices throughout our government," Obama said.
The president focused his address on government efficiency and accountability. He said he will ask department heads during their first full Cabinet meeting next week for specific proposals on cutting their budgets.
"Already, members of my Cabinet have begun to trim back unnecessary expenditures," Obama said, citing Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Defense Secretary Robert Gates as examples.
Obama said that he plans to announce in the coming weeks the "elimination of dozens of government programs shown to be wasteful or ineffective," adding that there will be "no sacred cows, and no pet projects."
The president also announced that Aneesh Chopra, Virginia's technology secretary, will serve as the government's chief technology officer and work closely with Vivek Kundra, the chief information officer.
Zients replaces Nancy Killefer as Obama's pick for the top federal management position. Killefer withdrew in February to avoid controversy over issues related to her personal income taxes.
Zients served as chief executive officer and chairman of the Washington-based Advisory Board Company -- where Chopra has also worked -- and as head of the Corporate Executive Board. The firms provide best practices and customized market research on health care and financial management. Zients also launched an unsuccessful bid with other Washington-area investors in 2005 to buy the Washington Nationals baseball team.
By ALINA SELYUKH
Just as the dust was settling last week from the exits of Tom Daschle and Nancy Killefer, Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., whipped up the tumult again. By pulling out of consideration for Commerce secretary, a post previously abandoned by New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D), Gregg became the Obama administration's fourth high-level dropout so far.
But while this administration has set a turnover record for an incoming Cabinet, it's hardly the first to run into problems with its nominees. Bill Clinton leads among recent presidents with a total of six major nominee dropouts over the course of his presidency, followed by George W. Bush and his Cabinet's two withdrawals. Three previous presidents -- George H.W. Bush, Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter -- each slipped once. All but Reagan had at least one kink in their first-term Cabinet selection process, with Clinton accepting three withdrawals.
Details about each of those instances follow after the jump.
Continue reading Obama Challenges Clinton For Most Nominee Dropouts.
By DAVID HERBERT
Nancy Killefer has ended her candidacy to be the nation's first chief performance officer, a nomination President Obama once touted as "among the most important" he would make.
In a letter to Obama dated today, Killefer cited tax problems with the District of Columbia. The Associated Press revealed shortly after her nomination that the District hit Killefer with a $946 tax lien on her home in 2005 after she failed to pay unemployment compensation for household help.
Killefer, an executive with consulting titan McKinsey & Co., is expected to give a news conference this afternoon. In addition to the newly created CPO position, she would have been deputy director for management at the Office of Management and Budget.
Killefer is Obama's second high-profile nominee to withdraw (along with would-be Commerce Secretary Bill Richardson) and the third nominee to have received scrutiny over unpaid taxes, after Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Health and Human Services nominee Tom Daschle.
Read text of Killefer's letter to Obama after the jump.
Continue reading Killefer Cites Tax Problems In Ending CPO Bid.
By ELIZABETH NEWELL, Government Executive
In addition to serving as the government's first chief performance officer, Nancy Killefer will also serve as deputy director for management at the Office of Management and Budget, Killefer confirmed to Government Executive.
Killefer, who succeeds Clay Johnson III in OMB, will meet with Cabinet members and other key agency officials soon after the inauguration and then on a regular basis.
"I am convinced the success of every policy of this administration will be influenced by the people executing it, and I'm committed to engaging and drawing on the talents of the federal workforce in order to deliver on our promise of a new more efficient and effective government," Killefer said.
In announcing Killefer on Wednesday, President-elect Barack Obama touted her career in the Clinton Treasury Department, where she served as assistant secretary for management, chief financial officer and chief operating officer, as well as her private sector experience at McKinsey and Co., a management consulting firm where she is a senior director. The president-elect said Killefer is an expert at streamlining processes and eliminating inefficiencies who also understands that government services are delivered by people.
"During the campaign, I said that we must scour this budget line by line, eliminating what we don't need or what doesn't work, and improving the things that do," Obama said. "Working with Peter Orszag and Rob Nabors at the Office of Management and Budget, Nancy Killefer is uniquely qualified to lead that effort."
