Every Monday on GovExec.com, Comings and Goings announces the arrivals and departures of top federal managers and executives. To submit an announcement, e-mail it to ksaldarini@govexec.com or fax it to 202-739-8511.
Larry Irving will leave his position as head of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, a Commerce Department agency, at the end of the summer. Irving, who has headed NTIA for six years, is the first African American to lead the agency. Irving spent much of his time at NTIA dealing with the 1996 Telecommunications Act.
Gregory Rohde, senior legislative assistant to Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., will succeed Irving as head of NTIA. Rohde has served as Dorgan's chief policy advisor on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, and also contributed to the Telecommunications Act.
F. Whitten Peters has been confirmed by Congress as the secretary of the Air Force. Peters has been acting Air Force secretary for the past 20 months.
Air Force Gen. Joseph W. Ralston, currently vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will succeed Army Gen. Wesley K. Clark as commander in chief of U.S. European Command and NATO's supreme allied commander, Europe. Ralston is currently the nation's second-highest ranked military officer. Ralston, who had intended to retire after 35 years of duty, had made it clear that the position was one of the few jobs he would accept to remain on active duty.
In other military news, Gen. Thomas A. Schwartz, currently commander of U.S. Army Forces Command at Fort McPherson, Ga., will succeed Gen. John H. Tilelli Jr. as commander of U.S. Forces Korea. Tilelli is scheduled to retire in early December. Schwartz last served as a commander at Fort Hood, Texas. He was commissioned in 1967.
Kudos to John Reddinger, staff industrial property management specialist with the Defense Logistics Agency's Defense Contract Management District International in Fort Belvoir, Va. Reddinger recently was awarded the Federal Property Manager of the Year award, the highest honor given to federal employees in that field. Reddinger was recognized for his work as a lead property manager for DCMDI and also for his volunteer service in Bosnia, where he managed contracts valued at more than $360 million.
Pentagon officials this week recognized Lt. Gen. Joseph E. Hurd for his managerial skills. Hurd is commander of the 7th Air Force and of the U.S.-Republic of Korea Air Component Command. He also serves as deputy commander of U.S. Forces Korea. He received the award for enhancing the U.S. presence in Korea and for improving troops' combat readiness in the country.