The Education Department's Office of Student Financial Assistance Wednesday introduced a new management team that will lead an effort to focus on customer service and accountability at the first federal performance-based organization.
OSFA, which provides over $42 billion a year to help millions of students pay for college, became the first PBO as a result of legislation passed in October 1998. The performance-based-organization (PBO) concept is designed to give federal operations freedom from strict government personnel and procurement regulations in return for meeting tough performance standards.
OSFA's new top managers have a mix of public- and private-sector backgrounds. "What we've built here is indeed a team of complementary and reinforcing skills to go ahead and make all the things happen that we've been talking about," said Greg Woods, OSFA's chief operating officer.
Woods, who joined the agency from Vice President Gore's National Partnership for Reinventing Government last December, said OFSA will operate under the theory that organizations should "put the responsibility and the resources in the same place." To that end, OSFA has been restructured based on the groups of people the agency interacts with- students, schools and financial partners.
Under OFSA's previous structure, the agency had a series of directorates overseeing specific operations, such as policy and finances. According to Woods, the lines of responsibility were so unclear in the office when he first arrived that he had trouble figuring out who he should call to meetings.
The new core management consists of separate general managers for students, schools and financial partners, along with a chief information officer, a chief financial officer and an ombudsman. The new team members are:
- Jeanne Van Vlandren, general manager for students
- G. Kay Jacks, general manger for schools
- J. Barry Morrow, general manager of financial partners
- Stephen C. Hawald, chief information officer
- Linda Paulsen, acting chief financial officer (the search for a chief financial officer is not yet completed)
- Debra D. Wiley, ombudsman
Several career civil servants are on the team. Van Vlandren, for example, has worked at the Energy Department and previously headed up an effort to reengineer school oversight at OSFA. Paulsen is a long-time OSFA employee. Robert A. Knisely, who will serve as director of analysis for the PBO, came from the Department of Transportation, and Candace Hardesty, a former General Services Administration employee, will be in charge of acquisition.
The other new executives were brought in from the private sector to "bring us a bright new perspective," Woods said.
The newly created ombudsman position is designed to help bridge the gap between OSFA and its partners to solve problems that more than one group is responsible for, Woods said. "The issues the ombudsman will deal with are things that are between organizations- problems that drive our customers nuts are the ones that are in the cracks," he explained.
Under the terms of the PBO agreement, OSFA must create a five-year plan for overhauling operations from the beginning of fiscal 2000 on Oct. 1 through 2005. The five-year plan, currently undergoing review, aims to improve customer satisfaction and reduce the overall cost of delivering student aid.
As part of the deal, top executives will be offered monetary incentives for meeting performance goals. Woods will be eligible for bonuses of up to 50 percent of his salary if annual performance goals are met. Other senior executives will also have a shot at bonuses, but their total compensation is limited to 125 percent of the maximum Senior Executive Service pay rate.