People: At NIH, the doctor is out

Every Monday on GovExec.com, the People column (formerly known as "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.

Dr. Harold Varmus, director of the National Institutes of Health, is leaving to become head of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. Varmus, who has headed NIH for six years, will start the new job at the end of the year. He was a co-winner of the 1989 Nobel Prize for discovering a family of genes that helped scientists understand how cancer develops.

Rae Jones Snyder, a member of the Seneca Nation of Indians in New York, accepted an appointment as senior advisor to the director of the Indian Health Service in August. In her new role, Snyder will seek to consolidate and streamline federal Indian programs with similiar functions. Before joining the Indian Health Service, Snyder served as the Director of the tribal health program for western New York and northwestern Pennsylvania for the Seneca Nation.

Larry Irving, head of the Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications Information Administration, has announced his resignation. Irving plans to start two businesses, one on the Internet, and another called Irving Information, a consulting firm that will provide international e-commerce advice. He also plans to stay involved in politics by helping Vice President Al Gore in his bid for the presidency.

John F. McGowan has been named interim director of the Defense Commissary Agency, effective October 2. McGowan has been the agency's executive director for operations. He replaces Army Maj. Gen. Richard Beale, who retired on Oct. 1.

President Clinton has announced his intention to appoint Marvin E. Johnson and John G. Wofford to the Federal Service Impasses Panel, a component of the Federal Labor Relations Authority. The panel helps resolve impasses between federal agencies and unions during labor-management disputes. Johnson is the founder of the Center for Alternative Dispute Resolution at Bowie State University. Wofford is a practitioner of mediation and arbitration services.

Marie P. Fleming, senior copyright information specialist at the Library of Congress, is retiring after 45 years of federal service.

Nominations are being sought for Public Service Excellence Awards (PSEA), national awards sponsored by the Public Employees Roundtable. These awards seek to:

• Promote excellence in public service
• Recognize outstanding contributions by public servants at the federal, state and local levels
• Encourage the exchange of ideas and best practices and promote community service.

Grace Williams
Program Manager
The Public Employees Roundtable
P.O. Box 44801
Washington, D.C. 20026-4801
Phone: 202-401-4344
Fax: 202-401-4433
Email: GWilliams@theroundtable.org

Speaking of awards, congratulations to:

• The winners of the President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency career achievement award in the inspector general community: Michael Costello, Department of Veterans Affairs, Michael Fewell and Ronald Mayeda, Department of Defense, and Orlando Valdez, Social Security Administration.
• The winners of the Industry Advisory Council's government awards program. The Defense Department's joint technical architecture team and the Air Force air mobility command lead command team both received leadership awards. In addition, Gayle Gordon, assistant director for information resources management at the Bureau of Land Management won special recognition for outstanding leadership and achievement; Martha Orr, chief of program services at the Department of Veterans Affairs' Office of Financial Operations, and Carolyn L. Miller, branch chief of the External Systems Branch at the National Science Foundation, were recognized as winners in the promoting electronic government category; and Richard Clark of the Joint Electronic Commerce Program Office at DoD and W. Frederick Thompson, program manager at the Treasury Department's office of information technology workforce improvement, were recognized for leadership in promoting support mechanisms.