People: EPA's new water wizards

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.

The Environmental Protection Agency has named two key leaders of water programs. Diane C. Regas is the new deputy assistant administrator for water. Regas joined EPA in l987 as an attorney-advisor specializing in water and hazardous waste issues and has since held a wide variety of positions at the agency. Geoffrey H. Grubbs has been named director of the Office of Science and Technology at the Office of Water. Grubbs will oversee many of the agency's major water programs, including beaches, fish consumption, pollution and drinking water. Like Regas, he is a career EPA employee.

At the Department of Health and Human Services, Timothy Westmoreland has been tapped to run Medicaid, the national health insurance program for poor and disabled Americans. Westmoreland is a lawyer and a recognized expert in AIDS policy. He assumes his new responsibilities in mid-October.

The Justice Department has named Donald Prosnitz its first chief science adviser. Prosnitz is a physicist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, where he serves as chief scientist in the Nonproliferation, Arms Control and International Security Directorate. Prosnitz will be on a two-year detail to Justice.

Dr. Ricardo Martinez, chief of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, announced recently that he would step down to spend more time with his family and work as a health care executive in the private sector. Martinez plans to leave the agency by mid-October.

Greg Woods, head of operations at the Department of Education's Office for Student Financial Assistance (OSFA), has put together a new management team to lead the agency's transition to a performance-based organization. The team consists of:

• Jeanne Van Vlandren, general manager for students. She is the former executive director of the higher education planning commission for the state of Vermont.
• G. Kay Jacks, general manager for schools. Jacks formerly chaired the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators and worked at Colorado State University.
• J. Barry Morrow, general manager of financial partners. He last worked with Sallie Mae Servicing Corp.
• Stephen C. Hawald, chief information officer. Hawald is the former president of technologies for Dental Benefits Providers Inc.
• Robert A. Knisely, director of analysis. He joins OSFA from the Department of Transportation, where he was deputy director of statistics.
• Candace Hardesty, director of contracting and acquisitions. She was a federal acquisition expert at the General Services Administration.
• Karen Santos Freeman, communications director. She joins OSFA from the Public Broadcasting Service.
• Linda Paulsen, a career OSFA employee, will be acting chief financial officer until the search for a new officer is completed.