Office of Personnel Management

1979 1900 E St. NW, Washington, DC 20415 202-606-1000 $53.3 billion 3,728 OPM oversees civil service testing, training, and hiring. The office also manages federal employee health and life insurance programs and administers the systems for setting federal compensation and benefits. Director (designate) 202-606-1000 As director of the agency that controls the hiring of civil servants, James, an African- American, anti-abortion, religious conservative, would influence federal workforce policy. If confirmed, she will face a double whammy at OPM: a major increase in the number of federal employees eligible for retirement, and the difficulty of attracting talented, young people to government service. While her views worry some liberal organizations, employee groups are cautiously optimistic that she can bring a diversity of interests to the table. Most recently, James, 52, served as a senior fellow for the Citizenship Project at the Heritage Foundation, where she worked to broaden support for conservative priorities in the areas of Social Security, health care, and education. Before joining the foundation, James chaired the National Gaming Impact Study Commission in 1997-99, after being appointed by then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich. She also was dean of the Robertson School of Government at Regent University, founded by television evangelist Pat Robertson. During 1994-99, James served under then-Governor George Allen as Virginia's Secretary of Health and Human Resources, where her priorities included implementing welfare reform. She has also been senior vice president of the conservative Family Research Council. In the George H.W. Bush Administration, James was associate director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy and assistant secretary for public affairs at the Health and Human Services Department. She served in the Reagan and Bush Administrations as commissioner of the National Commission on Children. James is a Hampton University graduate and Virginia native. decision makers