Clarence C. Crawford

Office of Personnel Management
Clarence C. Crawford
Chief Financial Officer

He's worked at the Office of Management and Budget, the old General Accounting Office, the Patent and Trademark Office and the Internal Revenue Service, but what does Clarence C. Crawford say prepared him best to be the chief financial officer for the Office of Personnel Management? "Being a D.C. cop."

It might surprise some who know the mild-mannered CFO, who goes by the nickname C-3, or C-cubed (for his initials), but the Washington native spent seven-and-a-half years as a beat cop on the streets of the District of Columbia. "You really get a good understanding of people and what makes people tick," Crawford says. "Sometimes in this job as a CFO, you have a responsibility to deliver a message that people do not want to hear."

While serving as one of D.C.'s finest, Crawford got a bachelor's degree in criminal justice followed by a master's in public administration from American University. In 1979, he began his career in government as a Presidential Management Intern at the IRS, eventually ending up at OPM in November 2002.

He started off with a variety of management responsibilities, but is now wholly focused on financial management. He'll be overseeing a major outsourcing of OPM's finance systems to the Bureau of Public Debt by fiscal 2007. He also is establishing rigorous procedures that employees must follow to ensure financial integrity. With better systems and procedures in place, Crawford can concentrate on high-level analysis. "We're going to have a real solid focus on results," he says, "and a real clear understanding of return on investment."