Recess appointment shakes up GPO leadership

The White House on Dec. 29 announced the recess appointment of William J. Boarman to head the Government Printing Office, shortly after Public Printer Bob Tapella announced his resignation.

Tapella was appointed to run GPO in 2007 by President George W. Bush and served five years as a senior executive there. During his tenure, the 150-year-old agency, which had seen sales of federal print publications nosedive in the Internet Age, achieved a period of positive operating income and launched the Federal Digital System, an online archive of government documents and information.

GPO spokesman Gary Somerset told Government Executive that Tapella resigned effective immediately following discussions with the White House.

Bruce James, the public printer who preceded Tapella, said that over the last eight years GPO rebuilt itself from a 19th-century manufacturer of printing into one of the nation's leading digital information processing centers. "The agency went from losing tens-of-millions of dollars a year to earning surpluses," he said.

Boarman, who will serve at least a year without Senate confirmation, has been involved with the printing industry and its labor relations and personnel management for more than 40 years, most recently as president of the Printing, Publishing and Media Workers sector and as senior vice president of the Communications Workers of America. He also served in various roles in the International Typographical Union, which merged with CWA in 1987.

Aliya Sternstein contributed to this report.