DHS hires new human capital chief
Veteran federal HR executive Catherine Emerson will fill the position, which is being converted from political to career.
The Homeland Security Department has found a new chief human capital officer. Catherine V. Emerson, who had been assistant administrator for human resource management at the Federal Aviation Administration, moved to DHS two weeks ago, a source at the department said.
Next week, Emerson will move into the CHCO slot being vacated by Jeff Neal, who is retiring as of Aug. 3. Neal has headed personnel operations at DHS since 2009.
In connection with the move, the CHCO job at DHS is being converted from a politically appointed slot to a career position -- an unusual shift in the federal sector. DHS has had five CHCOs in eight years, the longest-tenured of whom served only a little more than two years. Officials decided to convert the CHCO post to a career position in the interest of stability in the function and federal expertise in the person who holds it.
Before serving at FAA, Emerson was director of policy and performance management and CHCO at the Federal Labor Relations Authority. In 2008, she served as the administrative head of the agency in the absence of an appointed chairman. She is the only career employee of the FLRA ever to have performed this function.