Personnel changes in Headquarters To: "E - All WRD Employees" From: "Robert M Hirsch, Chief Hydrologist, Reston, VA" (Robert M. Hirsch) Subject: Personnel changes in Headquarters Cc: "Gordon P Eaton, , Reston, VA" , "Bonnie McGregor, , Reston, VA" , "Barbara J Ryan, , Reston, VA" , "Robert M Hirsch, Chief Hydrologist, Reston, VA" , "P. Patrick Leahy, Chief Geologist, Reston, VA" , "Richard E Witmer, , Reston, VA" , "William F Gossman Jr., , Reston, VA" , "Linda D Stanley, , Reston, VA" , "Pamela R Malam, , Reston, VA" , "Michael P McDermott, , Reston, VA" , "Donovan B Kelly, , Reston, VA" , "Gail Ann Wendt, , Reston, VA" Effective immediately Mary Jo Baedecker will serve as Acting Chief of the Office of Hydrologic Research. She will serve in an acting capacity pending permanent approval by the Department. Mary Jo has an outstanding record as a researcher in the field of organic geochemistry and as a research administrator in her current position as Branch Chief for the Eastern Region of the National Research Program (NRP). The duties of her new position include both the responsibility for managing the NRP and also conducting the Research Grade Evaluation process for the entire Division. Mary Jo is well known as a pioneer in the understanding and characterization of organic contamination of ground water. She has a long history of effective collaboration and interaction with scientists and managers throughout the USGS. Please give her your fullest support as she embarks on this challenging position. I want to express my deepest thanks to Gail Mallard for filling this position on an acting basis for the last 20 months. She has been a highly valued member of the WRD senior staff during this period and has simultaneously served the entire USGS as one of the three chairs of the Strategic Planning Team which is now completing its work. She and the NRP Branch Chiefs have worked aggressively to manage the NRP in difficult times. In addition to her recent leadership of the NRP, Gail has made major contributions over the years through her highly management of the Toxic Substances Hydrology Program. This program is recognized as a model for effective research through partnerships which rely on the great strengths of our Districts and the NRP. I have asked Gail to take on another important and challenging new assignment. She will work on my immediate staff to bring about a through redesign of the Federal Program line items in our budget. The aim of this redesign is to simplify our budget and create much clearer mechanisms and lines of responsibility for program planning and management. The premise of this redesign is an idea that is articulated clearly in the forthcoming Strategic Plan: Our entire Division and each individual program must be managed to provide a balance of three elements: data collection, interpretation and research. I hope you will join me in expressing to Gail our deep gratitude for her (unprecedented) 20 months of service in an acting capacity. This is a time of great challenge for all of us. I know that some of you are concerned about the upcoming details of senior managers throughout the USGS. Both Jack Fischer and Alice Sabatini are individuals who provide exceptional service, advice, and leadership to many of us throughout the Division. They will be sorely missed during their assignments but they will also be providing great skill and knowledge to other divisions in their temporary assignments and this will strengthen the whole USGS. The cross-fertilization of ideas and adoption of common business practices across the USGS is vital to our future success. Both Jack and Alice will contribute greatly to this. Please join me in wishing them well in their assignments. We will need the help and patience of many of you in our efforts to make up for their absence. Fortunately, they won't be far away and will be contributing to the betterment of our whole bureau. We are all frusturated by the difficulties of moving quickly toward permanent filling of management positions in the Survey. It comes about as a direct result of the conflict between the need for moderate reductions in the size of our workforce along with the need to provide opportunities for employees displaced from other bureaus versus the need to move ahead with appointments to our senior ranks. I feel that we have assembled an excellent management team and that regardless of their status as acting or permanent they are all doing an excellent job on behalf of all of us and the Nation that we serve. ********************************************************** * Robert M. Hirsch Phone: 703/648-5215 * * Chief Hydrologist Fax: 703/648-5002 * * 409 National Center Internet: rhirsch@usgs.gov * * U.S. Geological Survey * * Reston, VA 22092 * **********************************************************