A number of leadership changes at the General Services Administration.

GSA Administrator Martha Johnson has announced that Gail Lovelace, who has served as the chief people officer for the General Services Administration, will be taking a newly created job as GSA’s chief leadership officer.

Gail Lovelace

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“I have been deliberately attending to succession planning, strategic alignment, and performance management of the agency leadership since my confirmation,” Johnson said in a memo to staff.  “Gail has helped shape those activities and will continue to build on them.  This move will also signal beyond the walls of GSA that we are intent upon holding our place as a pace-setter for the government in matters of fostering and strengthening public sector leadership.”

Lovelace is widely respected in government, particularly in the HR community, and has been recognized for her work on the Bush-Obama transition.

Replacing Lovelace as GSA’s chief people officer will be Tony Costa, who has spent most of his 25 year career at GSA with the Public Building Service.

In addition, Bill Piatt is moving from the Office of Technology Strategy to the GSA Administrator’s office. He will assume the work that Tony has been championing, namely GSA’s use of the social media and open government tools that our Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies is promulgating across government

The memo from Johnson sent out today:

From: Administrator Martha Johnson
Subject: Exciting Leadership Movement

It is my pleasure to announce a couple of exciting leadership moves here at
GSA.

To begin, Gail Lovelace will be moving to my office to assume the role of Chief Leadership Officer on December 1.  For the past 13 years Gail has served as the Chief People Officer.  She and I have worked very closely together for years, and I am personally thrilled to have her join me in building and strengthening our leadership cadre. I have been deliberately attending to succession planning, strategic alignment, and performance management of the agency leadership since my confirmation.  Gail has helped shape those activities and will continue to build on them.  This move will also signal beyond the walls of GSA that we are intent upon holding our place as a pace-setter for the government in matters of fostering and strengthening public sector leadership.

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In conjunction with Gail’s move, I have asked Tony Costa to step in as the Chief People Officer.  Tony brings customer knowledge, strategic business perspective, operational experience, and, perhaps most importantly, change management chops.  While most of his 25 year career at GSA has been with the Public Building Service – both Regional and at Central Office – Tony is
willing to step into a new challenge in the “C-Suite.”  It is not an easy thing to follow a leader such as Gail Lovelace who has in many ways defined Human Resources for GSA, but I have confidence that Tony will do a great job at the helm of the CPO’s office.  I am equally confident that such moves are good for our leaders and good for the organization as a whole. They break down our silos and send the signal that we want people to try new things and build out their knowledge of the full enterprise.

Finally, Bill Piatt will move from the Office of Technology Strategy to my office and will assume the work that Tony has been championing, namely GSA’s use of the social media and open government tools that our Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies is promulgating across government.  Bill recently returned to GSA and brings great experience in IT leadership and progressive IT tools.  I know that he will hit the ground running, and I am excited about the energy that he will bring to these important enterprise-wide efforts.

GSA is going through a lot of change.  These leaders have deep experience in GSA and share a passion for our mission and collective success.  As they change roles, they are modeling change as leaders.  Please join me in thanking them for their service and supporting them in these new challenges.

Best regards,
Martha

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