Mike Causey

Academy Awards East

Some feds appear able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.

Federal News Network Staff

April 23, 2009 4:00 am

4 min read

Look, up in the sky, it’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s SuperFed!!!

Actually it’s a very smart guy in a rented tux, or a super-successful (just as smart, if not smarter) woman in an evening dress. Feeling very proud and nervous at the same time. And it happens just once a year. And for many it is the event of a lifetime.

Compared to the big bucks bonuses given the bailout bankers bunch, tonight’s awards program at the State Department is no big deal. In fact some of the Wall Street wonderkids probably wouldn’t bother to warm up their corporate jets to make the trek to D.C for a low 5-figure bonus.

But if you are part of the federal establishment (or a just a humble taxpayer) be advised that Uncle Sam’s version of the Academy Awards takes place tonight. And it is a big deal. Bigger than most people could imagine.

Approximately 70 senior career federal executives, winners of the 2008 Presidential Distinguished Rank Awards, will be honored for the jobs they and their subordinates did and are doing. In addition to saving the government an estimated $93 billion dollars, they were nominated by their agencies for directing mind-blowing operations in health, science, outer space, the inner oceans, national defense, medical research, law enforcement and homeland security.

The execs being honored by the Senior Executives Association are also major cogs in the government wheel that, even as we sleep, keep traffic moving, food and water safe and make life a little better for most of us, and a lot better for some of us.

The back stories on the executives include long family-straining hours. Lots of sometimes not so fun (and sometimes downright dangerous) travel. And hard work and dedication to the country that few of us in the private sector are ever asked to make. Some them handle programs that cost/save as much as the budgets-now-deficits of many states.

So if you can’t make it tonight, and most of us can’t, hit the “silent” button on your TV remote around 8 p.m. EST, face Washington, D.C., and toast the winners. They’ve earned it.

And the winners are:

Department of Agriculture	Department of Energy	Department of VeteransAffairs
Dr. Jere L. Dick	Kenneth M. Bromberg	Ron H. Garvin
	Betty L. Hollowell	Dennis M. Lewis
Department of Commerce	Dr. Dennis G. Kovar	Stephen Warren
Dr. Susan Solomon	Patty Wagner
	Dr. Rita L. Wells	Environmental Protection Agency
Department of Defense	Stephen J. Wright	Deborah Y. Dietrich
		Michael M. Stahl
Office of the Secretary	Department of Health and Human
David W. Clark	Services	NationalAeronautics and Space
Thomas Ferguson	Colleen F. Barros	Administration
Zack Gaddy	Dr. H. Westley Clark	Terry L. Bowie
Arthur Thomas Hopkins	Daryl W. Kade	Dr. John C. Mather
John J. Penkoske, Jr.	Thomas M. Reilly	Arthur F. Obenschain
Dr. Patricia A. Sanders		John P. Shannon
	Department of Homeland Security	Michael T. Suffredini
Defense Intelligence Agency	David V. Aguilar	Dr. Woodrow Whitlow, Jr.
Robert T. Cardillo	The Honorable W. Ralph Basham	Dr. Bruce A. Wielicki
	Calvin M. Lederer	Dr. Steven F. Zornetzer
National Security Agency	Brian K. Nagel
Paul F. Dowling		National Transportation Safety
William M. Crumm	Department of the Interior	Board
David Isacoff	Debbie Lynn Clark	Joseph G. Osterman, Jr.
Beth Kaspar	Robert E. Doyle, Jr.
	Nina Rose Hatfield	Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Department of theAir Force	Lawrence J. Jensen	James F. McDermott
Kenneth K. Dumm
Dr. Donald B. Paul	Department of Justice	Office of Management and Budget
Barbara A. Westgate	Phillip H. Warren	Andrew M. Schoenbach
Patricia J. Zarodkiewicz
	Federal Bureau of Investigation	Office of Personnel Management
Department of theArmy	Richard Lee Haley, II	Kathy L. Dillaman
William H. Campbell
Joyce E. Morrow	Department of Labor	Small Business Administration
Philip E. Sakowitz, Jr.	Michael G. Connors	Jennifer E. Main
Edward C. Thomas
Edgar B. Vandiver	Department of State	Social Security Administration
	Linda S. Taglialatela	Manuel J. Vaz
Department of the Navy
Robert D. Hogue	Department of Transportation	U.S. Agency for International
Mark W. Honecker	Stephen R. Kratzke	Development
Sandra R. Leggieri		Gloria D. Steele
Brian J. Persons	Department of the Treasury
	Linda E. Stiff

For more on the distinguished executives honors and awards program, click here.

Nearly Useless Factoid
by Suzanne Kubota

Mystery solved! Yesterday’s NUF left many puzzling over why there was no color code designated for bread delivered on Wednesday. Along comes Ann from Navy with the answer. She says her “father-in-law was a bread man for years and Wednesday was traditionally the second day off each week. So, no bread deliveries.” Makes perfect sense now. Thanks Ann!

To reach me: mcausey@federalnewsradio.com