GSA fills key management positions in the Federal Acquisition Service

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GSA fills key management positions in the Federal Acquisition Service

Alan Thomas, the commissioner of the General Services Administration’s Federal Acquisition Service, promotes two executives.

Jason Miller@jmillerWFED

September 18, 2017 5:30 pm

4 min read

Alan Thomas, the commissioner of the General Services Administration’s Federal Acquisition Service, is shuffling the executives’ chairs.

Most importantly, Thomas named Mary Davie to be the deputy FAS commissioner.

“Mary’s depth of experience working with stakeholders across government, industry and FAS’s customers is second to none. It’s provided her with an excellent perspective from which to guide the organization as it moves forward,” said Thomas in a release. “Mary is well poised to support our FAS leadership team as we continue to build on recent successes, including improved employee, customer and supplier satisfaction and driving additional savings and efficiencies into the federal procurement landscape.”

Mary Davie is the new deputy commissioner of GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service.

Davie, who has been acting deputy FAS commissioner since then-Commissioner Tom Sharpe and Deputy Commissioner Kevin Youel-Page resigned on June 12, spent the last dozen years as a FAS assistant commissioner, most recently with the FAS Office of Information Technology Category and prior to that in the FAS Office of Assisted Acquisition Services.

Thomas, who joined as FAS commissioner in June, made a quick decision to promote Davie.

By naming Davie, Thomas is living up to some of the priorities he detailed when he was sworn in as FAS Commissioner — transparency with customers, industry and other stakeholders.

“These are welcome changes and GSA is putting the right people in the right places to run the FAS programs,” said Roger Waldron, the president of the Coalition for Government Procurement and a former GSA executive. “We are extremely pleased to see Mary named deputy commissioner of FAS. She brings a wealth of experience and expertise in FAS operations and understanding customer agency needs, and industry’s role in supporting GSA. We look forward to working with her and the rest of the team in bringing best value solutions to meet customer agency needs.”

Along with Davie, Thomas removed the “acting” from Kay Ely’s title as she now is the permanent assistant commissioner for the Office of Information Technology Category.

He also detailed Dave Zvenyach, who currently is the acting executive director of 18F, to be acting assistant commissioner for the FAS Office of Systems Management. Zvenyach has helped 18F rebound from a rough 18 months, when GSA’s inspector general found a host of problems with how the organization followed policies, regulations and laws.

Zvenyach led 18F’s agile blanket purchase agreement (BPA) effort, giving agency customer access to vendors and other services.

Rebecca Piazza, 18F’s deputy executive director, will replace Zvenyach to be the acting executive director for 18F.

“Mary and Kay are no strangers to high-impact leadership roles and they bring impressive experience to their new positions,” Thomas wrote in an email to staff, which GSA provided to reporters. “Dave is a respected technology and acquisition leader and this move is a great example of how we are using the best talent in our organization to benefit our customers and industry partners by joining forces to modernize our systems. I want to thank Rebecca Piazza for stepping up to lead 18F in an acting capacity to continue delivering efficient, easy-to-use digital services.”

Additionally, Bob Noonan, currently the assistant commissioner for the Office of Systems Management, will move to the role of acting assistant commissioner of the Office of General Supplies and Services, and Erv Koehler will leave his position as FAS regional commissioner for the Southeast Sunbelt Region and move into the role of assistant commissioner of the Office of Customer Accounts and Stakeholder Engagement (CASE).

Thomas said in the email to staff that Noon’s “extensive background working for the Department of Defense as a Naval supply corps officer,” will benefit FAS. Beth Folz has been the acting AC for GSS for the past year.

Joel Rogero, who has been Koehler’s deputy, will serve as the acting regional commissioner in the Southeast Sunbelt Region.

Kim Brown will leave her position as the assistant commissioner for CASE and return to her previously held position of FAS regional commissioner for the GSA Great Lakes Region.

“As we close out FY17, I want to thank you for your commitment to federal service and our mission. I understand there has been substantial change this year and trust you will continue to adapt and be successful as we fill key management positions and align several of our top leaders to best position the enterprise for continued success in FY18 and beyond,” Thomas wrote. “My top priority is to make our team even more effective and create opportunities for improved performance and growth. As we start a new fiscal year, now is the time to solidify the front office team and our portfolios, continue strengthening our regional leadership cadre, take a user-centered design and iterative development approach to modernizing our core business systems, and replicate the breakout success we’ve had with some of our largest and most strategic customers like the Army.”