Washington, D.C. - The U.S. Office of Personnel Management's (OPM) Director Kay Coles James, has announced that OPM's Federal Workforce Conference, scheduled for September 8-10 at the Baltimore Convention Center, Baltimore, Maryland, will feature Secretary Alphonso Jackson, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and Secretary Anthony Principi, U.S. Department of Veteran's Affairs. David Walker, Comptroller General of the Government Accounting Office will also speak.

"This conference will allow Federal government leaders and managers to enhance their knowledge of human capital strategies in order to deliver better and more effective services," said OPM Director Kay Coles James.

Entitled the 2004 OPM Federal Workforce Conference: Working for America, the event will provide a forum for discussion of the Bush Administration's vision of human capital management initiatives in the Federal government. The conference already has more than 1,500 registrants.

Panelists from across government and the private sector will address human capital strategies and the issues and challenges facing the Federal workforce, provide guidance on emergency preparedness for Federal employees and offer insight as to what is being done to address these challenges to provide for an effective workforce that better serves the American public.

For the first time, the OPM Federal Workforce Conference will bring together under one umbrella, discussion of human capital strategies and their relationships to labor and employee relations, pay and benefits, performance management, e-Government, and personnel security, and others. Representatives from the Department of Homeland Security and OPM will address emergency preparedness issues and challenges.

Additional information and conference registration procedures can be obtained at www.opm.gov/conference.

Our mission is to ensure the Federal Government has an effective civilian workforce. OPM supports U.S. agencies with personnel services and policy leadership including staffing tools, guidance on labor-management relations and programs to improve work force performance.