Washington, D.C. -- U.S. Office of Personnel Management Director Linda M. Springer today announced the assembly of 12 private citizens (see list below) from the Cleveland, Ohio area to consider nominations for the 2006 Presidential Rank Award of Meritorious Executive and Senior Professional. Appointees to the board are private citizens from corporate America, academia, legal practice, and local government. 

Members of the board will review the accomplishments of nominees -- career members of the Senior Executive Service (SES), and Senior-Level (SL) and Scientific and Professional (ST) communities -- for the 2006 Presidential Award of Meritorious Rank. The nominations must be approved by the agency head before forwarding them to OPM for final board review.

"This distinguished group of citizens will ensure only the very best federal civil servants are considered for this prestigious honor," said Springer. “This board has a tremendous task to accomplish, and I am confident the right choices will be made and the right people will be recognized.”

The Presidential Rank Award is the highest professional honor for career SES members and Senior Career Employees for exceptional performance over an extended period of time. Members of these communities manage many of the nation's most vital programs in defense, intelligence, the environment, energy, agriculture and others, and awardees receive a cash award of 20 percent of their base salary. Up to five percent of the career SES and SL/ST community may receive this rank. 

This is the third panel out of five to meet to consider nominees for the 2006 Presidential Rank Award. Two panels have already met in Washington, D.C. and Overland Park, KS, and the remaining boards are scheduled for a location and date to be announced later.

At the conclusion of the panels, Director Springer will send her recommendations to President George W. Bush, who will make the final selections and announce the award recipients later this year.

Members of the 2006 Presidential Rank Award Meritorious Review Board for the Cleveland, OH area are:

• Timothy J. Cosgrove, Esq., Partner, Squire, Sanders & Dempsey LLP, Cleveland, OH
• Jeanne Coughlin, President, Coughlin Group, Inc., Avon Lake, OH
• Joan Englund, Executive Director, Mental Health Advocacy Coalition, Cleveland, OH
• Sally D. Florkiewicz, Member, Cuyahoga County Board of Elections, Chagrin Falls, OH
• Deb Janik, Senior Vice President, Greater Cleveland Partnership, Cleveland, OH
• Dr. C. Jay Matthews, Pastor, Mt. Sinai Baptist Church, Cleveland, OH
• Bruce McCrodden, Senior Vice President, National City Bank, Cleveland, OH
• August Napoli, Vice Chairman for Institutional Relations and Development, The Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH
• Ronald B.(Ronn) Richard, President and CEO, The Cleveland Foundation, Cleveland, OH
• David A. Ruckman, President, Pecos Valley Broadcasting, Gates Mills, OH
• Omer F. (Frank) Spurlock, Retired, NASA Glenn Research Center, Brooklyn, OH
• Lorraine Vega, Senior Vice President for Corporate Diversity, KeyCorp, Cleveland, OH

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.