Washington, D.C. – U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Director Kay Coles James today announced the appointment of Mr. Joseph E. Donald, Jr. as Assistant Director for Retirement Services Program at OPM. Donald will supervise the retirement services program that administers the Civil Service Retirement System and the Federal Employees Retirement System for over 2.4 million retired federal employees and their families, and assist in the program’s modernization.

“Joe is an excellent addition to the management team responsible for maintaining the high level of excellence necessary for this program,” stated James. “His many years managing human resources programs in the private sector have prepared him for the unique opportunities on the horizon as we seek to modernize the federal government’s retirement systems.”

Donald has thirty-five years of professional and leadership experience in human resources in the private sector and spent fifteen years at Horizon Blue Cross/Blue Shield of New Jersey where most recently he was the Director of Human Resources. Mr. Donald is a veteran who served four years as a communications electronics officer in the United States Air Force before beginning his civilian career at Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York, where he administered both defined benefit and defined contribution retirement plans.

As Assistant Director for the Retirement Services Program, Donald will be responsible for determining retirement benefits, delivering benefit payments and providing retirement benefit services to federal retirees, their survivors and other beneficiaries.

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.