WASHINGTON, DC - Dr. Jeff T.H. Pon officially begins his appointment today as Director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) following his Senate confirmation and swearing in last week.

Director Pon received his nomination to the position on September 2, 2017, to serve as the head of OPM and will take the reins from Kathleen McGettigan, OPM’s Chief Management Officer. McGettigan served as the Acting OPM Director since January 19, 2017, the day before the Presidential Inauguration.

“I’m both honored and thrilled to serve as the Director of OPM, and I am excited to get to work immediately on advancing the ambitious agenda the White House has set forth for our agency, including streamlining the Federal workforce to put our nation’s hard-earned tax dollars to effective use in serving the American people,” said Pon.

OPM leads and serves the Federal Government in enterprise human resources management by delivering policies and services to achieve a trusted, effective civilian workforce. OPM provides leadership, guidance and support to U.S. agencies on issues of human resources policy and oversight, federal employee benefits, retirement services, guidance on labor-management relations and programs to improve workforce performance.

In his confirmation hearing last fall, Pon acknowledged that OPM and the Federal Government face many challenges. “We have not taken a hard look at our civil service laws in decades, we are still relying on paper processes and in too many areas, the Federal Government is not a workplace that is keeping up with the demands of the next generation of public servants or serving our current Federal employees. We can do better,” said Pon. 

Pon’s Federal career started more than 25 years ago, as a White House Intern in the Office of Public Liaison under the George H.W. Bush administration in 1991. He returned to public service in 2003, serving as the Deputy Director for eGovernment at OPM. While in this role, Mr. Norman Enger and he led the implementation of ePayroll, USAJobs, eTraining, Enterprise Human Resource Integration, eClearance, and also the HR Line of Business. These six initiatives transformed Federal HR business and saved taxpayers an estimated $2.6 billion.

After OPM, Pon transitioned to the Department of Energy where he served as the agency’s Chief Human Capital Officer. More recently, Pon worked in the private sector, serving as the Chief Human Resources and Strategy Officer at the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM). Prior to joining SHRM in 2012, Pon was the President and COO of Futures Inc., a talent management software company working to advance its mission to help find the right jobs for returning military, veterans, and their families. Pon was also a Principal in the Human Capital practice at Booz Allen Hamilton, Inc.

Born and raised as a fifth generation San Franciscan, Pon earned his Doctorate in Philosophy (Ph.D., Industrial Organizational Psychology) and Master of Science Degree from the California School of Professional Psychology. His undergraduate degree is in Psychology and Human Factors from the University of Southern California.

Michael Rigas will step into the role as Deputy Director of OPM, bringing more than 20 years of management and leadership experience to the position. Prior to his confirmation, he served twice as an appointee at the General Services Administration (GSA), most recently as Senior Advisor and previously as Associate Administrator where he worked to increase Federal Government contracting with woman-owned, veteran-owned and service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses.

As Deputy Director, Mr. Rigas will focus on leading and improving operational efficiency, effectiveness, experience and excellence.

He holds an M.A. in public administration from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government and B.A. and M.A. in economics from Boston University.

Visit OPM's website to learn more about Director Pon or Deputy Director Rigas.