Washington, D.C. -- Kay Coles James, Director of the Office of Personnel Management, has announced the appointment of Stephen Shih as Chief of OPM's Center for Equal Employment Opportunity.

"Stephen's extensive knowledge of equal employment opportunity programs is formidable and more than prepares him for his role on the OPM team," said James. "Stephen's track record of providing effective leadership makes him a perfect fit for the job of helping to create an even more effective OPM work force. This agency is committed to high standards of professionalism in the work place and an effective EEO office is critical to that goal."

In his capacity as OPM's EEO Director, Shih serves as the principle EEO advisor to Director James and represents her in all EEO matters within the agency. Shih also is responsible for promoting equal employment opportunity at OPM by providing EEO guidance on all agency planning, policies and decisions, as well as administering programs and policies that help the agency identify and eliminate systemic barriers to equal employment opportunity.

Additionally, Shih oversees the EEO complaints program at OPM, and he is responsible for providing EEO counseling to employees, processing formal complaints, conducting investigations, and issuing decisions.

Before his recent appointment, Shih was the Supervisory Administrative Judge at the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's Washington Field Office, where he managed a staff of administrative judges responsible for processing and adjudicating EEO complaints filed against federal agencies in D.C., Northern Virginia, and Europe. Additionally, he personally conducted hearings in these locations as well as Puerto Rico and one case arising out of Japan.

"Stephen is no stranger to challenges," James said in making the announcement. "He has demonstrated that he is very capable of taking the lead on improvements that will make OPM a better and more attractive employer in today's very competitive job market. With Stephen's expertise and leadership, I see only good things for OPM's Center for Equal Employment Opportunity."

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.