Washington, D.C. - U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Director Kay Coles James today announced the development of five subcommittees to the Chief Human Capital Officers (CHCO) Council to assist in identifying effective solutions to handle today's personnel challenges.

"Several months ago, OPM took an impressive step forward with the development of the Chief Human Capital Officers (CHCO) Council," remarked James. "With feedback received from CHCO members and the President's Management Council, we take another critical step forward by creating five CHCO subcommittees to assist in driving human capital results."

The Council has identified five key areas critical to the success of the strategic management of human capital as outlined in President George W. Bush's Management Agenda. The hiring process; performance management; leadership development and succession planning; employee conduct and poor performers; and emergency preparedness were all identified as human capital topics needing immediate attention. Once the key topics were identified, a subcommittee for each was formed and tasked with recommending policy changes, needed legislation, or other strategies for moving the issue forward and returning to the Council with concrete ideas for action.

"Simply identifying key human capital issues was not enough," stated James. "I wanted the members of the subcommittees to come back to the full Council with tangible recommendations to address those issues. The legislation establishing the CHCO Council was designed to create results and the entire Council is comprised of professionals who have demonstrated excellence and results within their respective agencies. These same leaders are now honored and eager to promote change governmentwide through the Council."

The CHCO Council will meet together for two days in November to focus on these issues and other Council matters.

The initial subcommittees and members are as follows:

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.