Volcker Alliance Celebrates 40th Anniversary of the PMF Program

The Volcker Alliance was honored to co-sponsor the Presidential Management Fellow 40th Anniversary Celebration and Inaugural Honorary Awards Ceremony, held on Thursday, September 20, 2018 from 2:00-5:00pm EDT in the US Department of Commerce Auditorium. "The Volcker Alliance believes a talented workforce is critical if government is to effectively serve its citizens.  Engagement of our most thoughtful and accomplished citizens in service to the public good is vital to our democracy and our future,” said Thomas W. Ross, president of the Volcker Alliance. "The Presidential Management Fellows Program for forty years has provided hundreds of our most outstanding citizens a prestigious pathway into careers of public service."

The Presidential Management Fellow Program is a flagship leadership development program for advanced degree candidates to enter the Federal Government. It was created by Executive Order in 1977 to develop a cadre of potential government leaders. The Program inculcates a lasting bond among its Fellows as well as a spirit of public service, ultimately encouraging and leading to a career in the government.

Mr. Ross addressed the audience at the 40th Anniversary Celebration and moderated a panel reflecting on the Presidential Management Fellow Program's 40 years of success. The panelists included:

• Andrew Boesel, the First Director of the Presidential Management Intern Program, who began his Federal career with the  US Civil Service Commission;
• Anne D. Stewart, Docent for the Library of Congress, and the Former Director of Career and Alumni Services at The Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs of Syracuse University;
• Ambassador Bonnie Jenkins, an alumnus of the Presidential Management Intern program class of 1988 and the Founder and Executive Director of Women of Color Advancing Peace, Security and Conflict Transformation as well as a Non-resident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution; and
• Michael Dovilla, an alum of the Presidential Management Intern program class of 1999 and currently the Chief of Staff for the US Office of Personnel Management.

Additional speakers at the event included:

• Arianne Gallager, Director of the Office of Presidential Fellowships at the US Office of Personnel Management's Center for Leadership Development;
• Suzanne Logan, Executive Director of the US Office of Personnel Management's Center for Leadership Development and Federal Executive Institute;
• Michael Rigas, Deputy Director of the US Office of Personnel Management; and
• Peter Warren, Associate Director of the US Office of Management and Budget.

The event was also able to be viewed by livestream.