The Office of Personnel Management may be little known to the general public, but perhaps no agency matters more to some 2.7 million federal civil service employees and U.S. Postal Service workers.
So, they might want to keep an ear out Tuesday, when a Senate panel has scheduled a hearing on the nomination of Katherine Archuleta to become the next OPM director. The job has been vacant since April when John Berry (since selected for the Australia ambassadorship) resigned just before his four-year term was up. Filling in is OPM General Counsel Elaine Kaplan, but she’s been nominated for a judgeship on the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.
Obama gave Archuleta, who helped run his 2012 re-election campaign, the nod as his choice for OPM director in May; the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has scheduled her Tuesday confirmation hearing for 3:30 p.m. If confirmed, Archuleta would be the first Latina to head OPM, according to the White House. Here, pasted from the official selection announcement, is a rundown of her career:
“Katherine Archuleta most recently served as National Political Director for Obama for America, a position she held from 2011 to 2012. Prior to this, Ms. Archuleta served as Chief of Staff at the U.S. Department of Labor from 2009 to 2011. From October 2005 to May 2009, she served as a Senior Adviser on Policy and Initiatives for the City and County of Denver, Colorado. Previously, she served as the Executive Director of the National Hispanic Cultural Center Foundation from 2002 to 2005. Ms. Archuleta was the Director of Professional Services for Davis, Graham and Stubbs, LLP from 2000 to 2002 and Co-Founder and Principal of the Center for Regional and Neighborhood Action from 1997 to 2000. She served as Senior Policy Adviser at the U.S. Department of Energy in 1997. From 1993 to 1997, Ms. Archuleta served at the U.S. Department of Transportation, first as Deputy Chief of Staff and then as Chief of Staff. She served as an adjunct professor at the University of Denver from 1992 to 1993. Prior to that, she worked in a number of roles in the Office of the Mayor of Denver from 1983 to 1991, including Deputy Chief of Staff. Ms. Archuleta received a B.A. from Metropolitan State College and a M.Ed. from the University of Northern Colorado.”
