Summary of my US Government career:
Army (1966-69)
Attended Basic
Training and Officer Candidate School at Ft. Benning, GA; commissioned in the
Infantry. Because of fluency in German,
was assigned as Liaison Officer between the 3rd US Armored
Division and the 5th German Panzer Division in Germany.
Working for the Congress (1970-78)
First government
civilian job was as Management Evaluator (International Relations Specialist)
with the Government Accountability Office (GAO), evaluating Executive Branch
programs and activities for the Congress. From 1970 to 1973, was with GAO's International Division in
Washington. From 1973 to 1977, worked out of GAO's former Frankfurt Office and
evaluated programs throughout Europe, Africa and the Middle East. From1977-78,
worked out or the Norfolk, Virginia Office, mostly on projects related to the
Navy and the Department of Defense.
Department of State/Foreign Service
(1978-2001)
Joined the
Foreign Service in 1978 and spent my first four years with the Office of
the Inspector General (OIG). I was on several Inspection Teams evaluating
the management of overseas embassies as well as bureaus and offices in
Washington. I received my first overseas posting in 1982 and remained overseas
until I retired in 2001. Overseas assignments included:
1982-84: Director, Regional Budget and Fiscal
Office, Yaoundé, Cameroon:
responsible for financial management for six embassies in Equatorial West
Africa: Yaoundé, Cameroon; Libreville, Gabon; Bangui, Central African
Republic; N'Djamena, Chad and Malabo, Equatorial Guinea.
1984-87: Director, Regional Financial
Management Center, Nairobi, Kenya:
responsible for financial management at 11 embassies in East Africa and the
Indian Ocean: Nairobi, Kenya; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Djibouti, Djibouti; Kampala,
Uganda; Mogadishu, Somalia; Kigali, Rwanda; Bujumbura, Burundi; Port Louis,
Mauritius; Moroni, Comoros; Victoria, Seychelles and Antananarivo,
Madagascar.
1987-90: Director, Regional Financial
Management Center, Canberra,
Australia: responsible for financial management at five embassies in the
South Pacific: Canberra, Australia; Wellington, New Zealand; Suva, Fiji; Honiara,
Solomon, Islands, Apia and Western Samoa.
Also financial support to the US Peace Corps in Tonga, Kiribati and
Vanuatu.
1990-92: Director, Regional Administrative
Management Center, Mexico City:
responsible for disbursing, accounting and payroll services for all
embassies in Latin America and the Caribbean. Also passed mid-level exam to become a commissioned Foreign
Service Officer (FSO).
1992-95: Supervisory General Services
Officer, Bonn, Germany:
responsible for facilities maintenance, transportation, shipping, customs
clearance, procurement, leasing, housing and warehousing. Also provided
logistical support to consulates in Berlin, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Stuttgart,
Munich, Düsseldorf and Leipzig. Following German reunification participated
in property negotiations with German Government; helped plan the move of
embassy back to Berlin.
1995-98: Director of Human Resources, Cairo, Egypt: responsible for personnel
management issues for American and Egyptian employees at what was then
America's largest embassy.
1998-2001: Management Counselor, Bridgetown, Barbados: responsible for administrative
management at Embassy Bridgetown which represents US interests in seven Eastern
Caribbean countries -- Barbados, Grenada, St. Vincent, St. Lucia,
Antigua/Barbuda, St. Kitts/Nevis, and Dominica.
Post-retirement Work (2002-2014)
2002: became a re-hired annuitant for two
month to fill a staffing gap as Management Counselor at Embassy Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzogovina.
2003-2006: Agency
for International Development: had an on-call contract with USAID’s Office
of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA). Assignments included several weeks
in Kuwait at beginning of Iraq War to prepare for humanitarian assistance
program effort. Spent a month in Monrovia, Liberia overseeing construction
of facilities for OFDA staff (Liberia was then a failed state without working
infrastructure and with UN Peacekeepers protecting the citizenry from civil war).
Also worked in Washington backstopping a West Africa famine relief effort.
2003-2014: Department
of State, Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations (OBO): traveled 4-5
months abroad each year on part-time contract to audit management and
security of approximately 100 embassies.
Languages: Fluent German, some French and Spanish
