On-Boarding and Retaining New and Experienced Government Staff Training Workshop VIII

Keynote Speaker: 

Ventris Gibson

Director
Department of Human Resources
District of Columbia

 

 

On August 3, 2015, the Honorable Mayor Muriel Bowser appointed Ventris C. Gibson, as the Director of the District of Columbia’s Department of Human Resources.

 

Prior to her service with the District of Columbia Government, Ms. Gibson, a United States Navy veteran, served as the Associate Deputy Assistant Secretary for Human Resources for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In this capacity, she was responsible for the development, articulation, and delivery of Department-wide human resources policies, plans, and programs.

 

Ms. Gibson also served in the Federal Aviation Administration as the Assistant Administrator for Human Resources and in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Human Resource Management and its first Deputy Assistant Secretary for Resolution Management. She was VA's highest-ranking woman veteran and directed human resources management and civil rights programs affecting 230,000 employees.

 

With a career that spans more than 37 years in both human resources executive and professional positions, Ms. Gibson is the recipient of numerous awards and commendations. She has received the Exceptional and Meritorious Service Awards, FAA Manager Association’s Leadership Award, National Hispanic Coalition’s President’s Award, and the Northern New Jersey Metropolitan Area's prestigious "Woman of the Year" award.

 

A graduate of the Federal Executive Institute, Executive Technique, and Aspen Institute, Ms. Gibson attended the University of Maryland, University College. 

 

Guest Speakers: 

Sondra Kahawaii

Manager

Partnership for Public Service

 

Sondra assists a broad audience of government leaders, providing agency services to help them use their Best Places to Work in the Federal Government® data to positively impact workforce satisfaction and commitment, improve recruitment and retention and drive performance. Additionally, Sondra contributes to the Partnership’s Ready to Govern program aimed at helping political appointees prepare to effectively lead their agencies. Sondra graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in Political Science from Brigham Young University-Hawaii and later went on to earn a Master’s degree in Public Administration with an emphasis in Nonprofit Organization and Management from the Marriott School of Management. She completed her Juris Doctorate from the J. Reuben Clark School of Law in 2013.

Scott J. Cameron has 35 years of experience working inside and round the federal government.  He has worked in both houses of Congress, in the Executive Office of the President, as a career civil servant and as a political appointee, in the bowels of the bureaucracy and in the Office of the Secretary of a cabinet department.  He has consulted with federal agencies on management issues working for both large and small businesses, and worked to influence government as a state government employee, corporate government relations executive, and as a manager in a non-profit organization.

Scott is a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration, has been designated a Strategic Advisor to Government Executives (SAGE) by the Partnership for Public Service, and also writes a column on government human capital management issues for HR News, the publication of the International Public Management Association for Human Resources.

Now doing independent consulting, he previously was a Director in the Global Public Sector practice at Grant Thornton LLP, where he led the firm’s human capital management community of practice.  He is registered as a Certified Professional by the International Public Management Association for Human Resources.

Prior to joining Grant Thornton, Scott was a Deputy Assistant Secretary at the Department of the Interior.  He was Chief Human Capital Officer, E-Government Executive, had the lead on strategic planning and performance management, and served on the Executive Committee of the interagency Chief Acquisition Officers Council.  He was also the Managing Partner of two of OMB’s government wide E-Gov projects; Geospatial One Stop and Recreation One Stop.

Before joining Interior, Scott established the global government relations function for CHEP.  CHEP is the global leader in materials handling, with business in 38 countries. 

Previously, Scott represented Governor Pete Wilson of California in Washington, D.C., working with Congress and federal agencies on environmental, energy, and natural resource policy issues.

Before entering state government, Scott was Director of Conservation Policy at the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, managing all of this congressionally chartered non-profit’s Congressional relations activity. 

Earlier, Scott was Deputy Chief of the Interior Branch at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), part of the Executive Office of the President.  He served as the program examiner for the US Geological Survey, US Fish and Wildlife Service, and the National Biological Survey. Earlier at OMB, he oversaw the EPA’s Office of Water and the Office of Research and Development.

From 1985 to 1989, Scott worked as a Legislative Assistant to U.S. Senator Chic Hecht (R‑NV), handling all the energy, environmental, and natural resource issues for the Senator.

Scott began his career as a Presidential Management Intern in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, after earning a BA in biology from Dartmouth College, and an MBA from Cornell University, with a concentration in natural resource economics. 

He was raised in New York City, is married, and has a son.