Create White House performance team and chief performance officer

Zients becomes Chief Performance Officer

Updated: Wednesday, July 1st, 2009 | By Angie Drobnic Holan

Businessman Jeffrey D. Zients was confirmed as President Barack Obama's chief performance officer, charged with improving government efficiency.

Zients was the founder and managing partner of Portfolio Logic, an investment firm in business and health care services. He also served as CEO and chairman of the Advisory Board Company and chairman of the Corporate Executive Board, companies that provide performance and best-practices benchmarks to various industries.

Zients was confirmed June 19, 2009. Obama named him after the first nominee, Nancy Killefer, withdrew over tax issues.

Zients also holds the title of deputy director for management in the White House's Office of Management and Budget. OMB director Peter Orszag said Zients will work with chief technology officer Aneesh Chopra and the chief information officer Vivek Kundra to improve the performance of the federal government.

We're interested to see more on how the performance team works, and for now leave this promise at In the Works.

Sources:

Office of Budget and Management, Welcome to OMB, Jeff! (Peter Orszag's blog), June 19, 2009

White House, President's Weekly Address , April 18, 2009

The New York Times, Citing Tax Troubles, an Obama Appointee Withdraws , Feb. 3, 2009

Accountability chief accounted for

Updated: Tuesday, January 13th, 2009 | By Robert Farley

Calling it one of the most important appointments he will make, President-elect Barack Obama on Jan. 7, 2009, named Nancy Killefer as the nation's first chief performance officer.

Remember during the campaign when Obama repeatedly said that he would scour the budget line by line, eliminate things that don't work, and improve the things that do? Well, that will, in part, be Killefer's job.

"I will be instructing members of my Cabinet and key members of their staffs to meet with (Killefer) soon after we take office, and on a regular basis thereafter, to discuss how they can run their agencies with greater efficiency, transparency and accountability," Obama said in the Jan. 7 news conference.

"I will also see to it that we apply these principles of budget reform to the economic recovery and investment plan," Obama said. "This plan will call for dramatic investments to revive our flagging economy, save or create 3 million jobs, mostly in the private sector, and lay a solid foundation for future growth.

"In order to make these investments that we need, we'll have to cut the spending that we don't, and I'll be relying on (Killefer) to help guide that process."

Killefer is a senior director at the management-consulting firm McKinsey & Co.'s Washington, D.C. office, and served as assistant secretary of the treasury in the Clinton administration.

Said Killefer: "I know from my experience, bringing about change in the private and public sectors, that government has the capacity to deliver services more efficiently and effectively. I have seen it done.

"And I have seen it important to work across bureaucratic boundaries. By that, I mean to get different parts of government working together to deliver services that consumers, its citizens, deserve.

"The people who deliver those services, the government employees themselves, will be central to this effort. I am convinced that the success of every policy of this administration will be influenced by the people executing it. And I am committed to engaging and drawing on the talents of the federal workforce in order to deliver on our promise of a new, more efficient and effective government."

In naming Killefer chief performance officer, Obama has taken the first step toward this promise. Now we'll need to see how well the performance team ... performs.

Sources:

YouTube, Press conference: Obama Announces Chief Performance Officer, Jan. 7, 2009

Change.gov, The Office of the President, Press release: President-elect Obama names Nancy Killefer as Chief Performance Officer, Jan. 7, 2009

Time, "Chief Performance Officer: Nancy Killefer" by Alyssa Fetini, Jan. 09, 2009