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Government Leader home > news stories
10/18/05
AU award honors leaders who made a difference
By Stephen Barr
Special to Government Leader
From her Defense Department office, Sheila M. Earle helped shepherd through policy changes on Capitol Hill that cut the red tape families of servicemen and women sometimes encountered when they wanted to go overseas for hospital visits with soldiers injured in Iraq.
From his Energy Department office in Chicago, Marvin E. Gunn Jr. oversees a $4 billion budget that finances some of the government’s premier research labs, and a staff that provides management support to the labs.
Earle and Gunn were recently named this year’s winners of the American University School of Public Affairs’ Roger W. Jones Award for Executive Leadership. The award goes annually to two career government leaders who demonstrate a strong commitment to training and educating managers and have championed organizational development.
At a time when public trust in government seems once again to be slipping, and skeptics turn up seemingly daily examples of waste and mismanagement in government, the award honoring Earle and Gunn underscores the difference that many government leaders make in people’s lives.
Earle, the acting principal director for military personnel policy, helped streamline reimbursement and travel policies at Defense and made it easier for military families to comfort loved ones recovering from wounds and injuries suffered in Iraq in the war against terrorism. In particular, she won removal of a statutory limit that said only two family members could be sent overseas to see hospitalized members of the armed forces.
A 25-year veteran in the field of human resources and military personnel management, Earle told the awards committee that she follows “a few compass points.”
They include giving your best, listening carefully, and treating others with dignity and respect. “Be a leader with vision, values, integrity and ethics,” she said. “Know your job—be the expert. Focus on strategic outcomes rather than counting wins and losses.”
Gunn, manager of the Energy Department’s Chicago office, developed a new strategic management system that integrated strategy, resource allocation and performance management.
With more than 31 years of experience managing high-tech projects, Gunn runs an office that provides business, technical and administrative support to a number of Energy Department labs, including the Argonne National Laboratory, the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center.
“To lead successfully, you need to study, learn and practice,” he told the awards committee. “I always want to learn more and try not to be afraid of new ideas in management and technology.”
Gunn added, “Personal integrity is key. Know and build on your own strengths. Trust your colleagues.”
The AU award is named in honor of the late Roger Jones, who served in government over four decades at the old Civil Service Commission, the State Department and the Bureau of the Budget.
Stephen Barr writes the Federal Diary column at the Washington Post and is a regular contributor to Government Leader. He also hosts a Diary Live discussion group at noon on Wednesday at www.washingtonpost.com.
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