THE DEPUTY SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR
WASHINGTON

JUN 2018

 

To: Senior Advisor to the Secretary, Exercising the Authority of the Assistant
Secretary For Fish Wildlife and Parks

Deputy Director, Exercising the Authority of the Director of the National Park

Service 
From: Chair of the Executive Resources Boa
Subject: Approval of Requested Reassignments within the Senior Executive Service (SES)

On Friday, June 1, 2018, the Executive Resources Board (ERB) convened and received the
Senior Advisor to the Secretary, Exercising the Authority of the Assistant Secretary For Fish
Wildlife and Parks? presentation regarding four pending reassignment requests related to the
National Park Service. As you know, the inclusion of an explanatory presentation for proposed
reassignment decisions is one of several best practices that the ERB has implemented.

As the Chair of the ERB, I wanted to convey that the ERB appreciated: the presentation of the
proposals, the deveIOpment of reasoned written memoranda explaining the requests, the relevant
biographical material, your obvious communication with the employees before submitting the
requests to the ERB, and your insightful re5ponses to questions raised by the ERB during your
presentation -- including the reasoned explanation of costs to the United States associated with
the proposals.

The ERB approved your requests. That approval is documented by my signature on behalf of the
ERB on the provided concurrence memorandums. These approvals are consistent with the plan I
announced to the Department?s senior executives on December 4, 2017. The December 4, 2017
plan seeks to strike a balance between the important values of leadership continuity and
achieving fresh perspectives, while enabling the reassignment of senior executives to best
accomplish the agency?s mission. Your recommendations achieve that goal. In addition, the
approval is consistent with the recently implemented best practices the ERB has adopted.

Finally, as noted in a recent evaluation of the Inspector General, senior executives may have
perceptions of the reasons for reassignment decisions and surprisingly those perceptions may not
align with the actual written material provided to the employee or the ERB. The 
requirement that the employee be communicated with prior to the ERB considering the proposal
is intended to minimize that potential. I want you to know that throughout the deliberation
within the ERB, these approvals were obtained on their merits. The decision was rendered
after examining the written material submitted, listening to the presentation, and conducting the
deliberations with the Department?s H.R. team in the deliberation room to further ensure
transparency and the appropriateness of the factors considered.

We look forward to working with you over the next 60 days.