Award-winning Executives Offer Advice for Presidential Transition

The Volcker Alliance

A handbook advising Federal career executives on how to prepare for the Presidential transition was released today by the Senior Executives Association (SEA). Members of the Distinguished Executives Advisory Network, referred to as the DEAN’s List, prepared this handbook under the direction of SEA President Emeritus Carol Bonosaro. Shelley Metzenbaum, nonresident senior fellow for the Volcker Alliance, served as an adviser on the project.

The SEA is a professional association representing Senior Executive Service members and other career federal executives. The DEAN’s List was created in 2015 through a partnership between the Professional Development League of the SEA and the Volcker Alliance. The List is comprised of past winners of the Presidential Distinguished Rank Award, the highest honor given to Senior Professionals and those in the Senior Executive Service. Awards are presented for “sustained extraordinary accomplishment” to a maximum of one percent of the career corps each year. The goal of the DEAN’s List is to activate a network of these Distinguished Rank awardees that can be tapped for advice and empowered to take collective action to improve government.

“I am pleased to see that members of the DEAN’s list are proactively involved in helping Federal career executives to prepare for a smooth presidential transition,” commented Thomas W. Ross, President of the Volcker Alliance. “These transitions are critical challenges for our government. This publication demonstrates the leadership that these award-winning executives can continue to provide under the umbrella of the DEAN’s list and with facilitation from the Senior Executives Association.”

The SEA will update the Handbook on Presidential Transition for Federal Career Executives as new information surfaces during the transition. The SEA, with DEAN’s List members, also plans to host a series of webinars entitled “Strategies and Best Practices for Managing the Transition to a New Administration, a Webinar Series of Guidance for Career Senior Executives” to guide career executives through the Presidential transition.