On March 7 and 8, FMA members from around the country connected for FMA’s 83rd, virtual National Convention. While we could not gather in person due to ongoing Covid-19 restrictions, the convention was a big success and accomplished the objectives of the association.

We were honored to hear keynote remarks from Pam Coleman, the Associate Director, Performance and Personnel Management, at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and Dustin Brown, Deputy Assistant Director for Management, at OMB. They provided great insights to the policies and goals of the new administration, and welcomed questions from all FMA attendees.

The convention featured reports from all regional directors and national officers, as well as a government affairs report, discussion of FMA’s 2021 Issue Briefs, and tips for virtually meeting with legislators. Candidates for National Vice President and FMA Treasurer, two seats on FMA’s Executive Board, also gave statements and answered questions prior to the week-long vote. Winners will be announced soon.

Visit the Convention “Download Central” to find management training presentations and other useful information. There are training sessions led by fellow FMA members on habits or diversions that make mentoring tricky, efficiently working from home, empowering employees through effective questions, and how organizational culture improves performance. You can also find a report on the state of labor relations, and helpful information on long term care planning, retirement strategy, and many other topics. 

The event closed with the announcement of FMA’s Annual Awards to deserving members:

The FMA Manager of the Year award is FMA’s most prestigious. It is presented annually during the National Convention to an outstanding manager or supervisor in the federal government who is a member of the Federal Managers Association. The winner of this award is selected based on written evaluations, submitted by a local Chapter President or Regional Director, that excel in the following three different factors:

•         Local community accomplishments/contributions

•         Workplace accomplishments/contributions, and

•         FMA involvement at the chapter, region, or national level. 

 

In a career that has spanned over 30 years, Kimberly has spent at least two-thirds of that time in some form of leadership or management, rising through the ranks until her current position as Director of Policy and Systems, a position she has held since May 2015. Kimberly is the first woman and first African American to hold this executive level position.

To read more about Kimberly Price, FMA's 2020 Manager of the Year, please click here.

This award is presented to a current or past outstanding FMA Chapter President in memory of Gil Guidry, President of Chapter 4, Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, whose leadership represents the finest tradition of service to the United States of America and to the principles of FMA. Nominations for the award must be submitted by a Regional Directors, detailing how the nominee has worked to achieve the overall objectives of the FMA.

Craig has 30 plus years with the department of the Navy. In his current (and new) position as deputy lead for the Covid-19 Management Team as well as his previous position as the assistant project superintendent at Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Craig strives daily to mentor and lead the workforce through challenges, process improvements and opportunities. His core character reflects a desire and drive to assists and improve the workforce from many perspectives and increase efficiencies through effective change.

  

 

This award recognizes a chapter in the Association that has displayed outstanding leadership and service to its facility, community, agency, and nation during the past year.

Despite these pandemic times, FMA Chapter 11 kept moving forward with successful recruitment efforts and continuing with their community partnerships. Chapter 396 doubled their membership, recruiting five new members.

Active on the legislative front, Chapters 11 and 396 shared their perspective on issues with their elected officials. As a direct result of their actions, they made legislation protecting earned use--or-lose annual leave bipartisan, convincing their local representative to cosponsor the bill. This helped propel the legislative language to be included in the House-passed version of the National Defense Authorization Act and drove support for the final language (Section 1111) in the bill that became law. Ultimately, the final bill set a new, temporary cap on the number of hours federal employees can carry over from 2020 to use in 2021. 

Chapters 11 and 396 demonstrated what is possible when FMA chapters develop relationships with their elected officials on issues important to their installations and to FMA as an organization, even in the middle of a global pandemic. Savanna Massey, Chapter 11 President and Linda Lentjes, Chapter 396 President continue to combine the efforts of two chapters that are close in proximity and even co-hosted the 2019 Region 2 Conference in Jacksonville, Florida.

 

This award recognizes excellence by a member of the Executive Board in the preceding year.  It was established in memory of Odell Green who performed exemplary service for FMA. Odell served for two years as the Zone 8 President and was former president of Chapter 16, Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo, California. He passed away in 1992.

Vince was instrumental in keeping FMA Chapter 99 active when it was about to close down. He made several visits, offered assistance of all kinds, reached out to the FMA National Office for assistance and helped the Chapter 99 members understand they did not have to close the chapter as they sought to identify a new, and former chapter president – Sherm Williams. We cannot thank both Sherm and Vince enough for helping this chapter of 132 members remain part of the FMA family. Thank you, Vince, for stepping in to help stop what would have been a great loss to us all, not least of all the Chapter 99 members. Vince also participated in an interview on Federal News Network in April related to the Covid pandemic and teleworking.

Thank you to all FMA members who helped to recruit new members this year. 

The member from a small chapter, defined as having no more than 50 members, who recruited the most members last year was Linda Lentjes, from Chapter 396 out of Mayport Naval Base, Jacksonville, Florida, with a total of 5 new members recruited!

The member from a medium-sized chapter, defined as having between 51 and 100 members, is Marcus McPhatter of Chapter 298 from our Jamaica, New York Social Security Administration Chapter, with a total of 7 new members recruited!

Our winning recruiter from a large Chapter, with 101 or more members, was Varney Range from Chapter 19 out of Pearl Harbor Area Shipyard, Hawaii, with a total of 16 new members recruited!

Chapters as a whole who have made the effort to bring in new members also deserve to be recognized for their efforts.

The small chapter of 50 or fewer members that recruited the most new members was Chapter 396, located at Mayport Naval Base, Jacksonville, Florida, growing their chapter by 50 percent for the year!

The medium-sized chapter of between 51 and 100 members that recruited the most new members was Chapter 298, from our Jamaica, New York, Social Security Administration Chapter, with nine new members.

The large chapter with more than 100 members that recruited the most new members was Chapter 14, located at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Washington, with 32 new members!

Finally, last but not least, the Super Recruiter for 2020 has won this honor before and is always one of FMA’s top recruiters, year after year. The 2020 Membership Super Recruiter is our own National President, and former Chapter 3, Norfolk Naval Shipyard President, Craig Carter. Craig recruited 18 new members into FMA last year! 

We are extremely proud of what Craig and these members and chapters achieved despite the difficulties of such a strange year. We look forward to seeing what you all can achieve once in-person activity resumes! Thank you for helping to keep the Federal Managers Association strong!