Most of you don’t know me personally or work with me on a daily basis, but if you did, you would know the Service to America Medals hold a very special place in my heart.
Often lauded as the Oscars for federal employees, the Sammies highlight the best and the brightest in government. They highlight the feds who work tirelessly to solve some of the nation’s toughest problem, usually with little to no fan fare. A feat that is even more astonishing considering the lambasting feds have taken during the 2012 election season.
That’s why it’s been an absolute honor to interview many of the finalists and winners here on the DorobekINSIDER. It’s our chance to shine a spotlight on some of the innovative work you all do on a daily basis. You can find all our archives here.
Last night’s winners included,
- Federal Employee of the Year Dr. Lynne Mofenson of the National Institutes of Health who made it her mission to prevent mother-to-child transmission of AIDS — and has largely succeeded.
- Susan Angell of the Veterans Affairs Department and Mark Johnston of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, along with their colleagues on the Homeless Veterans Initiative Team, have worked together to come up with innovative ways to provide housing for vets.
- James Cash, the National Transportation Safety Board, recipient of the Career Achievement Medal. Cash’s nearly three decades of work has led to better audio, video and data recording devices used by airlines and others in the transportation industry to pinpoint the cause of accidents.
But these stories of federal success aren’t rare. In fact, every day govies are working hard to achieve their agency missions. For each person honored, there are dozens standing behind them contributing mightily to their accomplishments — and thousands more toiling in obscurity.
Sometimes it’s frustrating to see these amazing federal success stories and know that outside the Washington bubble no one knows of this amazing work. Instead stories of conference spending scandals and budget fights dominate the news. I’m not saying those stories shouldn’t be part of the conversation, but so to should the work that these feds accomplish. Work that in many cases only the government can do.
So from the entire DorobekINSIDER team, we wanted to stop, and take a second to say thank you.
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