|
|
|
 |
|
|
(L-R Top) LeGree S. Daniels, S. David Fineman, Alan C. Kessler, James C. Miller.
(L-R Bottom) John Nolan, John E. Potter, Robert F. Rider, John F. Walsh. |
The Board of Governors of the U.S. Postal Service is comparable to a board of directors of a private corporation. The Board includes nine Governors who are appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate.
The nine Governors select the Postmaster General, who becomes a member of the Board, and those 10 select the Deputy Postmaster General, who also serves on the Board. The Postmaster General serves at the pleasure of the Governors for an indefinite term. The Deputy Postmaster General serves at the pleasure of the Governors and the Postmaster General.
Governors of the Postal Service are appointed for terms of nine years and can be removed only for cause. In 1970, when the Board was established by the Postal Reorganization Act, the first nine appointments were for staggered terms of one to nine years. Subsequent appointments have been made for a full nine years or, when vacancies have occurred, for the remainder of unexpired terms. Governors may continue to serve following expiration of their term or until a successor is appointed, but not for more than one year.
The Governors are chosen to represent the public interest and cannot be representatives of special interests. Not more than five of the nine may belong to the same political party.
The Postmaster General and the Deputy Postmaster General participate with the Governors on all matters except for voting on rate or classification adjustments, adjustments to the budget of the Postal Rate Commission, or election of the Chairman of the Board. While the entire Board approves requests to the independent Postal Rate Commission for changes in rates and classes of mail, the Governors alone, upon receiving a recommendation from the Commission, may approve, allow under protest, reject, or modify that recommendation.
The entire Board determines the dates on which new rates and classification adjustments become effective.
The Board directs the exercise of the powers of the Postal Service, directs and controls its expenditures, reviews its practices, conducts long-range planning, and sets policies on all postal matters. The Board takes up matters such as service standards, capital investments and facilities projects exceeding $10 million. It also approves officer compensation.
To organize and conduct their meetings, a Chairman and a Vice Chairman are elected from among the members of the Board. The Governors elect the Chairman and the Board elects the Vice Chairman. The current Chairman is S. David Fineman and the Vice Chairman is John F. Walsh. There are three standing committees: Audit and Finance, chaired by Robert F. Rider; Capital Projects, chaired by John F. Walsh; and Strategic Planning, chaired by Alan C. Kessler.
The Governors employ a full-time Secretary who serves as the primary staff assistant to the Board. The Secretary is generally responsible for coordinating the resources of the Postal Service so that the Board fulfills its statutory duties in the most efficient and informed manner possible.
The Board of Governors meets on a regular basis. Meeting locations are generally in Washington, D.C., but may be scheduled in some other city where the members can see firsthand a Postal Service or large mailer's operation.
All meetings are open to the public unless the Board specifically votes to close all or part of a meeting in line with exemptions permitted by the Government in the Sunshine Act [5 U.S.C. 552b(b)].
Each Governor receives $300 per day for not more than 42 days of meetings each year and travel expenses, in addition to an annual salary of $30,000. Each Governor's term expires on December 8 of a given year. Four vacancies exist on the Board.
MEMBERS OF THE BOARD
S. David Fineman
 S. David Fineman, Chairman of the Board of Governors and a Philadelphia lawyer representing a wide variety of clients in the United States, Europe, and Japan, was appointed a Governor of the U.S. Postal Service in May 1995 for a term that expired in December 2003. However, pursuant to 39 U.S.C., Section 202(b), a Governor may serve up to one year beyond the expiration of a term or until a successor is appointed. He was elected Chairman of the Board in January 2003 and reelected in January 2004. He served as Vice Chairman of the Board from January 2001 to December 2002. Chairman Fineman serves as a member of the Strategic Planning Committee.
Fineman has been in private practice since his graduation from law school and is managing partner of Fineman Krekstein & Harris, P.C., a 25-lawyer firm in Philadelphia.
He has served as Special Counsel to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Secretary of Banking and the Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioner. In addition, he was a member of the Industry Policy Advisory Committee, a CEO-level committee advising the U.S. Secretary of Commerce and U.S. Trade Representative on international trade policy issues.
In 1991, Fineman was selected by the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas to serve as a judge pro tempore, with the full power of an elected judge, to relieve the backlog of civil cases.
Fineman is a former member of the Philadelphia Planning Commission and a member of the American, Pennsylvania and Philadelphia Bar Associations. He has also been active in a series of other business and civic organizations including serving on the Board of Directors of the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce.
A former business law lecturer at Temple University, Fineman has a bachelor's degree in government and public administration from American University and a law degree with honors from George Washington University.
John F. Walsh
 John F. Walsh, Vice Chairman of the Board of Governors, is a Connecticut businessman and a City of New Haven official for over 35 years. He was appointed a Governor of the U.S. Postal Service in November 1999 for a term that expires in December 2006. He was elected Vice Chairman of the Board in January 2003 and reelected in January 2004. He also serves as Chairman of the Capital Projects Committee.
Governor Walsh retired as President of the Ninth Square Association, Inc., New Haven, Connecticut. As President, he was responsible for the administration and development of a $125 million downtown retail and commercial complex.
Governor Walsh earlier served as Deputy Controller and Purchasing agent for the City of New Haven. He has served on the New Haven Parking Authority and was Chairman from 1992-98.
His civic and fraternal posts include Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce board member; member of the Charter Revision Committee, City of New Haven; and Commissioner of the Procurement Committee for the Special Olympics World Games.
Governor Walsh served in the United States Army during the Second World War, European Theater. He received a bachelor's degree in business administration from Quinnipiac University, Hamden, Connecticut. Married with two children and five grandchildren, Governor Walsh resides in Branford, Connecticut, with his wife of 47 years, Ann Groark Walsh.
LeGree S. Daniels
 LeGree S. Daniels, former Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, Department of Education, was appointed a Governor of the U.S. Postal Service in August 1990, and reappointed in November 1999 for a term that expires in December 2007. She serves as a member of the Capital Projects Committee.
Governor Daniels has had an extensive career, spanning five decades, administering organizations of varied sizes, particularly in state government. She held the position of Deputy Secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. On the national level, Governor Daniels has twice been Vice Chairman of the National Electoral College, a former member of the Middle Atlanta Advisory Board, U.S. Civil Rights Commission, and former member of and advisor to the Republican National Committee.
Governor Daniels attended Temple University and has an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Clark Atlanta University. She is a former member of the Penn State Board of Advisors, Harrisburg Campus; the Board of Directors of the Center for International Private Enterprise, an arm of the United States Chamber of Commerce; and on the Board of Directors of the John Heinz Harrisburg Senior Center. She is a former member of the President's Commission on White House Fellows; the Army Science Board; and the National Endowment for Democracy. She was appointed by the mayor of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to serve as Honorary Chair of the Planning Task Force for the National Museum of African American History and is a member of the Board of Dauphin County Economic Development Corp.
Alan C. Kessler
 Alan C. Kessler is a Philadelphia attorney and partner in the firm of Wolf, Block, Schorr and Solis-Cohen, LLP, with substantial experience in the defense of class-action litigation, including securities, antitrust, toxic tort and civil rights cases. He was appointed a Governor of the U.S. Postal Service in November 2000 for a term that expires in December 2008. Governor Kessler serves as Chairman of the Strategic Planning Committee.
His public service activities have included serving as a member of the Presidential Transition Team in 1992-93 and as a Presidential appointment as Vice Chair of the Presidential/Congressional Commission on Risk Assessment and Risk Management (1994-98). He served as a finance Vice Chair of the Democratic National Committee. He was a member of the Electoral College, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 2000. On a regional level, he was a township commissioner for Lower Merion Township from 1988 through 1999; a member of the Philadelphia City Planning Commission; and member of the Executive Committee of Philadelphia 2000. Governor Kessler is a member of the Board of Directors of the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation, and of the Central Philadelphia Development Corporation, where he also serves as a member of the Executive Committee. In addition, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court appointed Governor Kessler to serve as Chairman of the Supreme Court's Continuing Legal Education Board.
Governor Kessler received a bachelor's degree, with honors, in business administration from the University of Delaware, and his juris doctorate, with honors, from the University of Maryland School of Law. Married for 30 years to Gail Strauss Kessler, the Governor and his wife have three children, Stacy, Mark and Dan.
James C. Miller III
 James C. Miller III, former Director of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, was named a Governor of the U.S. Postal Service by President George W. Bush through a recess appointment on April 22, 2003. Following Senate confirmation, Governor Miller will serve for the remainder of a nine-year term that expires December 8, 2010. Without confirmation, the recess appointment will expire at the end of this session of the Senate in 2004. He serves as a member of the Audit and Finance Committee.
Governor Miller, who brings broad government, private sector and academic experience to his new role, is Chairman of The CapAnalysis Group, an economic, financial and regulatory consulting firm associated with the international law firm Howrey Simon Arnold & White.
As Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Governor Miller was a member of the President's cabinet and a member of the National Security Council (1985-1988). Before that he served as Chairman of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (1981-1985).
Governor Miller was Vice Chairman of the Administrative Conference of the United States (1987-1988), and is a Distinguished Fellow at the Center for Study of Public Choice at George Mason University. He is also a Senior Fellow of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, and is an Emeritus Member of the Boards of Citizens for a Sound Economy Foundation, the Tax Foundation, and the Progress and Freedom Foundation.
Governor Miller is a member of the Boards of Atlantic Coast Airlines ("Independence Air," "United Express" and "Delta Connection"), Recipco Corporation, Washington Mutual Investors Fund, the Tax-Exempt Fund of Maryland, the Tax-Exempt Fund of Virginia, and the JPMorgan Value Opportunities Fund. A consultant to the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac), Governor Miller has also authored more than 100 articles in professional journals and has authored, co-authored or edited nine books.
He received a bachelor's degree from the University of Georgia in 1964, and a doctorate in economics from the University of Virginia in 1969. He and his wife Demaris have three children and three grandchildren.
Robert F. Rider
 Robert F. Rider, a Bridgeville, Delaware, businessman, was appointed a Governor of the U.S. Postal Service in May 1995 for the term expiring in December 1995. In June 1995 he was reappointed for a term expiring in December 2004. He served as Chairman of the Board from January 2001 to December 2002. He served as Vice Chairman of the Board from January 1999 to December 2000. Governor Rider serves as Chairman of the Audit and Finance Committee.
Rider is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of O. A. Newton & Son Company, with diversified divisions in agriculture and design/manufacturing of materials handling equipment.
He is a Trustee Emeritus of the University of Delaware and the Wilmington Medical Center and serves as a director of Blue Cross-Blue Shield of Delaware, Delaware State Fair, Chesapeake Utilities and CareFirst. Governor Rider is also a former member of the board of the Winterthur Corporation, Bell Atlantic-Delaware, PNC Bank Delaware, and Burris Foods, Inc.
Rider has been with O. A. Newton & Son Company and subsidiaries since 1952, serving as a director from 1956 to the present, as President from 1969 to 1984, and as Chairman and CEO since 1984.
A resident of Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, Rider received a bachelor's of science degree in business administration from Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York. He served in the U.S. Army from 1950 to 1952.
John E. "Jack" Potter
 John E. Potter is a member of the Postal Service Board of Governors and serves on its Strategic Planning Committee.
Since becoming the 72nd Postmaster General on June 1, 2001, Potter has led the Postal Service through some of its most challenging and difficult times. Faced with a weakened economy and declining mail volume, Potter immediately realigned management resources and organizational priorities. Then, in the aftermath of September 11, 2001 and the subsequent anthrax-bioterrorism attack, he worked with leaders in the Bush Administration, major corporate leaders, and heads of postal unions and management associations to refocus the Postal Service to implement new bio-terrorism safeguards while concentrating on the core business.
In 2002, Potter introduced a Transformation Plan to bring further organizational changes and modernization to virtually every aspect of the business. His leadership enabled the Postal Service to attain record levels of service and financial stability.
After the Office of Personnel Management in late 2002 determined that the Postal Service's annual funding formula for employees covered by the Civil Service Retirement System would result in overpayments in the billions of dollars, he worked successfully with the Administration and Congress to have the funding formula legislatively changed in 2003.
The resulting annual savings meant that postage rates will remain the same until 2006. The change in the funding formula law also enabled the Postal Service to reduce its outstanding debt to unprecedented levels. These efforts, along with contract extensions with major postal unions, reinvigorated a weakened mail industry and are providing a period of rate stability during the economic recession of 2001-2003.
2003 also brought a fourth straight year of productivity gains, an operating surplus, and employee workplace environment indicators to record levels.
A Bronx native who started as a clerk in New York in 1978, Potter and his wife, Maureen, have two children. Jack holds a degree in economics from Fordham. He is a Sloan Fellow and earned a masters' degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Prior to becoming Postmaster General, he had been Chief Operating Officer. He also served as Vice President, Labor Relations, and held a number of senior operational positions.
John Nolan
 John Nolan was appointed the 17th Deputy Postmaster General of the U.S. Postal Service, effective February 5, 2000. The second-highest ranking postal executive, Nolan serves as a member of the Postal Service Board of Governors, and is a member of its Capital Projects Committee.
Nolan is a 23-year postal veteran, serving in various positions from 1970 to 1989. He began with a three-year management internship in postal headquarters in Washington, D.C. In 1973, he was named Director, Support Operations at the New York International Bulk Mail Center in Jersey City, New Jersey. He continued with the Postal Service in various positions of greater responsibility and, in 1981, he became the Regional Director of Customer Services for the Northeast Region. Responsible for the development of strategic and operational goals, he shaped the direction of delivery and retail operations, and sales and customer goals. In four years, the Northeast Region was recognized as the top sales performer in the country, resulting in Nolan's receipt of a Postal Service Special Achievement Award for Sustained Performance. In 1985, Nolan was named General Manager and Postmaster for the New York Division, overseeing annual revenues of $1 billion, operating expenses of $900 million, 25,000 employees, and an annual volume of 4.5 billion pieces of mail. Nolan improved service and productivity and exceeded safety goals. Most significantly, he made dramatic improvements in labor-management relations that enabled smooth implementation of automated operations, operational changes, and manpower reduction. As New York City Postmaster and General Manager of the New York Division, Nolan managed the world's largest post office.
He received an award for management excellence in 1986, the 1986-87 Postmaster General's Award for Executive Achievement, and the Postal Service's Partnership for Progress Award in Customer Service in 1988.
In 1989, Nolan left the Postal Service to serve as Director of Operations at Merrill Lynch Production Technologies in Piscataway, New Jersey. He helped build a print and mail business that grew from 80 million to 240 million pieces of mail per year and over 1 billion pages of print.
Nolan is married and has two grown children. He holds a bachelor's degree from Washington & Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, and participated in the Program for Management Development at Harvard Business School. He served on the Executive Board of the National Postal Policy Council and on the Mailers' Council from 1992 to 1999. Nolan received an honorable discharge as Captain, U.S. Army. He has served as president of the Princeton Regional Scholarship Foundation.
Updated July 2004
|
|
|
Printer Friendly
