- ARRA Update -
For the latest American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (ARRA) updates, visit Berkeley Lab's Recovery Act Activities website.
- ARRA Training -
A team of OCFO employees has worked together to develop two courses to help divisions who are receiving ARRA funds understand their responsibilities when accepting the funds, and how to meet the many reporting requirements of the program.
The team worked to collect the vast amount of guidance sent from DOE to create a comprehensive course that includes both informational presentations and hands-on activities. The first course, specifically for administrators, business managers, and field operations employees, has been presented twice recently, training 27 people from divisions who have already received ARRA funds or are expecting to do so in the very near future.
Another course designed specifically for principal investigators (PIs), has been developed and will be rolled out in the very near future. Each of these courses is designed to help employees understand ARRA, how funds must be managed, and the necessary reporting requirements. For more information on the PI course, please contact Doug Goodman x7632; for the divisional field training, contact Faye Mitschang x7928.
The Team:
Michelle Bennett - EETD
Phyllis Housel Gale - SPO
Chris Georgiou - EETD
Doug Goodman - Field Ops
Bridget Haverty - Field Ops
Faye Mitschang - General Sciences
Anne Moore - Budget Office
Glenna Rogers - General Sciences
Phil Weiss - OCFO Training & Dev.
Welcome New Employees!
Diane Hopper - Procurement
Varun Paul - Field Ops
Terry Pierre - Procurement
Hang Quan - Field Ops
Nick Skowronski - Budget
John Villa - Budget
Shanna Wells - Procurement
Ken Winters - Procurement
Karen Yamamoto - Field Ops
OCFO
New Employee Orientation
To help new employees feel better prepared to start their new positions at the Lab, Phil Weiss and Teresa Grossman of the OCFO, together with Neli Lopez of Human Resources and Anita Newkirk of IT developed a comprehensive program that ensures every new employee to the OCFO gets the information and materials they need to feel welcome and hit the ground running. The New Employee Orientation (NEO) program has been successful with five new OCFO employees just in the last two months.
The NEO program provides new employees with a general orientation of the Lab and the OCFO, introduces the wealth of web resources available, and provides training on essential Lab systems to include LETS, Email, and Calendar. To date, the pilot has been extremely successful and we are looking to continue the program as a standard part of every new employee’s experience. If you would like to be part of the team making a positive impact on new employees or to get more information, please contact Phil Weiss at x7873.
- Safety Corner -
For the latest Safety news, visit LBNL's "Our Safety" website.
Newsletter Archive:
For suggestions on how to improve this newsletter, or to be removed from our distribution list, please contact Cynthia Jones (x4242).
- A Message from Jeffrey -
-Jeffrey - OCFO Headlines -
Senior Leadership Development Program Launches One of the OCFOs major strategic initiatives is in the area of Human Capital, and one aspect of that initiative is succession planning. To ensure that the OCFO has qualified potential future leaders, the Senior Leadership Development Program was initiated. The call went out in May to all managers and supervisors with at least 5-10 years of management experience to apply for acceptance into this year-long development opportunity. Several employees applied by submitting their resumes, a letter of recommendation from their department head, as well as giving a presentation to the OCFO Senior Staff on why they thought they would be the best candidate for the program. We are pleased to announce the successful candidates for the Senior Leadership Development Program:
Please join us in congratulating Sallie and David! Jill Stark Elected President of SGMP
New Role as Budget Office Work for Others Head Anastasia Schiller has been named the Head of the relatively new Work For Others (WFO) team within the Budget Office. The team has been building since last year but has just recently become fully operational with the addition of Nicholas Skowronski. Nick joined the Budget Office in June and Anna Ramos is the other team member who came to LBNL from LLNL last August. The WFO Team's major responsibilities are funds control and bridge funding management. A key strategic initiative the team will be driving over the next fiscal year is re-engineering WFO Roles and Responsibilities. Theresa Hatch Climbs Mt. Whitney
Goats Amuck!
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It was a beautiful summer day, custom-made for an outdoor gathering and the OCFO just happened to have one planned…our annual picnic! It was great to see everyone in our new “home” on the deck of B90 enjoying good food and good conversation while mingling with folks we don’t usually get to see everyday. Now that the OCFO is all in one location, the turn-out for our picnic was at an all-time high and I really enjoyed seeing everyone having a good time. I hope everyone is enjoying their summer so far and that folks have something fun planned with friends and family. So, play safe, and wear sunscreen! 
Jill Stark, Conference Services, has been elected President of the Society of Government Meeting Professionals (SGMP), San Francisco Chapter. Out-going President, Robin Wilson, was thrilled with Jill’s election because of her commitment to the SGMP mission, along with her professionalism and graciousness. She commented that Jill is highly regarded by vendors as well as her fellow conference planners and she also stated that Jill’s positive attitude and fresh ideas will take the organization to new heights. This is a great honor for Jill and we all congratulate her! 
Theresa Hatch, Procurement, accomplished an incredible feat on July 11th by climbing to the top of Mt. Whitney, elevation 14, 496 feet, in just 14 hours. Only about one-third of the hikers who attempt the 22 mile day-hike reach the summit, and many suffer from altitude sickness, which Theresa managed to escape. Mt. Whitney is the tallest mountain in the lower 48 states. Congratulations Theresa, you go girl! 
It was a typical day around the 71 trailers, nothing out of the ordinary, then suddenly – Procurement staff’s serene afternoon was interrupted by the sound of tiny hooves stampeding on the asphalt and around the trailers, clacking at a frantic pace toward the previously out of reach olive trees! Goats-R-Us had decided to take an unscheduled break from their job duties munching dead weeds and venture to “greener pastures,” or in this case, greener olive trees, for a mid-afternoon treat.
Meanwhile, Lab security, armed only with a paddle sign, directed passing vehicles away from the herd until the goat-less shephard could arrive and redirect the herd back to their “jobs” on the hillside. |