FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 27, 2006
SERVICE TO AMERICA MEDALS HONOR FEDERAL GOVERNMENT’S
TOP CIVIL SERVANTS
Winners Include Leaders of Effort to Combat Avian Flu, a Nobel Prize Winning Physicist, and the Architect of the Personnel Recovery System that Guided Rescue of Jessica Lynch and Others in Iraq
Washington, D.C. — The Partnership for Public Service tonight awarded nine Service to America Medals to outstanding civil servants at a Washington, D.C. awards gala held in their honor. The top medal — Federal Employee of the Year — went to Dr. Nancy Cox, a renowned scientist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention leading the world’s efforts to prepare for a catastrophic flu pandemic.
The 2006 winners range from a Nobel Prize winning physicist to the architect of our military’s personnel recovery system that has rescued more than 1,000 people in Iraq and Afghanistan. Five medal winners hail from the metropolitan Washington, D.C. area and others are from Atlanta, Tampa, Denver, Philadelphia, and Baton Rouge, Lafayette and Ruston, LA.
The medal winners were nominated by colleagues in the federal government — the nation’s largest employer, with more than 1.9 million workers. Nearly half of the federal workforce will be eligible to retire within the next five years, creating the biggest loss of talent and expertise in our government’s history, and the need to bring hundreds of thousands of talented individuals into government service.
“The Service to America Medals are so important, because they tell the true stories of the remarkable work that our federal employees do each and every day. There is not a day that passes where government does not touch our lives in some way — whether it is ensuring the safety of the food we eat, securing our homeland, or conducting cutting edge research to cure disease,” said Max Stier, Partnership for Public Service President and CEO. “Ultimately, we believe that by sharing the stories of Dr. Nancy Cox and the other public servants honored tonight, a new generation will be encouraged to serve.”
The 2006 Service to America Medal recipients are:
Dr. Nancy Cox, Federal Employee of the Year. Cox is the Director of the Influenza Division at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Nancy and her team are leading the domestic and international efforts to prepare for a flu pandemic.
Ron McNeal, National Security Medal. McNeal is the Joint Personnel Recovery Agency Representative to U.S. Central Command at the U.S. Department of Defense, MacDill Air Force Base in Brandon, FL. McNeal is the architect of the military’s personnel recovery efforts that have successfully rescued more than 1,000 people in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Dr. William D. Phillips, Career Achievement Medal. Phillips is the Group Leader of the Laser Cooling and Trapping Group at the National Institute of Science and Technology in Gaithersburg, MD. He launched an entirely new subfield of atomic, molecular and optical physics and is the first federal employee to win the Nobel Prize for Physics for work done as part of his official duties.
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Christina Sanford, Call to Service Medal. Sanford is a Special Assistant at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C. She served as chief of the legal office at the U.S. Embassy in Iraq and provided critical support for Iraq’s democratically elected government.
Dr. Norden E. Huang, Science and Environmental Medal. Huang was the Chief Scientist for Oceanography at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in Greenbelt, MD and pioneered research to test and improve NASA spacecraft, medicines, and submarines, earthquake-proof buildings, bridges and more.
Ambassador Nancy Powell, Homeland Security Medal. Powell works for the U.S. Department of State and is the National Intelligence Officer for Southeast Asia with the National Intelligence Council in Washington, D.C. Powell ran the key diplomatic work to organize international preparations for an avian flu pandemic.
Mark S. Ward, International Affairs Medal. Ward is Senior Deputy Assistant Administrator at the U.S. Agency for International Development in Washington, D.C. and led the U.S. recovery and reconstruction efforts after the Asia Tsunami and South Asia Earthquake.
The USGS Hurricane Response team led by Dr. Thomas Casadevall, Citizen Services Medal. Casadevall is the Central Region Director of the U.S. Geological Survey in Central Region in Lakewood, CO. His team, from Baton Rouge, Lafayette and Ruston, LA used technology to help locate and rescue thousands of Hurricane Katrina victims and personally conducted rescue missions that saved 600 people.
W. Martin Harrell, Justice and Law Enforcement Medal. Harrell is the Associate Regional Counsel for Criminal Enforcement/Special Assistant United States Attorney at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Philadelphia, PA. He successfully prosecuted a case involving illegal storage and transportation of hazardous waste in the United States and the export of 300 tons of hazardous waste and other chemicals from Pennsylvania to the Netherlands.
Celebrating its fifth year, the Service to America Medals (Sammies) program was created in 2002 by the Partnership for Public Service and Atlantic Media Company, publisher of The Atlantic, Government Executive and National Journal magazines, to honor our federal government’s most outstanding federal employees. It has earned a reputation as the most prestigious awards program dedicated to celebrating America’s civil servants.
The winners were selected by a committee that includes prominent public figures such as Stanford President John Hennessy, Southwest Airlines Chairman Herb Kelleher, AOL Vice Chairman Ted Leonsis, and former Secretary of Health and Human Services, Tommy Thompson. National sponsors of the Service to America Medals include founding sponsor, Siemens, along with DuPont and Lockheed Martin.
The Partnership for Public Service works to revitalize federal government by inspiring a new generation to serve and by transforming the way government works.
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The Partnership for Public Service works to revitalize our federal government by inspiring a new generation to serve and by transforming the way government works.
