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GOVERNMENT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
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OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS | ONE JUDICIARY SQUARE 441 FOURTH STREET, N.W. SUITE 1100 WASHINGTON D.C. 20001 (202) 727-6224 |
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 31, 2000 |
CONTACT: Peggy Armstrong (202) 727-5011 |
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Today I announced the appointment of John Koskinen as the Deputy Mayor and City Administrator for the District of Columbia Mr Koskinen has more than 30 years of turn around management experience Mr. Koskinen lives in Ward 4 and has been a District resident for more than three decades.
"We welcome Mr. Koskinen's leadership and look forward to working with him on a range of issues facing the District. He has a long standing track record in the public sector complimented by a 21 year history of restructuring large, troubled operating companies in the private sector."
Recently, he served as the Assistant to President Clinton and Chair of the Presidents Council on year 2000 Conversion where he was responsible for overseeing the Federal government's efforts to ensure that its critical information technology systems operated flawlessly tlarough the Y2K transition.
Koskinen will replace Norman S. Dong as the City Administrator. After nearly 5 years of service to District Government, Mr. Dong is taking a sabbatical from public management. "We have worked together for many years he was my Chief of Staff when I was the CFO. He helped to build the organization that brought financial integrity back to the District government. He also led the development and implementation of our short-term action plans which set the standard for dehvenng concrete results."
Koskinen will join the Administration on September 11.
OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS | ONE JUDICIARY SQUARE 441 FOURTH STREET, N.W. SUITE 1100 WASHINGTON D.C. 20001 (202) 727-6224 |
John A. Koskinen served as Assistant to the President and Chair of the Presidents Council on Year 2000 Conversion from February, 1998 to March, 2000. He was responsible for overseeing the Federal government s efforts to insure that its critical information technology systems operated smoothly through the year 2000 and coordinating the Federal relationships with State, local and tribal governments, the private sector and foreign institutions as they dealt with the same challenges. Mr. Koskinen previously served as Deputy Director for Management at OMB from 1994 to 1997 where he was responsible for OMB oversight of general Federal management issues including Federal regulations, information and procurement policies, and financial management practices in Federal agencies.
Prior to returning to public service, Mr. Koskinen was President of The Palmieri Company, which restructured large, troubled operating companies. During Mr. Koskinen's 21 years with The Palmieri Company, he helped reorganize the Penn Central Transportation Company; Levitt and Sons, Incorporated; and Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company, the largest failed life insurance company in U.S. history.
Earlier in his professional career, Mr. Koskinen served as law clerk to Judge David L. Bazelon, Chief Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Washington, D.C.; was associated with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in Los Angeles as an attorney; was Special Assistant to the Deputy Executive Director of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders; represented Mayor John Lindsay and New York City in Washington; and served for four years as administrative assistant to Senator Abraham A. Ribicoff of Connecticut.
Mr. Koskinen was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on June 30, 1939; attended high school in Ashland, Kentucky; graduated Magna Cum Laude from Duke University in 1961, where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa; graduated with an LL.B., cum laude, from Yale Law School in 1964; and did post graduate work in international law at Cambridge University, Cambridge, England, 1964-65.
Mr. Koskinen is a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration and of the Phi Beta Kappa Society. He served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Duke University for three years during his 12 years as trustee and was honored in 1997 as the private university recipient of the Association of Governing Boards national distinguished service award. He is a past President of the University's National Alumni Association and presently serves as Chairman of the Advisory Board of the University's Athletic Department. Mr. Koskinen also was a Trustee for 12 years of the Cooperative Assistance Fund and served for 12 years as an organizer and Chairman of the Board of the National Captioning Institute. In addition, he served as Chairman of the Washington, DC Host Committee for the 1994 World Cup and the Washington 1996 Olympic Soccer Committee.
Mr. Koskinen and his wife, the former Patricia Salz have two adult children. Cheryl and Jeffrey, anid live in Washington, D.C.
OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS | ONE JUDICIARY SQUARE 441 FOURTH STREET, N.W. SUITE 1100 WASHINGTON D.C. 20001 (202) 727-6224 |
Mr. Dong served as Interim City Administrator until he was appointed the Deputy Mayor for Operations and City Administrator of the District of Columbia by Mayor Anthony A. Wilhams. In Mr. Dong's new appointment, he will continue to have responsibilities for handling the day-today operations of the city to translate the Mayor's vision into the practical reality of how the government operates. He will also continue to have responsibilities for resolving problems between agencies and providing supervision and support for agency directors.
Mr. Dong served as Deputy Chief of Staff for Management until his appointment as Interim City Administrator. He was responsible for daily government operations, which included coordinating implementation of short-term plans with agency directors to produce rapid, visible improvements in service delivery. He was also responsible for working with the Office of the Chief Management Officer and the Financial Authority to blend existing efforts and staff into a new, unified government model.
Mr. Dong served as Director of the Office of Grants Management and Development from March of 1998 to January of 1999. Mr. Dong led a strategic planning effort that resulted in the complete transformation of the office. Under Mr. Dong's leadership, OGMD became one of the first District agencies to adopt a competitive service model that forces the office to operate more like a business. OGMD also began tracking all federal funding opportunities. For the first time, District agencies are informed of all upcoming opportunities and they can receive application assistance, as needed, from OGMD.
Prior to becoming Director of OGMD, Mr. Dong served as Chief of Staff in the Office of the Chief Financial Officer, where he worked with Mr. Williams and his senior management team to improve staffing, processes, and systems to transform the District's financial organization into a performance-based, results-oriented operation. These efforts resulted in a clean audit for FY 1997, a balanced budget two years ahead of schedule, and an increase in tax collections by tens of millions of dollars. Mr. Dong also played a leading role in the development of the longterm strategic plan for the District's financial organization.
Mr. Dong has also worked for the Federal Government as Special Assistant in the Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of Policy Development and research. Mr. Dong directed the U.S. national preparations for the Second Global Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II). Mr. Dong also played a leading role in President Clinton's National home ownership Strategy, which focused on increasing home ownership among low and moderate-income communities.
Mr. Dong earned a Master's Degree in Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, University and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in History from Yale College.
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