Finalists for the Presidential Ranks of Distinguished and Meritorious Executive awards were honored at a reception at the State Department Diplomatic Reception Rooms recently in recognition of outstanding accomplishments in their work as civil servants, though for them the awards didn’t carry their traditional monetary value.
Just 1 percent of SES may receive the rank of Distinguished Executive and 1 percent of executives in senior level and scientific and professional positions may receive the rank of Distinguished Senior Professional. Five percent in each category may receive the rank of Meritorious Executive or Meritorious Senior Professional, respectively.
OPM announced the finalists May 13 here: opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/senior-executive-service/performance /presidential-rank-award-finalists/2013-presidential-rank-award-finalists.pdf
The Senior Executives Association Professional Development League sponsored the reception. SEA president Carol Bonosaro said that among other notable accomplishments, individual finalists in her remarks: developed a contracting and acquisition plan that saved $15 billion dollars over two fiscal years; was the chief architect of the petroleum refinery initiative, and concluded 22 settlements, including with every major refiner, which covered nearly 87 percent of petroleum capacity, and required billions of dollars of pollution control and tens of millions in civil penalties; created the world’s four most accurate atomic clocks; and, led development of a revolutionary concept in intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance technologies which led to the deployment of a multi-intelligence weapon system in Afghanistan – capturing multiple terrorists and reducing the number of roadside bombs by early detection.
OPM recently announced that the next round of awards will carry the traditional cash component worth tens of thousands of dollars, and that this year’s finalists are eligible to be renominated since a restriction against receiving awards more frequently than every five years would not apply to them because they did not receive the cash component.
