White House Announces ‘Gears of Government’ Award Winners

The White House unveiled its Gears of Government President’s Award winners Monday, recognizing 24 federal employees from seven agencies for outstanding mission results, customer service and accountable stewardship.

Agencies represented include the departments of Health and Human Services, Veterans Affairs, Transportation, Agriculture and Energy, as well as NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The awards coincide with National Public Service Week, which runs through May 11.

“Whether they are defending the homeland, inspecting our food, making scientific discoveries, or managing cyber risks, federal employees underpin all the operations of our government and touch nearly every aspect of our lives,” the Office of Management and Budget’s Deputy Director for Management Margaret Weichert said in a statement. “These awards recognize not just the front-line mission employees, but also those teams and individuals that are strengthening our country to be a more modern, effective government to better serve their fellow citizens.”

In a press call with reporters Monday, Weichert called out the work undertaken by the NOAA, Agriculture and VA.

The four-person Agriculture team—Roger Cryan, Marc McFetridge, Michael Sheats and Robert Wintersteen—transformed “an 80-year-old approach to better support distressed agricultural industries to provide safe, nutritious food to low-income communities.”

At VA, Weichert said Deputy Chief Veterans Experience Officer Barbara Morton is helping “transform and modernize service for veterans with real-time data.”

And at NOAA, Weichert said Timothy Davis, Stephanie Moore and Gregory Doucette helped advance the detection time of harmful algal blooms that ensures both safe drinking water from Lake Eerie and access to safe seafood in Washington State.

Other award winners include Dr. Kathleen Uhl, Kenneth Kraft, Dustin Litwiler, Jess Weisz, Cassandra Newsome, Roman Kulbashny, Dr. Emily Haas of HHS; Kerry Kolodziej, Kara Fischer, Stephen Hench, Luicia Sanchez, Nicholas LaBruna of Transportation; and Marc Gibson, Lee Mason, William Pulse of Energy and NASA.