Marshall Jones, deputy director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, has been selected by President Bush as a recipient of a Presidential Rank Award, a prize awarded annually to a select number of career senior executives to recognize exceptional long-term accomplishments.
After Administrations changed in January 2001, Jones led the 8,000-employee Fish and Wildlife Service for more than a year while Steve Williams of Kansas was awaiting confirmation as the agencys new director.
As Acting Director, Jones moved quickly to promote a new relationship between the states and the Service, instituting biweekly meetings throughout the year with State leaders to discuss issues of mutual concern, and challenging the agencys senior executives to do likewise in their own regions and program areas. The push to build bridges to the states was not new for Jones, he had done the same thing when he managed the Services International Affairs program.
Jones also worked tirelessly to improve the Services relationship with its own employees. In one of his most ambitious efforts, he managed to meet personally with nearly 15 percent of the agencys total workforce to gather information and answer questions during the transition period.
At the same time, Jones pushed to actively recruit and mentor minority employees, and helped the Service become a leader within the Department of the Interior in that area, selecting the Services first female African-American for a Senior Executive Service (SES) slot. Jones has pushed hard for management reform, as well, implementing changes that link senior managers performance evaluations to accomplishment of strategic goals. He also moved vigorously to revitalize the agencys struggling fisheries program, asking the Sport Fishing and Boating Partnership Council to participate in the development of a new strategic vision.
"Marshall Jones set the standard for civil servants who are thrust into the political arena as acting directors, knowing that the job is temporary and that they would return to their old jobs in a matter of time," said Service Director Williams. "His diligence, foresight and extremely conscientious management went a long way to making my transition relatively easy. He is an enormous credit to this agency."
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