U.S. Office of Personnel Management - Ensuring the Federal Government has an effective civilian workforce

Executive Team Biographies

Linda M. Springer

Director, U.S. Office of Personnel Management

Linda M. Springer, the eighth Director of the United States Office of Personnel Management, was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate in June 2005.

As OPM Director, Ms. Springer is the chief executive of a 5,000 employee organization responsible for the Federal government’s human resource planning, products, services and policies for the 1.8 million employee civilian workforce worldwide.

She is responsible for leading human capital planning and alignment; management of the world’s largest single-employer sponsored health insurance program; policy guidance and compliance oversight to Federal agencies for recruiting, training, compensation and personnel management; administration of retirement plans for employees in all branches of the Federal government; and 90% of all employee and contractor background investigative services.  She is the principal advisor to the President of the United States on personnel management issues for the Federal government’s civilian workforce.

During her tenure at OPM, Ms. Springer has introduced a publicly acclaimed strategic and operational goal setting and tracking process with all goals and progress transparently posted on OPM’s public website, designed and implemented an innovative approach to recruiting talent – “Career Patterns”, and launched the first-ever nationwide prime time television advertising campaign promoting Federal service careers.  Under her leadership, OPM is modernizing its $700 billion asset retirement program administration via new technology and workforce transformation.  She has overseen product introductions for benefit programs and led OPM’s Executive Office to place first of 222 Federal agency subcomponents for Effective Leadership and Strategic Management.

Ms. Springer is a frequent speaker on human capital and organizational management issues and has been quoted by Business Week, U.S. News & World Report, National Journal, Human Resource Executive, Gallup Management Journal and other professional and industry journals.  Her interviews and commentary have been featured by television and radio stations around the country.

She serves as a member of the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships and is a Principal of the U.S. Joint Financial Management Improvement Program.  In addition, The National Academy of Public Administration named Ms. Springer as a 2006 Fellow.

Prior to becoming OPM Director, Ms. Springer was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate as Controller, White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and head of the Office of Federal Financial Management.  As Controller of the Executive Branch of the Federal government, she set and oversaw implementation of financial management policies and disciplines, including Presidential initiatives.  During her tenure as Controller, she reduced the Federal government’s year-end financial reporting time from five months to 45 days.

Before her career in public service, Ms. Springer spent over twenty-five years in the financial services industry in executive roles responsible for general and financial management, and strategic and operational planning.  She held positions of Senior Vice President and Controller at Provident Mutual and Vice President and Product Manager at Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company.  Her earlier professional experience was at Coopers and Lybrand.

Ms. Springer received her Bachelor of Science degree, cum laude, from Ursinus College in l977 and attended the Executive Program for Managing at the Enterprise at Columbia University Business School.  She is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries and a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries.

Her leadership was recognized by being awarded the Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service and the 2006 Ursinus College Alumni Award.  Ms. Springer established, owned and operated a “Best of Philly” award-winning retail shop in suburban Philadelphia from l992 until its retirement in 2001.  Her civic involvements have included trusteeships with The Haddonfield (NJ) Symphony and Old Paths Publications. She is also an accomplished cellist.

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