PUBLISHED BY & FOR EMPLOYEES JULY 2015 Volume 2, Issue 7

Inside 3 Message from Director Hopper

4 BOEM Pacific Director Retires

5 BOEM Gulf Director Retires

6 BOEM Alaska: Students visit from the Northwest Arctic Borough

7-8 Employees, diversity and ethics

updates

EMPLOYEE INSIGHTS Wellness, Productivity & You

Employee Insights

is published quarterly for,

by and about the

BOEM work force.

The newsletter is

produced by the

BOEM Office

of Public Affairs.

Caren Madsen, OPA Chief

Renee Logan, Editor

Please send us your articles,

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boempublicaffairs@boem.gov.

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EMPLOYEE INSIGHTS: WELLNESS, PRODUCTIVITY & YOU JULY 2015

A new look and format for Employee Insights!

We hope you enjoy the revised style of the newsletter. Training

for Renee Logan this spring resulted in a slight make-

over.

— Caren Madsen

A Message

from Director Abigail Hopper

LEADERSHIP

EMPLOYEE INSIGHTS WELLNESS, PRODUCTIVITY & YOU July 2015

Dear Colleagues,

So much has happened in the bureau

since I arrived six months ago. Since Jan-

uary, I've visited all three regions as well

as our new Sterling headquarters, testified on behalf of BOEM

at three Congressional hearings, and have been involved in

many public announcements, not the least of which is the draft

proposed Five Year Program for Oil and Gas Leasing for 2017-

2022. I feel as though I've been on fast-forward since I walked

in the door. With your help, my first months at BOEM have

been incredibly productive and enjoyable.

As I have visited each of our offices, I have outlined my five

priorities, those tasks that I would like to accomplish, the ones

I focus on every single day. During my travels, my speaking

engagements and my press interviews, I have also observed

several things that I want to share with you.

First and foremost, I am struck, almost daily, by how critically

important the work that we do here at BOEM is to our nation’s

environment and our nation’s economy. Our mission lies at the

intersection of energy policy and environmental protection.

That can be a complicated, nuanced place to be, but I believe

strongly that the science-based decisions we make to protect

the environment while making wise use of offshore resources

represents a critically important aspect of our country’s future.

And for that reason, I am very proud to represent your work

whether it’s on Capitol Hill, in the press, or with other federal

or state agencies.

I have also enjoyed witnessing the pride and enthusiasm you

have for the work that the bureau does. I have seen the

unique aspects of each of our regional offices. Yet I have also

witnessed what we all have in common – the desire to serve

the American taxpayer by safely and responsibly developing

our offshore energy resources.

We have many challenging, exciting and critically important

tasks in the next few months. One of those is the selection of

two new Regional Directors, one for the Gulf of Mexico and

one for the Pacific Region. This is a role that I take seriously

and I will do my best, in consultation with others, to select the

right leaders for those regions.

I’d like to close by expressing my deep appreciation to John

Rodi and Ellen Aronson for their years of outstanding service.

In many ways, they helped shape BOEM into the respected

organization that it is today.

I hope each of you gets an opportunity during these summer

months to spend time doing whatever it is that nourishes you,

with whomever you love. I certainly plan to do that as well.

As I’ve mentioned before, my door is open and I’m always

glad to hear from you.

Abby

Top of column: Abby with employees in the Gulf of Mexico. Top of collage: Ready to

board a helicopter to visit a rig in the Gulf of Mexico. Middle images: With BSEE

Director Salerno in Alaska at left; with researchers in California. Bottom photo:

Abby at left with Jim Bennett, Chief of the Office of Renewable Energy Programs.

BOEM Pacific Region Director Ellen Aronson Retires

Ellen addresses

friends and colleagues

at her farewell picnic

in Camarillo, CA. A

group shot is below.

PACIFIC

By John Romero

Fond memories and poignant reflections were shared by em-

ployees, past and present, from the Bureau of Ocean Energy

Management (BOEM), Bureau of Safety and Environmental

Enforcement (BSEE), and the former Minerals Management

Service (MMS) as BOEM said goodbye to Pacific Regional Direc-

tor Ellen Gail Aronson at her retirement picnic held at Valle

Lindo Park in Camarillo, California. Ellen’s son Josh Kneeter,

father Dr. Gerry Aronson, and sister Lisa Aronson were also on

hand to celebrate her career milestone.

After a distinguished federal career that spanned nearly four

decades, most of which were spent working in the Outer Conti-

nental Shelf (OCS) energy program at both the regional and

headquarters levels, Ellen herself reflected on her tenure as a

public servant.

“I have had an amazing career in the offshore energy program,

and much of this is due to the incredible people I have had the

good fortune to work with. Thank you all for providing me the

opportunities and friendships,” said Ellen as she addressed the

crowd of well-wishers, “I am so honored to have been able to

work with you.”

Prior to retirement, Ellen served as BOEM Pacific Regional Di-

rector, implementing bureau policy offshore California, Ore-

gon, Washington, and Hawaii. Under her direction, the Region

managed 43 oil and natural gas leases offshore southern Cali-

fornia, with an annual production of 18. 5 million barrels of oil

and 28 billion cubic feet of natural gas; cumulative production

from these leases, the first of which were issued in the 1960s,

is 1.3 billion barrels of oil and 1.8 trillion cubic feet of natural

gas. Additionally, Ellen directed the Region’s efforts on renew-

able energy lease requests offshore Oregon and Hawaii and

was working with California to address OCS opportunities for

marine renewable energy development. As Regional Director,

Ellen ensured BOEM’s ever-growing body of environmental

information guided decisions concerning the full range of re-

sources under BOEM management. Moreover, her belief in a

mission responsive to stakeholders was a hallmark of her char-

acter. Those who had the pleasure of working with Ellen can

attest that she consistently put these principles into practice.

Throughout her career, Ellen was recognized for her leader-

ship, significant contributions, and unfettered commitment to

public service.

While working in Washington, D.C., she was recognized by an

appreciative then-Secretary of the Interior Manual Lujan for

her invaluable assistance to President George H.W. Bush’s OCS

Leasing and Development Task Force. Ellen’s expertise, time,

and constructive attitude were acknowledged as contributing

factors in the successful completion of the task force’s final

report to the President.

In 2013, Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell bestowed the

Distinguished Service Award, the highest honor of the Depart-

ment, to Ellen for her many outstanding contributions and con-

tinued dedication to implement, strengthen, and strategically

advance the mission of the OCS program.

At her retirement picnic, Ellen was presented with a letter and

photo from President Barack Obama recognizing her for signifi-

cant contributions to federal service. This Presidential recogni-

tion of her lifetime of dedication, leadership and significant

contributions in the federal sector was a true capstone to her

remarkable and celebrated career as a public servant.

Before logging off of her computer for the last time on Friday

May 29th, Ellen sent out a “goodbye” email to BOEM and BSEE

employees that conveyed the encouragement she was so fa-

mous for sharing.

“I have worked in the Pacific Region and in HQ, in both staff

and management positions,” she noted, “And I highly recom-

mend moving around, tasting it all, doing good work, and

putting a high value on cooperation. It makes work more en-

joyable, meaningful, and challenging. Federal service is won-

derful; you are working for all of us. Keep up the good work!”

EMPLOYEE INSIGHTS: WELLNESS, PRODUCTIVITY & YOU JULY 2015

Bidding “Adieu” to John Rodi

By Michael Plummer

Somewhere in the French Quarter, a man is sitting on a bal-

cony with a party in his head.

Gulf of Mexico Regional Director John Rodi retired in March

after almost 44 years in federal service with five different

agencies. He was the first Regional Director in the Gulf after

the creation of BOEM in 2011.

“John is recognized as an effective leader and manager of

people,” said Interior Secretary Sally Jewell when she visited

New Orleans last March for the Central Gulf of Mexico lease

sale 235. “He’s open, fair and extremely well-respected for

his knowledge of agency regulations and processes. “

A uniquely New Orleans affair, John’s retirement event

marked his career with humor, poetry, singing, and genuine

expressions of fondness and respect. He entered wearing a

fashionable ensemble and after a round of applause, was

escorted to his seat. His special seat was at a wrought-iron

café table, complete with a realistic backdrop of the French

Quarter streets as seen from the balcony of his downtown

apartment.

Earning degrees in economics from Tulane University and the

University of New Orleans, John began as an economist with

the New Orleans District of the Army Corps of Engineers. He

worked for the Bureau of Land Management and was one of

the original employees of the Mineral Management Service.

He was there for its metamorphosis from MMS to the Bureau

of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement,

and later BOEM. He earned a Distinguished Service Award

for his leadership of a new organization as well his foresight

in managing financial aspects of the oil and gas regulatory

process.

A certificate from President Barack Obama, honoring John for his service to his country, was presented. A choir of song-birds from Human Resources serenaded John with their ren-dition of “Rolling on the River,” with lyrics changed to express the gratitude they felt for his leadership. John chimed in and sang baritone.

Well-wishers included BSEE, BOEM’s Pacific Region; the Alas-ka Region; Joe Christopher, head of the GOMR Office of the Environment; and Kent Randall from the Gulf Leasing and Plans Division

John received the Gulf tradition of the “Order of the Alliga-tor.” But John’s Order of the Alligator was distinctive, pro-claiming him as “Most Magnificent King of the Gulf of Mexi-co.” He was given a crown and scepter to signify his newly-awarded nobility.

In his parting message, John spoke of

how proud he was to work with fellow

civil servants who have made tremen-

dous sacrifices to find the safest and

most efficient ways to manage OCS off-

shore energy. He noted that, throughout

his career, he had been inspired by the

flow of energy he felt from sharing a mis-

sion with colleagues whose drive and

expertise were dedicated to making the world a better place for

friends and family -- as well as millions of Americans they

served yet would never meet.

John reminded everyone, “Don’t forget to smile and laugh each

and every day on the job…it really helps to have that party go-

ing on in your own head.”

When asked what he would do in retirement, John said that

initially he would sit on his French Quarter balcony sipping wine

and enjoying the view, having ended his career surrounded by

overwhelming expressions of admiration.

EMPLOYEE INSIGHTS: WELLNESS, PRODUCTIVITY & YOU JULY 2015

GULF OF MEXICO

Following a fantastic send off program, John Rodi bids a heartfelt

farewell to Gulf of Mexico Regional employees.

His last lease sale: John

goes over information with

Interior Secretary Jewell

as Director Hopper looks

on.

6

ALASKA

EMPLOYEE INSIGHTS: WELLNESS, PRODUCTIVITY & YOU JULY 2015

NORTHWEST ARCTIC

Hosting Future Leaders from the North

High School Students from Northwest Arctic Borough Communities Visit Headquarters

By Jennifer Ewald

High School students representing four communities within the Northwest Arctic Borough (NWAB) visited with officials at BOEM, the Department, the White House and Con-gress during a visit to Washington, D.C. this month. The seven students were winners of the NWAB Subsistence Youth Essay Contest sponsored by the NWAB Subsistence Mapping Project, a four-year project to promote the sub-sistence way of life and maintain the Iñupiaq culture in the region for future generations. Involving the youth was a key component for success in the project. Additionally, these youth leaders engaged in the Generation Indigenous Chal-lenge, a White House call to action in addressing issues fac-ing Native youth and creating opportunities to promote youth voices in their communities and with agency leader-ship. The NAB is the second largest borough in Alaska, compris-ing approximately 39,000 square miles along the Kotzebue Sound, Wullik, Noatak, Kobuk, Selawik, Buckland and Kugruk Rivers. The region experiences a transitional climate, characterized by long, cold winters and cool sum-mers and is home to about 7,500 people. The students — representing the villages of Kotzebue, Kiana, Noorvik and Kobuk — were interested in discussing how they can affect public policy and the decision- making process for the Arctic in the future. They are:

Brianna Riley (Kianna High School) Dustin Harvey (Kobuk High School) Jeremy Barr (Kianna High School) Kaelyn Stalker (Kianna High School) Kalynne Shieldt (Kotzebue High School) Melody Smith (Kotzebue High School) Wilfried Zibell(Noorvik High School).

Read about their visit in a group essay edited by Wilfried Zibell click here

A visit with former Director/now DOI Chief of Staff Tommy Beaudreau,

who grew up in Alaska.

L-R: Wilfried Zibell, Brianna Riley, Kalynne Shieldt, Melody Smith, Kaelyn Stalker,

Dustin Harvey, Jeremy Barr

Elizabeth Ferguson (far left) describes her Gen-I challenge.

She is the first youth Council Member in Kotzebue, AK.

Discussing

their vision for

the Arctic

future.

7

Demonstrate mutual respect.

Inclusion means being respectful regardless of position or title.

EMPLOYEE INSIGHTS: WELLNESS, PRODUCTIVITY & YOU JULY 2015

BOEM’s Christine Taylor Honored

with Federal Customer Service

Award

By Doug Vandegraft

BOEM physical scientist Christine

Taylor was honored on July 4th with

one of the inaugural Department of

the Interior Customer Service

Awards. The new award gives

recognition to employees who pro-

vide exceptional service to custom-

ers, partners, and stakeholders.

In 2009, Christine moved from her

job as a Cartographer with the National Oceanic and Atmos-

pheric Administration (NOAA) to a position with the former

Minerals Management Service (MMS). The following year,

she accepted the task of coordinating the implementation of

a new joint-project between MMS and NOAA, known then as

the Multipurpose Marine Cadastre. Using the principles of

customer service, particularly establishing relationships,

building team unity, and a commitment to excellence, Chris-

tine has successfully worked to create a website that pro-

vides data and information for a wide variety of offshore

uses and purposes, and for multiple stakeholders. The site is

particularly valuable to those interested in developing re-

newable energy projects on the Outer Continental Shelf.

MarineCadastre.gov (MC.gov) has grown from a site with a

simple map viewer and a just a few data sets to a dynamic

map viewer with hundreds of data sets, all from authorita-

tive sources. This was accomplished primarily because of the

tenacity of Christine and her desire to provide for the needs

of the customer. She has developed relationships with the

data providers, which helps ensure that the data on MC.gov

is continually updated. Christine has led various teams that

focus on particular aspects of MC.gov.

Christine realizes the value of education, and has given many

demonstrations and training sessions to a huge variety of

existing and potential customers. She is always friendly, ap-

proachable and passionate about the value of MC.gov. Re-

cent figures show that as many as 1,900 people use MC.gov

every week. The site has become an extremely useful and

beneficial tool to a wide variety of customers; much of this is

due to the efforts of Christine Taylor to provide meaningful

data in an accessible way.

Taylor

In an effort to continuously practice the behaviors highlight-ed in the D&R 30 Tips, the Diversity Change Agents (DCAs) are launching the Ouch! Campaign. This campaign challeng-es us to acknowledge situations or conversations that may be harmful to others. The campaign's focus will be on the 12 Techniques for Taking Action Without Blame or Guilt. The 12 Techniques are great resources to assist any and all BO-EM & BSEE staff on "Communicating Respectfully In A Di-verse World." Participants will be provided with information that will empower them to speak up against stereotypes and recognize biases. As noted in the training materials, "Just one person speaking up can inspire others to do the same." Silence is not always golden. So speak up!

Each region will host a training/workshop/event to highlight valuable lessons on key points of the Ouch concepts. The three Learning Objectives are:

Understand the impact of stereotypes and biased

statements, even when casually said.

Identify the most common reasons people sit silent in

the face of bias and stereotypes.

Enhance skills for speaking up against stereotypes

without blame or guilt.

For a preview of what Ouch! is about, visit this link.

— Patricia Jones

RR ead “4 Surprising Truths

about Workplace

Productivity” visit this

link.

.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT BOEM ETHICS PLEASE VISIT OUR

CURRENTS @HTTP://CURRENTS.BOEM.GOV

ETHICS CORNER

Employee Feedback on Currents — the new Intranet site

under development

Thanks to all of you who participating in our recent survey on

the new intranet site we are producing. We are currently

moving forward in to design Currents based on your com-

ments and feedback. Our goal is to develop an intuitive site.

The URL to the Currents intranet site was emailed to all BOEM

staff in April. We’ve received your feedback and will be im-

plementing some of the recommended changes in the final

product to be rolled out this summer.

EMPLOYEE INSIGHTS: WELLNESS, PRODUCTIVITY & YOU JULY 2015

Notes on Post-Employment

No former employee shall communicate (orally or in writing)

with the intent to influence or appear before any Federal em-

ployee on behalf of another in connection with a particular

matter involving a specific party/parties, in which he participat-

ed personally and substantially while an employee, in which the

US is a party or has a direct and substantial interest. [18 USC

207(a)(1) and 5 CFR 2641 (a)].

That’s a mouthful! So let’s break this down into parts . . .

Communication:

A former employee communicates when he or she imparts in-

formation of any kind, including facts, opinions, ideas, ques-

tions or direction, to any Governments employee, whether

orally or in writing, by electronic media or any other means. [5

CFR 2641.201(d)(1)]

Example: Latitia worked as a special assistant to the BOEM di-

rector. She was responsible for auditing 20 large consulting

firms. Shortly after earning her PhD in earth sciences, she re-

signed from BOEM and accepted a position as Director of a

large consulting firm, Way Way, Inc. Two weeks after assuming

the Director’s position, she called a BOEM official to complain

about its auditing methods of Way Way, Inc. This is a violation

of 18 USC 207 based on “communication.”

The Gulf of Mexico meets Alaska BOEM Gulf of Mexico Public Affairs Chief John Filostrat had a chance to meet Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski earlier this summer at the 40th Annual NOAA Fish Fry in Washington, DC. The Sena-tor was serving sea crab bisque and sea crab sliders prepared by the Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers (ABSC), an organization com-mitted to the long-term sustainability of the Alaska Bering Sea crab fisheries.

46%

30%

17%

7%

Very satisfied

Somewhat satisfied

Neutral

Somewhat dissatisfied

This spring, BOEM Deputy Director Walter Cruickshank and Patricia Jones,

a BOEM Diversity Change Agent and Program Support Specialist in the

Resource Evaluation Division, received Federal Asian Pacific Council

(FAPAC) 2015 Civilian Awards. The FAPAC, which was founded in 1985, is

a nonprofit representing the civilian and military Asian Pacific American

(APA) employees in the Federal and District of Columbia governments.

FAPAC serves as an interagency association serving over 30 ethnically

distinct groups originating from Asian and Pacific regions. Pictured at the

awards ceremony, left to right are Annie Yang (BOEM DCA), Deputy Director

Walter Cruickshank - Outstanding Individual Leadership Award Recipient,

Katherine Archuleta (OPM Director), Olivia Adrian (BSEE DCA and FAPAC

Vice President), Patricia Jones - Diversity Excellence Award Recipient

(BOEM DCA) Alexandra Ritchie (BOEM DCA) and Back Row - Michelle

McCluer (Former BOEM DCA).

9

STAY TUNED FOR THE NEXT

ISSUE OF EMPLOYEE INSIGHTS: OCTOBER 2015