AFPC Executive Director presented Presidential Rank Award

  • Published
  • By 2nd Lt. Gina Vaccaro
  • Air Force Personnel Center Public Affairs
RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, TEXAS --  Bill Carr, deputy undersecretary (military personnel policy) for the Office of the Secretary of Defense, presented the Meritorious Presidential Rank Award Tuesday to Sheila Earle, executive director, Air Force Personnel Center.

"Sheila has been a colleague, a friend, and a brilliant contributor to military human resources for decades, so for me it was enormously fulfilling for her to receive this recognition," Mr. Carr said about the presentation.

Ms. Earle earned the award while serving as principal director, deputy undersecretary of defense for military personnel policy, at the Office of the Secretary of Defense from September 2003 to August 2008. The Presidential Rank Awards are presented annually to career members of the Senior Executive Service, Senior-Level, and Scientific and Professional corps who have displayed sustained achievement in government service.

Ms. Earle's notable accomplishments include the creation of the Defense Travel Management Office at the Pentagon which streamlined travel for all military services. In addition, she initiated the first major change since 1986 to the Goldwater-Nichols Act that enabled military officers to earn joint assignment credit via a point-based system.

Ms Earle has 30 years of personnel experience, including over 20 years active-duty military. Mr. Carr called the Presidential Rank Award the pinnacle achievement in a civil service career because the award represents the top in government service.

"She has done some really extraordinary things among what is already a pretty competitive crowd," Mr. Carr said. "Today, as the recipient of this award, she has reached the top 5 percent of all the SES members in the government."

Only 5 percent of all SES members, which make up approximately .03 percent of the total civilian federal workforce, may be awarded the Meritorious-level rank award.

"The OSD/MPP was one of the finest teams I've ever served on and the leadership was phenomenal," said Ms. Earle, who retired from active-duty in 2001 as an Air Force colonel. "I was able to take an idea and run with it and make something happen...I would never have gotten an award like this without the great team and Mr. Carr's support!"

An official presentation to Ms. Earle and other recipients of the award will be held this spring in Washington D.C.

"[Ms Earle] is cheerful and tenacious, which is the best combination you can find in a colleague," Mr. Carr said. "She is determined, yet what she conveys is this wonderful collegiality and warmth. So, she'll get what the government needs and have everybody smiling in the process."

For more information about the Presidential Rank Awards visit the Office of Personnel Management Web site, http://www.opm.gov. For a biography of Ms. Earle visit http://www.afpc.randolph.af.mil/library/biographies/index.asp. For information about AFPC, visit the AFPC public site, http://www.afpc.randolph.af.mil/.