Washington, D.C. - U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Acting Director Dan G. Blair recently addressed over 1000 participants at the fourth annual Asian Pacific American Federal Career Advancement Summit in Washington, DC.

Blair and Department of Labor Secretary Elaine Chao co-hosted the Summit to reach out to and offer top-notch training to employees in Federal service, including Asian Pacific Americans.

Speaking to the plenary session, Blair said, "There is a tremendous amount of talent, energy and potential in this room and the Federal civil service stands to be strengthened when we see you move into leadership roles in Federal agencies. OPM is also doing everything it can to give you the momentum to breakthrough the glass ceiling."

According to Blair, OPM continues forward thinking succession planning initiatives to create a leadership corps that draws on the strengths of America's diversity. He said these and other efforts governmentwide are yielding results.

As of September 2004, approximately 4.9 percent of the permanent Federal workforce was Americans of Asian or Pacific Islander descent, compared to 4.0 in the U.S. civilian workforce.

Blair highlighted the Senior Executive Service (SES) Federal Candidate Development Program (Fed CDP), a 14-month immersion program that prepares individuals for top leadership posts through exposure to competitive programs that include rotational assignments within the Executive Branch, formal training, mentoring and performance assessments. Through the Fed CDP, participants are certified and may be selected for an SES position anywhere in the Federal government, without further competition.

Blair reaffirmed OPM and the Bush Administration's commitment to make opportunities available to all Americans saying, "President Bush is strongly committed to opening our Federal workforce at every level to qualified Americans of all backgrounds. It will be good for America and good for the government when we can match your knowledge, skills and abilities to positions throughout the Federal workforce."

Other speakers in today's plenary session included the Honorable Elaine L. Chao, Secretary, U.S. Department of Labor; the Honorable David S.C. Chu, Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, U.S. Department of Defense; the Honorable Edmund C. Moy, Special Assistant to the President and Associate Director of Presidential Personnel, The White House; and the Honorable Julia Chang Bloch, President, U.S.-China Education Trust, Former Ambassador to the Kingdom of Nepal.

Additionally, several senior level Federal executives and experts in various fields representing agencies government wide served as workshop presenters and executive coaches.

This year's Summit featured training in the areas of career development and diversity, Executive Core Qualification, leadership skills, enhancing personal competencies, and topics unique to the interests of Federal employees of Asian-Pacific American heritage.

Our mission is to ensure the Federal Government has an effective civilian workforce. OPM supports U.S. agencies with personnel services and policy leadership including staffing tools, guidance on labor-management relations and programs to improve work force performance.