The CDC Leaders

“Vision is the art of seeing the invisible.”

—Jonathan Swift

Ed Sontag, EdD

Acting Chief Management Officer, Office of Workforce and Career Development

Ed Sontag, serves as the acting Chief Management Officer for OWCD. Prior to this position he was Special Advisor to the Director, Centers for Disease Control an Prevention (CDC) working with globalization activities among CDC, Health & Human Services (HHS), and other key partners on the globalization effort.

Dr. Sontag previously served as the chief management official (CMO) for the Coordinating Center for Health Information and Service (CCHIS). Dr. Sontag has more than 35 years of varied management experience in state and federal government and academic settings. Prior to CCHIS, he served as the acting chief management official for the CDC Office of Workforce and Career Development (OWCD). He joined OWCD in early 2006, after serving as the acting deputy director of the National Center for Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities (NCBDDD).

Prior to entering CDC′s workforce, Dr. Sontag served as the HHS Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management between 2001 and 2005. In that role, Dr. Sontag oversaw the Department′s human resources, grants management acquisitions, facilities management, and day-to-day management of the Department. He also served as the Secretary′s senior advisor on the President′s Management Agenda and oversaw development and implementation of a number of innovative workforce and recruitment programs, including the Emerging Leaders Program, HHS University, Special Hiring Authority for Urgent Needs, and the Senior Executive Service Candidate Development Program.

Before joining HHS in 2001, Dr. Sontag was a policy advisor to then Wisconsin Governor Tommy G. Thompson, and a tenured professor in the University of Wisconsin system for seven years. In addition to his HHS employment, Dr. Sontag held a variety of federal government positions throughout the 1970′s and 1980′s. At the U.S. Department of Education, he held a number of high ranking positions, including deputy assistant secretary and associate commissioner of rehabilitative services. Following his tenure at the U.S. Department of Education, Dr. Sontag served for three years as deputy assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Interior and its Bureau of Indian Affairs, where he was the Secretary of Interior′s primary advisor on education issues and the Director of the White House Conference on Indian Education.

Early in his career, Dr. Sontag served as the director of special education for the Madison, Wisconsin Public School System, and as the assistant state superintendent for the Illinois State Board of Education. He received his doctorate in education from Syracuse University and has been a visiting professor in the education departments of more than half a dozen universities throughout the country.

Dr. Sontag has published and lectured extensively in the United States and abroad in his fields of administration and special education. He led the United States delegation to the United Nations′ Conference on Aging in Berlin in 2002, has served on numerous grass roots and national committees and workgroups, and was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve on the President′s Commission on Excellence in Special Education. He currently is a commissioner on the Aspen Institute′s No Child Left Behind Commission, which is examining ways to enhance public education. Dr. Sontag has received various honors and awards throughout his career. Most recently, he received the distinguished service award from the Down Syndrome Society.