CURRENT ASSIGNMENT:
Mrs. Gail H. McGinn was appointed as the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Plans in November 2002. In this capacity, she serves as the official within the Office of the Under Secretary for Personnel and Readiness responsible for developing integrated evaluation processes to measure the success of personnel programs. She provides advice and assistance to the Under Secretary on the management of military and civilian personnel programs; oversees the development of strategic plans for human resources; and directs involvement with oversight and consultant boards to achieve human resource goals. Mrs. McGinn also coordinates the Department of Defense activities in support of the President's Management Agenda. She was appointed as the Senior Language Authority for the Office of the Secretary of Defense in May of 2004, with responsibility for foreign language issues within the Department of Defense. She is also responsible for assisting the Under Secretary in facilitating the activities and policy outcomes of the Joint Task Force on Sexual Assault Prevention and Response.
PAST EXPERIENCES:
Mrs. McGinn became a member of the Senior Executive Service in 1992. Her prior SES assignments include Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Force Management Policy and Principal Director for Personnel Support, Families and Education. Before coming to the Office of the Secretary of Defense in 1988, Mrs. McGinn was the Director of Program Analysis and Evaluation at the U.S. Army Community and Family Support Center (1985-1988). From 1983-1985, Mrs. McGinn worked on the Army staff and served on a special task force that inaugurated family programs in the Department of the Army. She has also held a number of positions in the drug and alcohol field. These included positions at Headquarters V Corps in Frankfurt, Germany; and at Seneca Army Depot.
Mrs. McGinn is a two-time recipient of the Presidential Meritorious Executive Rank Award. Her other awards include the Secretary of Defense Awards for Distinguished Civilian Service, Meritorious Civilian Service and for Exceptional Civilian Service; as well as the Department of the Army decoration for Meritorious Civilian Service, the Commander's Award for Civilian Service, and the Order of the White Plume.
EDUCATION:
Born in East St. Louis, Illinois, and raised as a military child, Mrs. McGinn has lived in many locations in the U.S. and abroad. She attended William Smith College in Geneva, New York, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude with a B.A. in Psychology and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. She completed graduate study with a Masters Degree in Education from Boston University. Mrs. McGinn has studied both French and German and spoke fluent Danish as a child on the playgrounds of Odense, Denmark. |
