Thomas R. Bloom Appointed GSA's Chief Financial Officer

GSA #9458

January 16, 1998
Contact: Bill Bearden
Hap Connors
(202)501-1231

WASHINGTON, DC�The U.S. General Services Administration announced today the appointment of Thomas R. Bloom as the agency's Chief Financial Officer, effective February 1.

As CFO, Bloom will oversee GSA's financial management, including budgeting, accounting, cash management, payroll, financial reporting, strategic planning and performance measurement. With financial responsibility of $43 billion a year in government-wide procurement and an annual budget of $13 billion, GSA's CFO manages financial operations on a scale comparable to a Fortune 500 company.

In making the appointment, GSA Administrator David J. Barram said, "Thomas Bloom brings extensive public and private sector experience to this position. We are fortunate to have him as part of our innovative management team that is creating a new GSA."

Bloom comes to GSA from the U.S. Department of Education, where he has been the Inspector General since 1995. He led an independent organization that conducted audits, investigations and fraud control, and designated security services related to programs and operations of the Department. Moreover, he recommended to the Secretary and Congress ways to promote economy, efficiency and effectiveness in the administration of programs and operations.

In 1997, Bloom, a certified public accountant, was appointed to a four-year term on the Advisory Council on Government Auditing Standards (Yellow Book). The Council advises the Comptroller General on auditing standards issues throughout the standard-setting process. Council members are involved in the identification, development, issuance and application of revisions to the standards.

Prior to his service at Education, Bloom served as the Chief Financial Officer and Assistant Secretary for Administration at the Department of Commerce. In that position, he was responsible for all financial, administrative and budget management issues.

From 1988 to 1993, Bloom was a senior audit partner with the national certified public accounting firm Kenneth Leventhal & Company in its Dallas and Washington, DC offices. He was the firm's director of Governmental Services and co-chair of its Financial Institution Practice.

As an accounting fellow and later the chief accountant for the Federal Home Loan System from 1985 to 1988, Bloom was the senior accounting and auditing authority for regulation of the troubled thrift industry.

Bloom's other professional experience includes nine years with two international public accounting firms, rising from junior staff accountant to partner. He also served as the comptroller at Schoolcraft Community College in Livonia, MI, in the early 1980s.

In l975, Bloom earned a bachelor's degree in business administration and accounting from the University of Michigan. He and his wife, Sara Nelson Bloom, have one child, Pearce, and reside in Great Falls, Virginia.

The U.S. General Services Administration was created in 1949 to provide expertly managed space, supplies, services, solutions and policies, at best value, to help federal government agencies perform their missions. Headquartered in Washington, DC, the agency has 14,000 employees in 11 regions across the country. A non-mandatory source of supplies, over 98% of GSA's annual $13 billion budget is generated from reimbursable funding for services provided to other federal agencies.