The U.S. Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) has made two appointments related to its senior-level Executive Committee.

Keith B. Earley has been appointed as the RRB's Director of Administration, and Dorothy Isherwood was named as the agency's Senior Executive Officer.

As Director of Administration, Mr. Earley will supervise offices which provide administrative and management support for the agency, including human resources, facility management, procurement, public affairs and telecommunications. He will report directly to the agency's three-member Board and also serve as a member of the RRB's Executive Committee, which is responsible for day-to-day operations and providing policy recommendations to the Board Members.

An RRB employee since 1983, Mr. Earley has been Director of Human Resources since October 2001. Prior to that he served as Director of the Resource Management Center and was an Assistant to the Director of Programs.

Mr. Earley is a graduate of Northwestern University (B.A. 1983) and Governors State University (M.A. 1992). The parent of two children, he and his wife, Nicole, live in Bartlett, Illinois.

As Senior Executive Officer, Ms. Isherwood will chair the RRB's Executive Committee, coordinating development and implementation of agency policy. She will continue in her role as Director of Programs, overseeing all headquarters units involved in adjudicating and processing benefit payments. She has had this position since June 2003.

Ms. Isherwood is a graduate of the University of Illinois (B.A. 1973) and Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management (M.B.A. 1988). She and her husband, William, reside in Lincolnshire, Illinois.

Both appointments stem from the departure of Henry M. Valiulis, who had served as both Senior Executive Officer and Director of Administration. Mr. Valiulis retired April 3 after 38 years of service to the RRB.

The Board Members also approved a change in the agency's organizational structure related to its nationwide network of 53 field offices. Rather than being a part of the Office of Programs, the Field Service component will now report directly to the three-member Board.

Martha M. Barringer will continue as Director of Field Service, a position she has held since July 2000, and also become a member of the agency's Executive Committee.
 

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An independent Federal agency headquartered in Chicago, the RRB administers the over $10.9 billion-a-year benefit programs provided under the Federal Railroad Retirement and Unemployment Insurance Acts covering the nation's railroad workforce and their families.