Janice Lachance

Janice R. Lachance was the 13th chief executive of the Special Libraries Association and a former Director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. From 1997 to 2001, Lachance was the Director (CEO) of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the United States' federal government's independent human resources agency. Appointed to this position by President Bill Clinton and unanimously confirmed by a bi-partisan U.S. Senate, Lachance provided policy and program leadership for 1.8 million federal employees. During her tenure, Clinton advanced the post of OPM Director to Cabinet status, giving her the standing and support needed to elevate human capital issues to the highest possible priority in the United States.^[1]

Lachance has led Ministerial-level delegations to the People's Republic of China, Hong Kong, Republic of China (Taiwan), Australia, New Zealand, Israel, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris, France.

Prior to becoming Director of OPM, Lachance was the agency's Deputy Director (1997), Chief of Staff (1996–97), and Director of Communications and Policy (1993–96). Previously, she served as Director of Communications and Political Affairs and policy advisor for the American Federation of Government Employees, (AFGE) (1987–93). After leaving OPM in 2001, Lachance transitioned to a management consulting practice specializing in strategic planning, communications, human resources management, and organizational transformation for membership and non-profit organizations.^[2]

The first in her extended family to go on to college, Lachance graduated from Manhattanville College in Purchase, New York and earned her Juris Doctor degree at Tulane University School of Law in New Orleans, Louisiana (1978). She is admitted to practice law in the State of Maine and the District of Columbia as well as the United States Supreme Court. Lachance grew up in Biddeford, Maine.^[3]

She stepped down from her post at the Special Libraries Association at the end of December 2014^[4] and is currently the interim Director of the Better Business Bureau Institute for Marketplace Trust. She is a Fellow in the National Academy of Public Administration^[5] and has served on their Board of Directors.^[6] She is the current President-Elect of the American Society for Public Administration.

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