FAA Administrator Marion C. Blakey, has named Ventris Cassandra Gibson as the agency’s assistant administrator for human resource management. Gibson will head the office responsible for personnel, workforce planning, recruitment and placement, professional development and performance-based compensation systems.

Gibson comes to the FAA from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), where she served as deputy assistant secretary for human resources management, overseeing a $59 million program with 226,000 employees in the United States and abroad.

“Ventris knows human resource management, and she knows aviation,”  said Blakey. “As a former military controller, she understands the demands on the FAA. As an innovator, she will bring a fresh approach to serving our employees and the taxpayer.”

At Veterans Affairs, Gibson directed the federal government’s second largest and most complex human resources management program, which includes a separate and unique personnel system for health care professionals.

Over the course of her career at Veterans Affairs, she developed the department’s first nurse recruiter training program, restructured all of the human resources offices in the Veterans Benefits Administration, and developed award-winning innovative practices to prevent workforce discrimination and improve complaint processing. As deputy assistant secretary for resolution management, Gibson improved the VA’s complaint processing from nearly last to best in the government. She was also recognized by Congress for creating and managing the best Equal Employment Opportunity program in the federal government.

Gibson also developed and implemented a child-care subsidy program described by the Office of Personnel Management as the best in the government. Gibson served in the U.S. Navy from 1974 to 1977 as an air traffic controller in various locations around the world. She attended the University of Maryland’s University College and St. James Biblical Institute.

FMI: www.faa.gov