Coalition of Federal Ombuds Will Hold Open Meeting November 9, 2010

CoFO is inviting any federal ombuds or anyone interested in the work of a federal ombuds to an all-day conference next week. The meeting will be hosted by the Ombuds at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in Washington, DC and will feature leading Ombuds and experts from the federal sector.

The draft agenda includes:

Introduction from Wendy Kamenshine, CoFO Chair and Senior Ombudsman at DHS;
Welcome by Marianne Ketels, Ombudsman at ATF, and William Hoover, Executive Assistant Director at ATF;
Keynote by John Barkat, Assistant Secretary-General and UN Ombudsman;
Panel on "Who is an Ombuds?: Working Together to Advance the Profession," with Wendy Kamenshine, Nick Diehl, Deputy Ombudsman at the American Red Cross, and others;
Breakout session on "Assisting Fellow Federal Ombuds & Justifying Your Existence: How and Why," with Scott Deyo, Ombudsman at the DOD Office of Inspector General;
Breakout session on challenging Ombuds case scenarios with Marianne Ketels;
Panel on "Records Management – How Can I Comply With Federal Requirements and Be An Ombuds?" with Miriam Nisbet, Director of NARA’s Office of Government Information Services; Howard Gadlin, Ombudsman at NIH; Arian Ravanbakhsh at NARA’s Modern Records Program; and Debra Wiley, Ombudsman with the Federal Student Aid Ombudsman’s Office;
Panel on "Who Is An Ombuds’ Legal Counsel and How Can That Person Help?" with Joyce DeMoss, Ombudsman at TSA; Megan Kenney, Attorney Advisor to the National Taxpayer Advocate, IRS; Judy Wall, Special Counsel to the Taxpayer Advocate, IRS Office of Chief Counsel; and Keith Williams, Associate General Counsel for the DOD Office of Inspector General;
Panel on "What About the New Federal Ombuds Office at….?" with remarks from Neal Cohen, Acting Small Business Ombudsman, U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission; Shireen Dodson, Ombudsman at the Department of State; and Barbara Malebranche, Ombudsman for OPM; Kyra Stewart, Ombudsman for Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration at DOT; Sara Ziegler, Ombudsman with the Internal Ombudsman Program at FDIC; and others.

To attend, you must lease send an email to Marceita Cunningham (Marceita [dot] Cunningham [at-sign] usdoj [dot] gov) with a cc to Wendy Kamenshine (wendy [dot] kamenshine [at-sign] dhs [dot] gov) by Friday, November 5th if you plan to attend. Please send along your full name, agency name (if applicable), and your phone number.

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