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MEETING MINUTES

Meeting Date/Time: July 10, 2019 1:30pm – 3:00pm (EST)

Location: CFPB – 1700 G Street, NW, Washington, DC 20552

Agenda:

1. Announcements

2. COFO Mentoring Committee Update

3. Discussion Topics:

a. Follow Ups: How often do you follow up with a call or email to see how things went 

after someone has visited your office? If so, when do you do so and how do you set 

expectations for both yourself and the inquirer about how it will work?

b. Ombudsman Websites: How do you organize the content? What information is most 

important to post? What have your experiences been in redesigning or updating your 

sites?

4. Job/Training Announcements 

Highlights:

1. Announcements

a. ROI Institute: ROI Institute is offering a certified training on 19 August at FEMA 

Headquarters inWashington D.C. The training will focus on how to measure ROI for soft 

skills. For questions, please contact Vik Kapoor: vikram.kapoor@fema.dhs.gov

b. Tyler Smith, Associate Ombuds NIH, former Co-Chair, COFO Conference FY2019 will be 

leaving federal service to enter academia. We wish Tyler a lot of success and happiness. 

We will miss him greatly! COFO members took the opportunity to thank Tyler for his 

commitment, hard work during his time with COFO and in the federal service. 

c. Kennesaw State University: Participants shared best practices and their experience from 

the Summer Institute Workshop hosted by KSU in Savannah, GA. Participants enjoyed 

the workshops and speakers, specifically topics that addressed ombudsing in the age of 

“Me, Too” and racial profiling. Participants also mentioned that they enjoyed topics 

related to mindfulness that involved fruitful discussions and interactive exercises; but 

preferred the duration of the sessions was longer than the allotted time. 

2. COFO Mentoring Committee Update

The Mentoring Committee is working diligently to host new mentorship orientations for our 

second round cohort. If you have any questions, please contact COFOMentoring@nih.gov

3. Discussion Topics
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a. Follow Ups: How often do you follow up with a call or email to see how things went 

after someone has visited your office? If so, when do you do so and how do you set 

expectations for both yourself and the inquirer about how it will work?

i. Participants shared best practices stating that follow ups vary per ombuds. For 

example, a few participants agreed that follow ups are primarily conducted 

when closing out on cases, including reporting case numbers in databases to 

ensure that the case can be closed out. Others mentioned that follows up are 

primarily situational based and dependent on each case. For instance, if an 

individual requests coaching/mentoring regarding career progression the 

ombuds may provide guidance, recommendations, thereafter conducting a 

follow up. Harder issues such as sexual harassment may require the ombuds to 

proactively follow up with their visitor before the case becomes formal. 

Additionally, ombuds may request follows ups be conducted by visitors. 

ii. Follows up are unique opportunities in building relationships, rapport and trust 

between visitors and ombuds; for both external and internal practicing ombuds. 

Externally practicing ombuds conduct follow ups with customers by providing 

them a status of their case, while taking the opportunity to work with internal 

staff on the cases. 

b. Ombudsman Websites: How do you organize the content? What information is most 

important to post? What have your experiences been in redesigning or updating your 

sites?

i. Participants engaged in a robust conversation sharing best practices such as 

posting articles on the agency intranet pertaining to themes and topics reported 

in the media, which may spillover into the workplace. Others reported on 

sharing TEDTalks on topics such as emotional agility, emotional intelligence, 

leadership and generational differences. Participants further mentioned 

trainings and briefings conducted by the ombuds office are posted on the 

intranet. Most if not all topics shared on internal/external sites are noncontroversial. 

ii. For internal and external sites, participants stated that types of services, bios of 

ombuds and benefits/processes are listed; including additional information such 

as Q&A.

4. Announcements 

a. Conferences: U.S. Ombuds Association Conference will take place in Honolulu, Hawaii 

from 18-20 September 2019. Registration is now open. 

b. Job Announcements 

i. Department of State has posted a Pathways Internship, GS05. The position is 

posted on USAJobs.gov 

ii. Department of Energy: Organizational Ombuds Position, GS14/15 has closed. 

The panel is awaiting the list of applicants. More information to follow. 

iii. Department of Interior: Organizational Ombuds Position, GS13/14 has been 

posted. The position is a 2 year term appointment. 

iv. House of Representatives: Whistleblower Ombuds Position, HS 13-15 has been 

posted on USAJobs.gov 
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Attendees

In person

Sheila Aguello OIG State Dept

Riley Barrar CFPB

Mary Chavez-Rudolph DOI

Scott Deyo DOE

Veronica Green OIG State Dept

Gary Hill NGA

Stephanie Klein

Richard Kurtz HUD

Lisa Levine DOJ

Bill Maurer DOE

Rozmyn Miller FMCS

Paul Sotoudeh USPTO

Jean Whyte Federal Reserve

Dial in

Howard Balick FDA

Virginia Behr FDA

Andrea Brown USPTO

Kimberly Day-Lewis FLETC

Andrew Delpesche USSS

Ayanna Epps FDIC Internal

Laurel Gordon US Marshals

Claire Heffernan TSA

Jasmine Hurley NCUA

Vikram Kapoor FEMA

Erica Katherine FDA Office of Reg Affairs

Noreen Kinnavy US Agency for Global Media, VOA, and Office of Cuba 

Broadcasting

Julie Land NSA

Christa Lemelin NARA OGIS

Joseph Leone NSA

Carrie McGuire NARA OGIS

Tracey McNeil SEC

Celeste Merrix FLETC

David Michael NIH

Chauncenette Morey FBI

Bina Patel NGIC

Arielle Patno FDA Ctr for Tobacco Products

Alina Semo NARA OGIS

Robert Shinn US Forest Service

Ken Skodacek FDA Ctr for Devices and Radiological Hth

Tyler Smith NIH

Steve Streifel (? – not sure about 

last name sp)

MEDCOM Pacific

James Sung DHS OIA
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Roberta Valdez FDIC External

Chris Vermillion TSA

Donald Walker MEDCOM

Guy Weber NGA

Karen White National Guard Bureau

Lexi Wolfe TSA

Deanna Yuille FDA