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MEETING MINUTES

Meeting Date and Time: November 10, 2021, 1:30-3:00 pm (ET)

Location: WebEx

Agenda:

1. 2021 COFO Annual Conference Recap

2. COFO Social Media Committee Update

3. 2022 COFO Executive Committee Elections

4. COFO Email List Status, Updates and Plans

5. COFO Mentoring Committee

6. COFO Voluntary Leave Transfer Initiative

7. Reminder – COFO website needs a new home

8. USOA Federal Government Chapter Meeting 11/17/2021

9. Next Ombuds Supporting Ombuds (OSO) meeting 01/26/2022

10. Announcements

11. General Questions

12. Discussion Topic

Highlights:

1. 2021 COFO Annual Conference Recap

a. Conference was held on 10/15/2021

b. The 2021 COFO Annual Conference had 263 registrants which is the highest number 

recorded for a COFO conference

c. Pure total for attendance for overall attendance at conference was 225 – 235

d. If you were a registrant, the link to the conference video will be made available to 

you Friday morning

e. Thanks to the conference committee: Marcus Stergio (Chairperson), Bina Patel, 

Sandi Moore, and Sarah Trujillo

f. Thanks also to everyone on the COFO Executive Committee who helped and special 

thanks to Erica Katherine for the conference brochure

2. COFO Social Media Committee Update

a. LinkedIn Group is live and ready for your participation
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b. This is completely voluntary for anyone who a member of COFO or interested in 

becoming a member of COFO 

c. To ensure that the group is closed to only those who fit membership criteria are 

added to the group, you will be asked to complete a five-question survey

d. You need a LinkedIn Profile to join, and it is easy to create one if you don’t have one 

already

e. Your posts will be reviewed by the group Admin to ensure ombuds related 

information only is added to the group

f. ABA Ombuds Link is another LinkedIn group that ombuds can join

3. 2022 COFO Executive Committee Elections

a. The current Executive Committee term ends on March 1

b. An election committee needs to be empaneled to run the 2022 – 2024 elections

c. The election committee is a good way to be involved without the 2-year

commitment to the Executive Committee

d. If you are interested in being nominated and elected as an Executive Committee 

member you must be a voting member of COFO

e. A voting member of COFO is an ombuds working for a Federal agency who practices

according to the values cited in the COFO Charter when performing ombuds duties

f. All positions except Chair are held by 2 people

g. Positions are Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary, and Coordinator

h. The Chair shall convene and preside over meetings; oversee the administrative and 

business functions of the Coalition

i. The Vice Chair shall assist the Chair in carrying out the functions of the Coalition and 

act in the absence of the Chair and may perform any other specific functions 

assigned by the Executive Committee

j. The Secretary shall be responsible for preparing minutes of all COFO meetings; 

maintain the official records of the Coalition, including minutes; and tally votes not 

cast by the showing of hands, including secret ballots and any electronic votes

k. The Coordinator shall serve to assist the Coalition members and officers on a day-today basis; maintain and update membership lists; conduct appropriate outreach to 

members, potential members, and agencies interested in starting an ombuds 

program; provide official notice to membership as required; and provide 

documentation to the secretary

l. If you are interested in any of these positions or the day-to-day of the function, 

please reach out to any of the current Executive Committee members

4. COFO Email List Status, Update and Plans

a. The last two years, COFO membership has received duplicate emails from the 

Outlook distribution list and from the Google group
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b. The purpose of this was to attempt to have an automated distribution list that 

would cut down on the work of adding and deleting people individually from these 

lists

c. The consensus now is that the Google group list is not working as intended and the 

Outlook email distribution will now be the only list that will be maintained

d. Please let Laurel or Heather know if you are receiving emails from the Google group 

only as it will go away, and the Outlook email distribution list will be the method of 

communication from COFO

5. COFO Mentoring Committee

a. The application period for the 5

th Cohort has been extended to 11/17/2022

b. Applications for mentors and mentees are attached to the email received yesterday

c. Previous mentees or mentors can submit applications and previous mentors need 

not submit a new application if no changes

d. The mentor program is different from peer practitioner network in that the mentor 

program is a one-on-one experience with an experienced ombuds to help deepen 

your understanding of ombuds work and the peer practitioner program consists of

small groups of ombuds similar to case review 

6. Voluntary Leave Transfer Initiative reminder

a. Reminder that the Voluntary Leave Transfer Initiative is a way to help connect 

ombuds with ombuds who have been approved by their Federal agency for 

voluntary leave transfer

b. Because of the ombuds role and concerns about independence and impartiality, 

concerns are raised about ombuds asking stakeholders to donate, so this initiative 

was created to avoid such issues

c. If you have questions, reach out to Wendy Kamenshine, Heather Milner, or Susanne 

Porch

7. COFO Website Move to New Host

a. COFO will move from the hosted site by the Department of Education to a new host

b. Hosting means there is space to have the COFO website on their serving using the 

host organization’s URL and assisting COFO to update the site with new information 

at some regular time interval

c. The current COFO website is built on the Salesforce platform

d. If your agency is available to host the COFO website on their server or you have 

ideas, please contact Paul Sotoudeh Paul.Sotoudeh@USPTO.GOV

8. USOA Federal Government Chapter

a. Federal Government (Fed Gov) Chapter of USOA will be restarting 

b. Syretta Jarrett is Chapter Chair and Erica Katherine is Co-Chair

c. USOA Fed Gov Chapter meeting on Wednesday, 11/17/2021 at 1 – 2:30 pm EDT via 

WebEx
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d. Officers to be elected during the first meeting are secretary, communications officer, 

training officer and membership officer

e. Meeting will be held quarterly and be 1.5 hours

f. Contact Syretta Jarret, Syreeta.Jarrett@dodiis.mil or Erica Katherine

Erica.Katherine@fda.hhs.gov for questions or additional information

9. Next Ombuds Supporting Ombuds (OSO) Meeting, 01/26/2022

a. Due to holidays, no meeting in November or December

b. OSO meetings were started at the being of the pandemic to help ombuds support 

each other and discuss current topics of concern 

c. Next meeting of Ombuds Supporting Ombuds (OSO) will be 01/26/2022, 2-3 pm EDT

10. Announcements

a. none

11. General Questions

a. None

12. Discussion Topic: Who Owns the Story?” follow-up conversation – By popular demand, 

we’re holding space this month for active member discussion of the questions raised 

by this session on group and systemic work from the COFO Annual Conference. The 

topic raises so many great queries about matters such as impartiality, optics, 

expectation setting, storytelling, empowerment, and issue “ownership” in systemic 

work for both internals and externals, and while we certainly won’t get to all of them 

this month. We’ll try to open some of the conversations that the topic deserves.

a. For those who may not have seen the presentation there were questions that 

were meant to move the conversation forward to determine what experiences 

others had with group work as an ombuds

b. Can I remain neutral or impartial while conveying the emotional power of people’s 

story? Can I be a good storyteller for one more subgroup? Can I do both or would I 

be perceived as an advocate for that group?

c. One ombuds stated had a similar situation with an individual visitor who wanted 

the ombuds to convey a message anonymously

d. The ombuds stated to the visitor that their approach with the information will be 

neutral and the stronger message may come from their direct message to the 

person

e. Another ombuds stated we should consider in individual and group work the 

matter of access and that individuals come to us because they may not feel they 

have access to the individuals that can create change on the topic of concern

f. In the chat some ombuds stated it should be expressed to the visitor that there

may be trade-offs with having the ombuds convey an issue 
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g. The question of whether it is possible to guard against being perceived as an 

advocate was discussed and the struggle was, how does the ombuds keep the 

story in play when shared with management and it is immediately discounted?

h. Does this type of action make the ombuds an advocate?

i. Sometime being truly neutral is not very persuasive and it may seem like it is not 

as effective

j. It is important to honor the effort that the visitor is putting forth yet maintain 

impartiality

k. One ombuds stated to continue to maintain neutrality you may take prepersuasive posture by “preparing the ground” and making sure the person who is 

hearing the information for the first time knows this is the process and focusing 

any systematic problems or issues that may be related to the story

l. Another ombuds asked if others had ideas on how you can help managers or those 

who have the authority to make change over a situation hear the story or at least 

help the visitor open the door for change

m. One ombuds office put together a document that demonstrates best practices for 

systematic or group work and one crucial element for success is to have leader 

buy-in

n. How do you get the leader or manager buy-in?

o. Organizational capacity for managing conflict resolution can be evaluated to see 

where the blind spots are and what keeps the visitor from using their own voice, 

and whether it is access or fear should be considered

p. Maybe consider keeping the personal story while eliminating the details that 

would reveal the individual, if possible

q. One ombuds stated the coaching field has some tools that may help when dealing 

with groups such as deep democracy processing where someone speaks for the 

voice of the system (generic individual story) that helps surface voice and involves 

setting the container for the conversation with a definite rule set used in 

mediation

r. Question in the web chat asked if it is the ombuds’ role to get the story to the 

finish line, or what is that finish line

s. One ombuds stated the finish line will be different depending on the perspective 

of the visitor (group) versus leadership

t. It is import for the ombuds to prepare both groups to consider that the ending 

point will be different and an understanding that resolution may include 

viewpoints from both perspectives

u. One ombuds noted that if both sides of the conversation do not have equal 

footing, then it is almost impossible to have conflict competency leading to 

resolution

Additional Input on Privacy Act: One ombuds engaged with their agency’s general counsel to 

determine what was records needed the privacy act statement. It was stated this was a 

complicated process and the ombuds encouraged all ombuds on the call to contact their 

agency’s general counsel to be sure their program is compliant. 
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Attendance 11/10/2021

Last First Agency Call-In

?? Charlotte Navy? 1

Anderson Jeff DOE 1

Bedlivy Dawn NSA 1

Behr Virginia FDA 1

Berg Mollie DOD / National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) 1

Chavez Rudolph Mary DOI 1

Chevalier Steven 1

Coffman Cherina NGA 1

Coleman Jean SBA 1

Davenport Dayes Nicky FEMA 1

Dean Karen FMCS 1

Elison Kayla 1

Epps Ayanna FDIC 1

Fleming Tasha BOP 1

Footman Aaron USPTO 1

Gordon Laurel DOJ / U. S. Marshals Service (USMS) 1

Harley Jasmine National Credit Union Administration 1

Hartman Jessie NARA/ Office of Government Information Services (OGIS) 1

Heffernan Claire TSA 1

Hopkins Emilee NGA 1

Jarrett Syreeta DIA 1

Kamenshine Wendy CFPB 1

Katherine Erica FDA 1

Kelly John SBA 1

Lawrence Steve DHS Office of Intelligence & Analysis 1

Lee Philip Federal Maritime Commission 1

Lenkel Laurie FDA 1

Levine Lisa DOJ / Executive Office of Immigration Review (EOIR) 1

Lewis Mark D. FDA 1

Lloyd Brenda FLETC 1
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Last First Agency Call-In

Mahony Jennifer Boston Childrens Hospital 1

Maurer Bill Census 1

McGuire Carrie NARA / OGIS 1

McNeil Tracey SEC 1

Megee Christine DOD Education Activity 1

Miller Carla DOJ / ATF 1

Mills Laurel DOJ / USMS 1

Milner Heather CFPB 1

Omomhundro BJ 1

Patel Bina USPTO 1

Porch Susanne Commerce / National Institute of Standards and Technology 

(NIST)

1

Rojas Nick DOD / DIA 1

Rowe Mary Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) 1

Sherman Charlotte Office of Naval Intelligence 1

Skodacek Ken FDA 1

Smith Julie Census 1

Sotoudeh Paul USPTO 1

Stergio Marcus Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs / DOL 1

Swann Benita FDIC 1

Taylor Lelar VA 1

Thomson Ronnie Sandia National Laboratories 1

Vermillion Chris TSA 1

Villafane Jacqueline American Red Cross 1

Walker Olivia DOD / Army Medical Readiness Assistance Program 1

Weber Guy DOD / NGA 1

White Karen DOD / National Guard Bureau 1

Wolfe Lexi DOE 1

Yuille Banford Deanna DOD / Defense Human Resources Activity 1

Total 58