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MEETING MINUTES 

Meeting Date and Time:  September 9, 2020, 1:30 pm – 3:00 pm (EDT) 

Location:  Teleconference 

Agenda:

1. Next Ombuds Supporting Ombuds (OSO) – 09/23/2020 

2. COFO Annual Conference Update 

3. Ombuds Day Reminder – Ombuds Day is October 8th

4. Charter and Governance Workgroup Update 

5. Mentoring Committee Update 

6. Training Recap 

7. General Questions ‐ Space for newer ombuds and programs (and people looking to set 

up programs) to ask questions and get feedback. No issue is too big or small so ask 

away! 

8. Discussion Topics: 

a. Strategies, tips, and tricks for doing virtual communication at a distance with 

groups – we’ve all had different experiences over the last few months 

conducting meetings over video or on the phone with groups of people. Are 

there any lessons learned or best practices that you have developed that you can 

share with the group? Discuss them here! 

b. Use of home/personal devices during the pandemic – There are many different 

platforms for virtual communication, and some are compatible with our “work” 

devices and some are not. What rules does your agency information technology 

department have in place? Do they permit you to use your “personal” device in 

this situation? If not, what are the ethical implications of using your “personal” 

device on “work” time? Would this make your device subject to a government 

search? (This does not include if you log on to your “work” VPN through your 

“personal” device.)  

9. Announcements – Training opportunities, job postings, or really any office and 

ombudsman happenings you'd like to announce.  
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Highlights: 

1. Next OSO Meeting – 09/23/2020 

a. Guest speaker for next OSO meeting will be Erin Gaudreault. 

b. Ms. Gaudreault is a psychotherapist who uses emotionally focused therapy, a model 

based in attachment theory. 

c. No set agenda for the call and any reflections, whether personal or professional, are 

welcomed. 

d. Next Ombuds Supporting Ombuds (OSO) call on Wednesday, September 23, 2020, 

from 2 – 3 pm EDT.  

2. COFO Annual Conference Update 

a. The COFO Annual Conference will be 100% virtual on October 16, 2020.  

b. Tracey McNeil and Marcus Stergio are the co‐chairs for the conference committee. 

c. The agenda is almost complete, and the registration site will be up the week of 

September 14, 2020.  

3. Ombuds Day Reminder – Ombuds Day is October 8, 2020 

a. Thursday, October 8, 2020, is Ombuds Day.   

b. Ken Skodacek is a COFO member and the chair for the ABA Ombuds Day committee. 

c. Proclamations will be issued for 40 states for Ombuds Day. 

d. Join the discussion during the two sessions virtual events by registering at the 

following website:

https://www.americanbar.org/groups/dispute_resolution/events_cle/ombuds‐day/  

e. Ombuds Day has a Twitter handle, retweet and spread the word. 

f. “Conversations with Ombuds” is an exciting new way to promote good information 

about the profession.  See an email with an invite sent by Ken to join this recording. 

4. COFO Charter and Governance Workgroup 

a. Bill Maurer<william.maurer@census.gov> is the chair of the Charter and 

Governance Workgroup.  

b. Workgroup is tasked with reviewing the COFO Charter and other documents as 

needed to determine what if any changes are recommended.

c. Suggested changes will be submitted to the COFO Executive Committee to 

determine what recommendations will be voted on for change by the community.  

d. Workgroup had its first meeting today, 09/09/2020 and the members are Bina Patel, 

Andrea Brown, Christine Megee, Claire Heffernan, Sarah Trujillo, and Bill Maurer.

e. Group will meet again in two weeks and everyone is encouraged to provide any 

suggested changes to any member of this group or to Paul Sotoudeh 

<paul.sotoudeh@uspto.gov >.

 Added topic:  COFO Website 

a. An updated listing of the current membership will be posted on the COFO website. 
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b. Anyone who wants to opt‐out of being listed on the public website can do so by 

responding to an email that will be sent out next week. 

c. Opting out of being listed will in no way affect your COFO membership or standing. 

5. Mentoring Committee Update 

a. A presentation will be given at the COFO Annual Conference relating to feedback 

received from previous mentors and mentees.  

b. Announcement of sign‐up for round four (4) of the COFO mentoring cohort is 

coming soon in mid‐September. 

c. Terms of the current mentor committee members end this coming January. Please 

consider becoming a member of the mentoring committee.  

d. Everyone is encouraged to participate in the next round of mentoring as a mentor or 

mentee.  

6. Training Recap 

a. 70 people attended the eight power hours of basic ombudsman training provided to 

new internal ombudsmen on August 31 – September 03, 2020. 

b. The basic training was developed by Scott Deyo at DOE along with other COFO 

colleagues. 

c. Overall very good feedback was received, and comments provided will be sent to all 

presenters.  Thanks, and appreciation to all who participated. 

d. This basic training is not a replacement of any other training available and is 

intended to be an overview of the role of federal ombudsmen, independence and 

developing relationships with resource partners, confidentially and records, 

remaining neutral, practical strategies, building rapport, and tracking/records 

maintenance.  

7. General Questions 

a. Space for newer ombuds and programs to ask questions and get feedback. 

b. What is a COFO voting member? Quoted from COFO Charter: “The primary 

governing body of the coalition is the voting membership, which shall be composed 

of Ombuds working for federal agencies who practice according to the values cited 

above when performing ombuds duties. If an agency has more than one 

Ombudsman (i.e. a sub‐agency or division by subject matter or agency program), 

each Ombudsman (such as an associate and an assistant Ombuds) may be members 

of the voting membership”  [Values are seen on COFO Website]. 

c. You do not vote by office, you vote by person.  Each person in an office has a single 

vote. Standards and values are listed on the COFO website. 

d. Does any ombuds have experience with personal service contractors versus regular 

contract workers? Personal service contractors receive their benefits via the federal 

government.  Do you provide any conflict resolution support for these individuals? 

At NIH there were some services provided to contractors. Further questions could 

be followed up with the Ombuds at NIH.  
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8. Discussion Topics 

a. Strategies, tips, and tricks for doing virtual communication at a distance with groups 

– we’ve all had different experiences over the last few months conducting meetings 

over video or on the phone with groups of people. Are there any lessons learned or 

best practices that you have developed that you can share with the group? Discuss 

them here! 

i. You may need to be more directive when having virtual facilitation  

conversations, especially sharing ground rules upfront.  

ii. Also, consider actions such as controlling the muting function to allow people 

to speak and prevent people talking over each other.  This is helpful because 

the natural cues to speak are not the same in a virtual environment.  

iii. Consider if you are getting a full range of thoughts or opinions when leading 

virtual facilitations with a group.    

iv. This virtual working environment is new for many people so giving people 

permission upfront to ask for clarifications or the need to repeat any 

information given is a helpful tool.   

v. What are good visual options to use that protect the confidentiality of the 

visitor.  Is Zoom or WebEx a good option?  

vi. WebEx and Microsoft Teams are some options many agencies use. It was 

stated that Microsoft Teams creates a record of your meeting while not 

recording the meeting. 

vii. There may be no system that is double blind and does not create any record 

of a call or meeting being held. 

viii.  It was stated that phone lines are also open records and there may have 

been a level of documentation that has existed and been maintained for all 

electronic systems even prior to the consideration of virtual environments.   

ix. Records schedules are a good tool to use to ensure calendar invites and 

other digital trails are destroyed at a certain timeframe. 

x. As always with any electronic record there still may be records at some level 

that exist.   

xi. Using hand raise function or chat function is helpful with large groups. 

xii. In large groups, to have an operator and speaker is helpful to ensure all 

technical difficulties are handled and questions sent via chat are addressed.   

xiii. Ensuring the upfront conversations also includes the level of confidentiality 

known based on your technical limitations.  

xiv. Clarity on how video/visual technology will be used.  For example, ensure 

everyone knows that video can or cannot be used based on personal 

preference.   

xv. Getting to know your technology and reaching out to your IT department 

when issues exist can be helpful to ensure your meetings are productive. 
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b.  Due to time constraints topic was tabled until the November meeting.  Use of 

home/personal devices during the pandemic – There are many different platforms 

for virtual communication, and some are compatible with our “work” devices and 

some are not. What rules does your agency information technology department 

have in place? Do they permit you to use your “personal” device in this situation? If 

not, what are the ethical implications of using your “personal” device on “work” 

time? Would this make your device subject to a government search? (This does not 

include if you log on to your “work” VPN through your “personal” device.)  

9. Announcements 

a. If you are an organizational Ombuds an email was sent with a request from Chuck 

Howard to provide examples of inquiries and successes. Chuck is writing another 

book and the information you provide will be entirely confidential.  

b. If you need to see the email again, please contact Paul Sotoudeh 

<paul.sotoudeh@uspto.gov >. 

c. Virtual Annual Conference: Friday, October 16, 2020 

d. Ombuds Supporting Ombuds (OSO) call on Wednesday, September 23, 2020, from 2 

– 3 pm EDT.
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Attendance 09/09/2020 

Last  First  Agency   Call‐

In 

Anderson  Jeff  DOE  1 

Balick  Howard  FDA  1 

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

Bloch  Brian   DOI  1 

Caetano  Fernando  DOI  1 

Cameron  Bob  CFPB  1 

Carmouche  Colette  TSA  1 

Coleman  Jean  SBA  1 

Cecil  Tina  FBI  1 

Deyo  Scott   DOE  1 

Doty  Brenda  Federal Maritime Commission  1 

Doyle  Bill  US Secret Service  1 

Enriquez  Elisa  Los Alamos Laboratory (DOE)  1 

Epps  Ayanna  FDIC  1 

Foster  Cindy  FINRA  1 

Frazier  Veronica  DOD / DIA  1 

Garmon  Felisa  CFPB  1 

Gordon   Laurel  US Marshals Service  1 

Gnatt  Sheldon  NSA  1 

Hartman  Jessie  NARA/ Office of Government Information Services 

(OGIS) 

1 

Heffernan  Claire  TSA  1 

Hurley  Nathan  FDA / Center for Tobacco Products  1 

Katherine  Erica  FDA  1 

Kinnavy   Noreen   Broadcasting Board of Governors   1 

Kurokawa  Nancy  Naval Criminal Investigative Service  1 

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

Lloyd  Brenda  FLETC  1 

Mattice  Steve     1 

Maurer  Bill  Census  1 
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Last  First  Agency   Call‐

In 

McGuire  Carrie  NARA / OGIS  1 

McNeil  Tracey  SEC  1 

Megee  Christine  DOD Education Activity  1 

Mesbahi  Mohammad  IRS  1 

Michael  David   NIH  1 

Miller  Carla  DOJ / ATF  1 

Miller Sander  Dawn  Conflict Transformation Associations  1 

Milner  Heather  CFPB  1 

Patno  Arielle  FDA / Center for Tobacco Products  1 

Piziali  Jamie  EPA  1 

Porch  Susanne  Commerce / National Institute of Standards and 

Technology (NIST) 

1 

Reed  Janay  DOD / DIA  1 

Reilly  Kevin  NASA  1 

Rojas  Nick  DOD / DIA  1 

Rowe  Mary  Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)  1 

Skodacek   Ken  FDA  1 

Small  Elizabeth  DOL  1 

Sotoudeh  Paul  USPTO  1 

Stergio  Marcus  Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs /

DOL 

1 

Sutch  Zina  SBA  1 

Vermillion  Chris  TSA  1 

Villafane  Jacqueline  American Red Cross  1 

Voloshin  Victor  EEOC     1 

Walker  Don  DOD / Army Medical Readiness Assistance Program   1 

Weber  Guy   DOD / NGA  1 

White  Karen  DOD / National Guard Bureau  1 

Whittington  Fred (Whitt)  DOL OIG  1 

Wolfe  Lexi  DOE  1 

Yuille Banford  Deanna  DOD / Defense Human Resources Activity  1 

      Total  58