UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR VETERANS CLAIMS

MISC. NO. 06-18

IN RE: THE MATTER OF THE RETIREMENT OF REBECCA ALEXANDER

Before DAVIS, Chief Judge, and SCHOELEN, PIETSCH, BARTLEY,

GREENBERG, ALLEN, MEREDITH, TOTH, and FALVEY, Judges.

O R D E R

Ms. Rebecca Alexander, the longest serving employee of the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, 

began her 29 years of service at the Court in November 1989 as the Court's Administrative Analyst. Before joining the 

Court, Ms. Alexander's Federal career started in February 1984 as Confidential Assistant to the Director of the Office 

of Government Ethics (OGE). The then-Director of OGE, Frank Q. Nebeker, would become the Court's first Chief 

Judge in October 1989, and having recognized the resourcefulness and talent of Ms. Alexander, brought her to the 

Court one month later. Ms. Alexander managed her family's print business before she embarked on her 34-year-long 

Federal career. 

During the formative years of the Court, Ms. Alexander was instrumental in getting the new court up and running. She 

played a vital role in developing many of the Court's employee selection and appointment procedures. She even tapped 

into her print shop experience to spearhead the hasty development of the Court's official stationery, seal, and employee 

identification badges. In 1993, Rebecca was appointed Human Resources (HR) Specialist. Seven years later, her 

eagerness in tackling new challenges, her ability to grasp difficult concepts, her expertise in myriad details of employee 

benefits, and her untiring old-fashioned work ethic made her a natural for the newly created Personnel Officer position. 

She has performed that role superbly for the past 18 years.

For almost 30 years, every employee of the Court, including each of the Court's 21 presidentially-appointed Judges, 

has benefited from Rebecca's wealth of knowledge in all areas of the intricate and complex HR world. As the Personnel 

Officer of a Court without antecedent, Ms. Alexander was routinely faced with questions of first impression. She met 

those challenges eagerly, poring over the Court's statutes, researching OPM guidelines, collaborating with the National 

Finance Center, scrutinizing the practices of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, and then working 

to develop and incorporate best practices for the Court. She has been particularly invaluable in handling all matters 

related to the unusually complex Judges Retirement and Survivor Annuity program, and her resourcefulness and cando attitude allowed her to implement complex legislative changes to that program. She recently created a 

comprehensive operations manual covering every step required to process, calculate, and administer Judges' 

retirements and annuities. The manual will be a valued tool for the Court for years to come. From stubby-pencil 

calculations to working with a software developer to create a unique complex computation program, Rebecca has 

worked tirelessly to ensure that the Court's Judges' retirements, and all employee retirements, are handled accurately 

and seamlessly. 

Ms. Alexander has regularly been recognized for outstanding performance, most notably being one of only 12 Court 

employees to have received the Frank Q. Nebeker Award for exceptional and exemplary service to the Court. She is 

an invaluable employee whose love of her job and the Judges and staff of the Court is evident to all who interact with 

her. Rebecca will be deeply missed and forever remembered. 

Upon consideration of the foregoing, it is 

ORDERED that Rebecca Alexander will take with her our gratitude for the 29 years of outstanding service she has 

rendered to the Court and her 34 years of Federal Service, our admiration for her many accomplishments, the warmth 

of our friendship, and our best wishes for the future.

DATED: July 31, 2018 PER CURIAM.