Vicki Cox Visits the Technical Center

By Pete Castellano

Editor’s Note: ATO Chief Operating Officer Russ Chew recently named Vicki Cox the ATO’s new Vice President for Operations Planning.

On October 5, Vicki Cox, (then) Acting Vice President for Operations Planning, visited the Technical Center. Her day began with meetings with Center Director Dr. Wilson Felder, and other senior managers. At 10:30, she attended the closing ceremony for Hispanic Heritage Month, where she addressed employees along with Dr. Felder.

At 1:00 pm, she held an all-hands meeting in the Technical Center Atrium. The meeting lasted nearly an hour and a half, and covered a wide range of topics of concern to Center employees.

Cox has been holding small group and division level meetings in conjunction with the Model Workplace Committee. The meetings have given her the opportunity to speak one-on-one with many employees, and she has learned a lot about us as a result.

Several slides and handouts were utilized during the meeting. The first was a summary of the eight Strategic Focus areas for Operations Planning for FY 07 as outlined in the Operations Planning Strategic Map. The areas of strategic focus are: 1) Bridging the gap to NGATS, 2) Executing the Operational Evolution Partnership, 3) Leading ATO innovation, 4) Developing and implementing meaningful metrics, 5) Continuing support for Agency-wide, budgeting and staffing forecasts, 6) Implementing a viable continuity plan for catastrophic events, 7) Continuing to identify ways to increase productivity and reduce costs, and 8) Providing superior, well defined services to our internal customers.

Operations Planning has launched a new on-line communications website at http://ipm.faa.gov/ato/home.php. This site is designed to provide ATO Operations Planning employees with information on what is happening in the FAA, the ATO, and Operations Planning.

Two Directorates within Operations Planning have been merged. The former Directorates of Strategy, and Planning and Performance Analysis, have been merged into one Directorate for Strategy and Performance Analysis, headed by David Chin. In addition, several new employees within Ops Planning were introduced, and some notable accomplishments on the part of the Technical Center as well as Ops planning were highlighted.

Cox then spent some time discussing the Operational Evolution Partnership, or OEP. The OEP is a guide or pathway, with specific strategies on how we will implement the next generation air traffic system (NGATS). The full presentation can be found on the Ops Planning Website. The meeting ended with a Q & A session, which was very well received.