Home
Bibliography
Calendar
Columns
Dorothy Brizill
Bonnie Cain
Jim Dougherty
Gary Imhoff
Phil Mendelson
Mark David Richards
Sandra Seegars
DCPSWatch
DCWatch
Archives
Council Period 12
Council Period 13
Council Period 14
Election 1998
Election 2000
Election 2002
Elections
Election
2004
Election 2006
Government and People
ANC's
Anacostia Waterfront Corporation
Auditor
Boards and Com
BusRegRefCom
Campaign Finance
Chief Financial Officer
Chief Management Officer
City Council
Congress
Control Board
Corporation Counsel
Courts
DC2000
DC Agenda
Elections and Ethics
Fire Department
FOI Officers
Inspector General
Health
Housing and Community Dev.
Human Services
Legislation
Mayor's Office
Mental Health
Motor Vehicles
Neighborhood Action
National
Capital Revitalization Corp.
Planning and Econ. Dev.
Planning, Office of
Police Department
Property Management
Public Advocate
Public Libraries
Public Schools
Public Service Commission
Public Works
Regional Mobility Panel
Sports and Entertainment Com.
Taxi Commission
Telephone Directory
University of DC
Water and Sewer Administration
Youth Rehabilitation Services
Zoning Commission
Issues in DC Politics
Budget issues
DC Flag
DC General, PBC
Gun issues
Health issues
Housing initiatives
Mayor’s mansion
Public Benefit Corporation
Regional Mobility
Reservation 13
Tax Rev Comm
Term limits repeal
Voting rights, statehood
Williams’s Fundraising Scandals
Links
Organizations
Appleseed Center
Cardozo Shaw Neigh.Assoc.
Committee of 100
Fed of Citizens Assocs
League of Women Voters
Parents United
Shaw Coalition
Photos
Search
What Is DCWatch?
themail
archives
|
Anne Witt, Mayor Tony Williams, April 3, 2003
|
Anne Witt is an
accomplished senior executive and skilled strategist who has run complex
programs, achieved change, developed organizational capability and
improved operations and service delivery. Her versatile capabilities
include running large organizations with national responsibility for
annual budgets exceeding $500 million with line direction of thousands of
employees as well as leading small staff and program development
functions.
Anne comes from Amtrak where in seven years she held five different
corporate Vice Presidencies. As Amtrak's CEO put it, "I give Anne our
problem organizations and she straightens them out so others can run
them." She was chosen to spearhead a companywide culture
transformation. Her work led to Amtrak's July, 2000 launch of a new brand
identity offering the transportation industry's first unconditional
service guarantee, resulting in increased customer and employee
satisfaction and significant gains in revenue and ridership. Anne also led
the turn around of Amtrak's reservation sales system that won recognition
as Call Center of the Year in 1998 for the entire transportation sector.
As Vice President of Service Operations she managed capital and operating
budgets in excess of $500 million and led a workforce of 6,000 responsible
for fleet maintenance, crew calling, food and commissary, safety and
environmental services supporting round the clock railroad operations.
Prior to Amtrak, Anne was the Deputy Director of Environmental Protection
for Montgomery County, Maryland. There she resolved a decades-long
controversy over the long-term management of solid waste. She led an
intensive process of public participation that resulted in a solid waste
plan to recycle 50% of the waste and process the remainder via
construction of a 1,200 ton-per-day waste to energy facility. The
programs' success was ensured through her design of an innovative
"solid waste system benefit charge" financing system which she
shepherded through adoption and voter approval at referendum.
Anne began her career with the District of Columbia government where her
legacy is still visible. As Administrator of Public Space Maintenance she
implemented the District's popular "Supercan" program, for which
she received Washingtonian
Magazine's award
for Best New Idea. Under her leadership the city focused on improved
street cleanliness and citizen satisfaction through the deployment of
public litter receptacles, the expansion of mechanical street sweeping
routes, and the "Clean It or Lien It" vacant property nuisance
abatement program.
Anne has a passion for
service delivery and is known for her conviction, tenacity, leadership,
integrity, analytical skills, and clear strategic thinking. She has an
inclusive management style emphasizing open and candid two-way
communication.
Anne has lived in Washington, D.C. for over 30 years and received her
Bachelor's Degree from the Federal City-College. Her graduate study was at
Harvard University earning a Master's degree in City Planning. She is a
member of the Leadership Washington Class of 1998 and has long-term
service on the Board of Directors of Children's National Medical Center.
She is the proud mother of two daughters.
Back to top of page
Senior operations
executive and skilled organizational effectiveness strategist with a
proven track record of implementing high-stakes changes and managing
diverse, complex operating organizations through tenacity, leadership, and
conviction. Exceptional communication, interpersonal, and analytic skills.
1994 - 2002, Amtrak (National Railroad Passenger Corporation)
Five successively more responsible Corporate Vice Presidencies. As
Amtrak's President put it, °I give Anne our problem organizations, and
she straightens them out so others can run them.' My strong analytical
skills and strategic thinking enabled me, and my teams, to unravel
obstinate constraints and unlock hidden opportunities. My capacity for
systems thinking applied to organizational dynamics - the causes of
various effects, the networks of personal and policy relationships, and
the values that define cultures - helped me understand and eliminate
bottlenecks and barriers and translate ideas into practical, meaningful
results. My high expectations for fairness, inclusion, service,
accomplishment and accountability, underpinned my leadership style and
capacity to inspire others.
Vice President · Service Standards
- Developed the first unconditional service guarantee in the
transportation industry - leading to Amtrak's July, 2000 launch of a new brand identity which guaranteed
customer satisfaction.
- Contributed to
14% increased revenue and ridership over prior year, an immediate 10%
customer satisfaction improvement, $1.6 million cost savings due to
enhanced employee engagement measured by quadrupled perfect attendance,
and expanded media and market attention giving credibility to the new
quality-oriented brand identity.
- Led a corporate
wide transformation of Amtrak's culture from traditional rail operations
to one focused on consistent quality service, touching every major
program element and support system.
- Revised
recruitment and performance evaluation systems, redesigned products,
trained all 24,000 employees and managers, introduced enhanced
communication systems, expanded labor/management cooperation, and
introduced performance incentives.
Vice President -
Service Operations
-
Achieved $80 million in savings while increasing customer satisfaction
with equipment by 11%.
- Managed corporate-wide line functions of fleet
maintenance, crew,, calling, commissary, safety, and environmental
management supporting day-to-day operations.
- Ran three major backstops performing locomotive
and passenger fleet overhauls and component manufacturing.
- Managed capital
and operating budgets in excess of $500 million.
- Reengineered production
lines, expanded preventive maintenance programs, improved production
planning, streamlined and automated materials planning acrd inventory
control.
Vice President -
Reservations, Sales and Customer Relations
-
Grew system capacity by 10% to $1.3 billion in sales, while reducing costs
by $15 million annually.
- Received industry recognition as Call Centers of
the Year for the entire transportation sector.
- Led turnaround of Amtrak's
reservation sales call centers. Within two years, achieved a 35% increase
in call handling productivity, 15% rise in booked revenue, 15% improvement
in customer satisfaction and 5% reduction of cost.
- Consolidated the
corporation's fragmented sales channels into a coordinated distribution
system.
-
Performed analyses that discovered 43 different paths to market and
rationalized their management. Invested in technology, introducing on-line
Internet reservations and sales, expanded automated voice recognition call
handling and self-service ticketing kiosks.
Vice President -
Customer and Corporate Communication
- Effectively managed
crisis communications during service disruptions, weather emergencies and
threatened labor unrest.
- Led and managed internal and external communications, providing a
coordinated message supporting business and legislative strategies.
- Launched award-winning internal newspaper "Amtrak Ink".
- Received CIPRA award for public relations campaigns
- Designed and conducted
national public forums
and company-wide employee forums on Amtrak's future, creating grass roots
input for legislative debate.
Vice President -
Corporate Management; Corporate Secretary
Streamlined
management accountability; instituted executive management reporting
system
Clarified
accountabilities and eliminated duplication in complex matrix
organization, while preserving benefits of decentralized service
delivery
Coordinated
corporate governance, translating mandates and polies from the Board of
Directors into measurable accountabilities for the Management Committee.
1991-1994, Montgomery County, Maryland Department of Environmental
Protection
-
Deputy Director of $55 million, 250 employee environmental protection
organization responsible for planning, implementing, monitoring and
evaluating policies, programs legislation and regulations design to
protect the County's air, wetlands and streams.
-
Designed and shepherded through adoption and public referendum an
innovative "solid waste system benefit charge" financing system.
-
Financed a 1200-ton-per-day waste-to-energy facility with A-rated $361
million revenue bond issue (Maryland's largest).
- Implemented long-evasive
controversial waste disposal solutions achieving predictable, affordable,
environmentally sound long-term waste disposal capacity.
- Led an intensive,
innovative participatory process entailing 8,000 hours of community input.
1984-1987, District of Columbia Department of Public Works
Administrator of $58 million, 1,400 employee public works agency
responsible for maintaining
roadways, sidewalks, bridges, parks and green areas; removing and
disposing household trash; clearing snow from public ways; enforcing code
provisions; and coordinating utility work.
Implemented 'Supercans"
-- semimaulornated 90-gallon refuse containers that increased neighborhood
cleanliness and reduced costs of costs by over $2 million per year.
In
2001, some 18 years after I received Washingtonian Magazine's `Best New
Idea' award for the Supercan program, the City announced it was racing the
popular containers extending its longevity for another twenty years.
Achieved 12-fold increase in street cleaning frequencies while reducing
curb-mile cost from $67.91 to $2.73; a 58% reduction in processing time
for abandoned vehicle removal; and 19% reduction in refuse collection
man-days through continuous path routing.
Instituted work methods
analysis, standards development, staffing and equipment scheduling,
deployment studies, and other methods to rejuvenate and refocus the
Department.
Streamlined aid modernized a change-resistant bureaucracy with
widely replicated initiatives, such as the "Clean It or Lien If
vacant property nuisance abatement program.
1991-2000, Director,
Children's National Medical Center, Washington. DC
A
two-year vigil attending to my infant daughter's diagnosis of brain cancer
involved 289 in-patient days, 5 surgeries, 90 chemotherapy sessions, and
countless tests and procedures at Children's. An added benefit of her
remarkable survival has been my 10-year service as Vice Chair of the
Hospitars Board of Directors, and Chair of its Consumer Affairs Committee.
In addition to fund-raising activities, I have helped the hospital expand
its consumer focus; institute patient, parent and referring physician
satisfaction surveys; improve telephone response and scheduling systems;
and enhance directional signage and patient parking policies.
Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government: Master
of City Planning
Federal
City College, Bachelor of Science in Urban Planning
Kalamazoo
College, Undergraduate Study
H.B.
Maynard Institute, Methods Engineering Certification
Harvard
University, Senior Executive Institute
Leadership
Washington
Back to top of page
Sherryl Hobbs Newman, Mayor Williams
|
Sherryl Hobbs Newman
Director
DC
Department of Motor Vehicles
Sherryl Hobbs Newman came
to the District of Columbia government in 1995 under the Office of Tax and
Revenue. There she created the Customer Service Administration, with its
one-stop service center, the telephone information center and problem
resolution office. Ms. Newman developed new approaches toward the adoption
of effective business practices, and worked to build the office's standing
in the community by improving the flow of information and services to city
residents, businesses, and other customers. Before joining the District of
Columbia government, she served as the City Collector for New York City.
She was directly responsible for the annual collection of billions of
dollars in revenue and she changed the way citizens interacted with her
agency. Her efforts increased revenue collection, eliminated operational
inefficiencies, and improved outreach to citizens in all five boroughs.
Prior to
assuming her post as Director of the Department of Motor Vehicles, she
created and launched improved customer service standards and initiatives
for agencies throughout the city government. She was also instrumental in
the development of the "City-wide Call Center," - 727-1000, a
centralized telephone information network that allows citizens to gain
information about government programs and services from a singular source.
Sherryl
Hobbs Newman has combined interpersonal communication skills with
experience in service delivery and organizational development to improve
the performance. and morale of the Department of Motor Vehicles, a
government agency that touches the lives of virtually every resident and
newcomer to the City. The operational and service delivery improvements
that she perfected in New York and at the Office of Tax and Revenue
flourished at the DC DMV.
Almost
immediately upon her arrival, Newman instituted systematic improvements,
which changed the overall operations of the agency. These included the
introduction of a DMV website, opening of several DMV service centers,
revisions of policies and procedures, legislative updates, etc. Her focus
was on increased productivity, greater access to the agency, improved
morale, better communication with customers, better facilities, clearer
& more accurate information, and the creation of a better work
environment
Ms. Newman has focused on ease of accessibility,
improved service delivery, and enhanced productivity. These efforts have
won the agency national recognition from America Association of Motor
Vehicle Administrators and the local motor vehicle community. Some
additional accomplishments under Newman's tenure are:
- Reduced wait times
from 3 hours to 30 - 45 minutes
- Decreased transaction
times for licensing 8 registration from 30 minutes to 8 minutes
-
American Association of Motor Vehicle Administration (AAMVA) Star Search
Team Award, Inspection Station.
-
AAMVA Customer Service Excellence Award, Agency-wide
-
Publication of first-ever DMV Annual Report
-
Implementation of ticket Amnesty program
-
Launched Taxation without Representation License Plates
-
Initiated the Annual Safety Week for the District of Columbia
-
Participation in award-winning inter jurisdictional aggressive driving
program, Smooth Operator and a safe driver campaign for the elderly, known as Grand
Driver program
-
Opened DMV satellite offices creating convenience for every quadrant of
the city (Penn Branch, Brentwood, Georgetown)
- Added multiple languages to the DMV Knowledge Test
-
Conducted Distracted Drivers Campaign in partnership with the DC Wireless
Coalition
-
Provided DMV paraphernalia to boost employee morale
-
Launched Dealer online transactions
-
Launched ticket payment online and by phone
-
Launched ticket Installment Payment Plan
-
Secured contract for new vehicle inspection station with a projected
opening for Summer 2003
|