GPO Director Davita Vance-Cooks Departs to Enter Private Sector

GPO Director Davita Vance-Cooks

The U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) Director Davita Vance-Cooks has announced her departure from Federal service to accept a job in the private sector. By law, GPO Deputy Director Jim Bradley assumes the duties of Acting GPO Director until a replacement is appointed. Bradley, who joined the GPO in 1996, is a seasoned Federal executive with more than 40 years of experience in congressional and agency publishing programs and Federal information policy.

Vance-Cooks was nominated by President Obama and confirmed by the Senate in 2013 to be the 27th Public Printer of the United States. Prior to confirmation, she served as Acting Public Printer for 19 months. A seasoned business executive with more than 35 years of private sector and Federal management experience, she was the first woman and the first African-American to lead the agency.

GPO Director Davita Vance-Cooks and IPG Editor Bob Neubauer

In 2014, legislation proposed by Vance-Cooks was signed into law modernizing the GPO’s name to the Government Publishing Office, in recognition of the agency’s successful transition to digital publishing technologies. That law also abolished the outdated title of “Public Printer,” renaming GPO’s chief executive as the agency’s Director.

Continuing her strategy of leading GPO in the digital era, earlier this year Vance-Cooks called for modernizing the laws governing GPO’s Federal Depository Library Program, which involves making Government information and documents available to the public through more than 1,100 libraries nationwide.

Vance-Cooks leaves behind a legacy of achievement and fiscal responsibility at GPO. Under her leadership, the agency cut costs while improving services, generating positive net income each year and consistently receiving clean opinions from annual independent audits of GPO’s finances. She reversed the previous decade’s pattern of requesting ever greater appropriations from Congress while overseeing increased digital productivity and transformation. During her tenure GPO acquired digital equipment, developed new digital products, and implemented digital processes.

GPO Director Davita Vance-Cooks welcomes attendees to the DigiGov conference.

Vance-Cooks championed a strategy of modernization that resulted in expanded public access to digital Government information. GPO diversified its product and service portfolio to include eBooks, mobile apps, and bulk data downloads. The agency moved forward with plans to become the first Federal agency to meet international standards as a trusted digital repository, expanded its product line of secure credentials, and was the first legislative branch agency to move its IT capabilities to the cloud. Vance-Cooks’ objective was to move the GPO from a print-centric to a content-centric focus in the digital era, a strategy that was validated by a congressionally-mandated study of GPO by the National Academy of Public Administration in 2013.

Staff of the Government Publishing Office join GPO Director Davita Vance-Cooks to accept GPO's In-plant Innovator Award.

She pursued an equally energetic agenda in GPO’s production operations, where the agency readied its systems and infrastructure to produce the next generation U.S. passport, upgraded its press and binding systems with state-of-the-art equipment that is reducing the costs of producing congressional and agency documents, and laid the foundation for further efficiency upgrades to its business systems. While Vance-Cooks was GPO’s Director, the agency won multiple digital achievement, graphic design, and innovation awards, including most recently the prestigious W. Edwards Deming Award for GPO’s innovative employee leadership training program. It also earned updated certifications for quality in passport manufacturing and as a sustainable green production facility. Her policy of employee engagement resulted in ratings of the agency as a “best place to work” and as an “innovative agency”.

Standing with GPO’s new Timson ZMR web press are (from left) Deputy Director Jim Bradley, Director Davita Vance-Cooks and Chief of Staff Andrew Sherman.

Prior to assuming leadership of the GPO, Vance-Cooks held a succession of senior management positions at the agency beginning in 2004. She was the Deputy Managing Director of Customer Services, with the responsibility for overseeing the GPO’s liaison with Federal agencies for in-house print production and printing procurement services. She then served as the Managing Director of GPO’s Publications and Information Sales business unit, where she oversaw a large print distribution/supply chain operation with customers across the United States. In January 2011, Vance-Cooks was named the GPO’s Chief of Staff. In December 2011 she was named Deputy Public Printer.

Before coming to the GPO, Vance-Cooks held several private sector leadership positions in the health insurance industry. Vance-Cooks holds a B.A. from Tufts University and an M.B.A. from Columbia University.

The preceding press release was provided by an organization unaffiliated with IPG. The views expressed within do not directly reflect the thoughts or opinions of the staff of IPG.

Bradley Becomes Acting GPO Director

GPO Deputy Director Jim Bradley is now Acting Director of the agency. He will lead GPO’s 1,700 employees in carrying out the agency’s mission of "Keeping America Informed" through the GPO’s programs and services.

“I am honored to serve as Acting Director and look forward to leading GPO’s employees in the important work this agency does for Congress, Federal agencies, and the public every day,” said Bradley. “It was a privilege to work for Davita Vance-Cooks in modernizing GPO over the past five years, and the program of digital transformation she championed will continue.”

Bradley has more than 40 years of experience in congressional and agency publishing programs and Federal information policy. Following service with the Internal Revenue Service and as printing officer for the Energy Department, Bradley was a professional staff member for more than 13 years with the Joint Committee on Printing, reporting to a succession of Committee chairs from both the House and Senate sides.

Since joining the GPO in 1996, he has overseen the production in digital and print formats of all congressional documents, including the daily Congressional Record, congressional bills, reports, hearings, and other congressional information products, as well as the daily Federal Register and the Code of Federal Regulations, the annual Budget of the United States, the Public Papers of the Presidents, and related documents. Additionally, he has been responsible for GPO’s customer service program to Federal agencies, involving the competitive procurement of agency publications and information products from thousands of private sector firms nationwide. In overseeing these programs, Bradley has worked closely with GPO’s Federal Depository Library Program to ensure the availability of congressional and agency publications for public access nationwide. He was also involved in the introduction of the U.S. ePassport for the State Department, and for the past several years has overseen its production at GPO as well as the production and issuance of secure Federal credentials containing digital components for Federal entities.

In carrying out this work, Bradley has been deeply involved in GPO’s digital transformation, overseeing technology modernization efforts to improve the range of GPO products and services produced with or featuring digital technologies, and helping to guide the transition of GPO’s staff and infrastructure to an increasingly digital platform. Bradley has also led the conversion of GPO’s physical plant to accommodate units of the Architect of the Capitol, the Capitol Police, the Senate Sergeant at Arms, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, and most recently the Office of the Federal Register and the Office of Government Information Services. He is currently overseeing the construction of new space to house the congressional legislative archives of the National Archives and Records Administration within GPO’s complex.

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