You are here: American University School of Public Affairs Public Administration & Policy Past Recipients of the Roger W. Jones Award for Executive Leadership

AnchorAnchorAnchorMeet the 2022 Roger W. Jones Awardees

Sherri Berger
Chief of Staff
Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC)

Sherri A. Berger, MSPH, is the Chief of Staff at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In this role, she serves as the principal advisor to the CDC Director by providing strategic advice and ensuring proactive coordination of agency-wide priorities and policies in direct support of CDC’s public health mission. Berger convenes leadership for assessment, management, and resolution of issues and initiatives affecting CDC’s priorities and goals, provides strategic leadership in resolving cross-organizational issues, and serves as one of the Director’s primary liaisons with staff, partners, and other federal agencies.

From 2011-2021, Berger served as CDC’s Chief Operating Officer, where she provided executive leadership over financial resources, facilities, information technology, safety, and security operations and provided substantial strategic direction for CDC’s workforce and budget. [CDC1] [H(2] At the same time, she served as the agency’s first Chief Risk Officer, implementing an enterprise risk management strategy, and CDC’s Chief Strategy Officer, leading the development and deployment of CDC’s strategic framework and priorities. Berger has provided operational management during some of the greatest public health events of the 21st century, including H1N1, Ebola, Zika, and the COVID-19 pandemic. During CDC’s responses to these threats, she led resource planning and the execution of billions of dollars of supplemental funding and implemented procedures to increase efficiency and meet the increased demands of an emergency response. During her tenure, she also secured resources for major construction projects across CDC facilities including a new high-containment laboratory.

Berger began her federal career in 1996 as one of four graduate students selected nationwide to participate in the CDC/Association of Schools of Public Health Experiential Learning Program. She worked as an epidemiologist at the community level until moving to CDC headquarters in Atlanta to serve as a principal epidemiologic investigator. While leading the agency’s Congressional appropriations activities, she was nominated to participate in the Senior Executive Service Candidate Development Program, where she expanded her career into business management.

She has extensive experience at both the program and senior leadership levels and has held several executive positions at CDC, including associate director for formulation, evaluation, and analysis in CDC’s Financial Management Office, deputy director of one of CDC’s national centers, and director of the agency’s Recovery Act Coordination Unit.

Berger received her bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Florida and a Master of Science degree in public health with a concentration in epidemiology from the University of South Florida.

Dietra Grant
Director of the Customer Account Services (CAS) Organization
Internal Revenue Service (IRS)

Dietra Grant is the Director of the Customer Account Services (CAS) organization. W&I CAS is the largest single entity in IRS and serves as the cornerstone of IRS filing season operations, employing nearly 35,000 individuals in 25 locations nationwide during the peak filing season. CAS accomplishes its mission through four key operations — Submission Processing, Accounts Management, the Joint Operations Center, and Electronic Products and Services Support.

Prior to this assignment, Dietra was the Director of the Customer Assistance, Relationships and Education organization. In this role, she had oversight of the Stakeholder Partnerships, Education and Communication, Media and Publications, and Field Assistance functions of IRS’s W&I Division. She was responsible for critical pre-filing services, including the development of forms, publications and notices that communicate tax requirements. Dietra oversaw the IRS’s volunteer efforts, providing assistance and support to approximately 90,000 volunteers in nearly 12,000 volunteer sites to educate and assist taxpayers with tax return filing. She was also responsible for providing face-to-face taxpayer assistance in 376 sites nationwide. Dietra met those obligations with the support of a workforce of 12 executives and over 2,600 employees.

Dietra was also the Director, Field Assistance in the W&I Division, where she was responsible for approximately 400 physical and virtual Taxpayer Assistance Centers (TACs) nationwide. TACs are the taxpayers’ source for personal tax help when they want face-to-face assistance. The Field Assistance organization is comprised of more than 1,600 employees and managers who balance service and compliance responsibilities, primarily helping customers resolve tax account issues.

Dietra also served as the Director, Stakeholder Partnerships, Education & Communication in W&I, where she was responsible for the delivery of tax education, free return preparation services, and financial education to our nation’s low-income, elderly, disabled, Native American, non-English speaking, and rural taxpayers. Dietra has also served as the Director, Field Assistance, Area 1.

Dietra was a participant in the 2009 Executive Readiness Program. She joined the IRS in 1985 as a taxpayer service representative

Born in Buffalo, New York, Dietra earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Accounting from Canisius College. Dietra is married to Clarence and has one daughter, Madesen.

Alphonso Hughes
Executive Assistant Director
Administration - Office of the Director, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF)

Alphonso J. Hughes currently serves as the Executive Assistant Director (EAD) for Administration, at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, within the Office of Director overseeing the agency’s Administration Group consisting of the Financial And Budget offices, Information Technology offices, Financial Investigation Services, National Facilities Management, Science and Research Laboratories, Human Resources and Professional Development, as well as ATF National Academy operations for Special Agents and Industry Operation (IO) Investigators.

He previously served as the Assistant Director, Office of Enforcement Programs and Services (EPS) from May 11, 2020, to September 24, 2022, Deputy Assistant Director, Office of Professional Responsibility and Security Operations (OPRSO), and as the Bureau’s Deputy Chief Security Officer from September 2019 to May 2020 which was his first career appointment in the Senior Executive Service (SES).

Three prior EPS leadership roles included Chief, National Firearms Act (NFA) Division from April 2017 to September 2019; and separate stints as Deputy Chief, and Chief, Firearms and Explosives Services Division (FESD) from October 2012 to April 2017. He oversaw various federal firearms and explosives licensing programs and was a key leader in overseeing many of the firearm and explosives regulatory rulemaking efforts. Mr. Hughes also served as Director, Industry Operations, ATF Philadelphia Field Division; and Area Supervisor, ATF Harrisburg II Field Office where he oversaw field regulatory enforcement efforts over the regulated industries. He began his ATF career as an Inspector/IO Investigator in June 2000 in Philadelphia, PA.

Mr. Hughes’ federal civilian career spans approximately 30 years and, in addition to ATF, includes service with the Department of Defense and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He successfully completed the Senior Executive Service Candidate Development Program through the U.S. Department of Commerce earning Office of Personnel Management (OPM) SES certification in November 2017.

Mr. Hughes served more than 20 years of military service in the U.S. Air Force (Active Duty and Air National Guard - now retired).

Recipients of the Roger W. Jones Award for Executive Leadership

Past Recipients - 2021

Stephen Breen
San Francisco Regional Commissioner
Social Security Administration

Maribeth Petrizzi
Assistant Director
Compliance Division
Federal Trade Comission

Kenneth Sheely
Acting Principal Deputy Associate Administrator for Safety, Infrastructure and Operations, National Nuclear Security Administration, U.S. Department of Energy

Brian Toland
Command Counsel
Office of the Command Counsel, Headquarters
U.S. Army Materiel Command

Past Recipients - 2019-2020

Kimberly Walton
Executive Assistant Administrator
Transportation Security Administration
Department of Homeland Security

Lois Greisman
Associate Director for Marketing Practices
Federal Trade Commission

Matthew Alessandrino
Assistant Inspector General for Investigations
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
Office of Inspector General

Eileen McDaniel
Executive Director
Office of Management
Office of Medicare Hearings & Appeals
Department of Health & Human Services

Bradley Bunn
Director, Human Resources
Defense Logistics Agency
Department of Defense

Past Recipients - 2018

Donald F. McCormack
Executive Director
Naval Science Warfare Center and Naval Undersea Warfare Center
Naval Sea Systems Command
Department of the Navy

Anthony P. Scardino
Chief Financial Officer
United States Patent and Trademark Office
Department of Commerce

Past Recipients - 2017

Patricia Dalton
Chief Operating Officer
Government Accountability Office
United States Congress

Frances Regan
Area Counsel of the Office of the Chief Counsel
Internal Revenue Service
United States Department of Treasury

Past Recipients - 2016

Dorothy Dougherty
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor
Occupational Safety & Health Administration
Department of Labor

Louis W. Uccellini
Assistant Administrator for Weather Services
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) & 
Director, National Weather Service

Past Recipients - 2015

R.J. Holley
Special Agent in Charge
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Chicago Field Office

Nina Pelletier
Assistant Inspector General for the Evaluation and Inspections Division
Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General

Past Recipients - 2014

Karen O. Henneberger
Program Manager, New Ship Design
Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program

David A. Lebryk
Fiscal Assistant Secretary
U.S. Department of Treasury

Past Recipients - 2013

David A. Bray
Chief Information Officer
Federal Communications Commission

Brian J. Persons
Assistant Deputy Chief, Naval Operations for Warfare Systems
U.S. Department of the Navy

Past Recipients - 2012

Thomas L. Mesenbourg Jr.
Acting Director
U.S. Census Bureau

David Wennergren
Assistant Deputy Chief Management Officer
U.S. Department of Defense (DOD)

Past Recipients - 2011

Margaret Gilligan
Associate Administrator
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)

John A. Montgomery
Director of Research
Naval Research Laboratory (NRI)U.S. Department of the Navy

Past Recipients - 2010

Kenneth E. Baker
Principle Assistant Deputy Administrator
National Nuclear Security Administration
Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation
U.S. Department of Energy

Margaret (Peggy) A. Forcarino
Deputy Commissioner for Patents
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
U.S. Department of Commerce

Past Recipients - 2009

Gene L. Dodaro
Comptroller General of the United States
U.S. Government Accountability Office

Linda E. Stiff
Deputy Commissioner for Services and Enforcement
Internal Revenue Service

Past Recipients - 2008

Thomas A. Betro
Director, Naval Criminal Investigative Service
U.S. Department of the Navy

Theresa M. Whelan
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for African Affairs
U.S. Department of Defense

Past Recipients - 2007

MaryAnn Musumeci
Director, James J. Peters Veterans Affairs Medical Center-Bronx
Department of Veterans Affairs

John E. Potter
Postmaster General and Chief Executive Officer
U.S. Postal Service

Past Recipients - 2006

David M. Altwegg
Deputy for Agency Operations
Missile Defense Agency
Office of the Secretary of Defense

William H. Gimson III
Chief Operating Officer
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Department of Health and Human Services

Past Recipients - 2005

Sheila M. Earle
Acting Principal Director for Military Personnel Policy
Office of the Secretary of Defense

Marvin E. Gunn Jr.
Manager of the Office of Science, Chicago Office
Department of Energy

Past Recipients - 2004

Jennifer C. Buck
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs
Department of Defense

Michael J. Zamorski
Director, Division of Supervision and Consumer Protection
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

Past Recipients - 2003

Larry G. Massanari
Regional Commissioner
Social Security Administration

Dr. James Randolph Farris
Regional Administrator
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
Department of Health and Human Services

Past Recipients - 2002

Victor K. Ferlise
Deputy to the Commanding General
U.S. Army Communications Electronic Command

Kenneth M. Pusateri
General Manager
Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board

Past Recipients - 2001

Paul D. Barnes
Deputy Commissioner for Human Resources
Social Security Administration

Arthur J. Murton
Director, Division of Insurance
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

Past Recipients - 2000

Charles P. Nemfakos
Deputy Under Secretary for Institutional Strategic Planning
U.S. Navy

Janet Woodcock
Director, Center of Drug Evaluation and Research Food and Drug Administration
Department of Health and Human Services

Past Recipients - 1999

John E. Sirmalis
Technical Director, Naval Undersea Warfare Center
U.S. Navy

Robert S. Winokur
Assistant Administrator for Satellite and Information Services
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Past Recipients - 1998

Virginia S. Bales
Deputy Director, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion
Centers for Disease Control
Department of Health and Human Services

William J. Henderson
Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer
U.S. Postal Service

Past Recipients - 1997

John Dyer
Acting Principal Deputy Commissioner
Social Security Administration

Dr. J. Wayne Littles
Director, George C. Marshall Space Flight Center
National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Past Recipients-1996

Frank Almaguer
American Ambassador (Ret.)

Nancy George
Vice President for the Northeast Area
U.S. Postal Service

Past Recipients-1995

Joan Dempsey
Director, National Military Intelligence Production Center
Department of Defense

Janet Shikles
Assistant Comptroller General for Health, Education, and Human Services
General Accounting Office

Past Recipients-1994

James J. Devine
Deputy Director for Support Services
National Security Agency

Dr. Ruth Kirschstein
Deputy Director, National Institutes of Health
Department of Health and Human Services

Past Recipients-1993

Dr. Walter Dowdle
Deputy Director, Centers for Disease Control
Department of Health and Human Services

Eva C. Ugarkovich
Director of Financial Management
U.S. Air Force

Past Recipients-1992

Aaron Cohen
Director, Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center
National Aeronautics and Space Administration

J. Dexter Peach
Assistant Comptroller General, Resources, Community, and Economic Development Program
General Accounting Office

Past Recipients-1991

Thomas S. McFee
Assistant Secretary for Personnel Administration
Department of Health and Human Services

Joseph L. Moore
Director, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Chicago
Department of Veterans Affairs

Past Recipients-1990

James L. Blum
Assistant Director for Budget Analysis
Congressional Budget Office

Stephen E. Higgins
Director, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms
Department of the Treasury

Past Recipients-1989

Joseph R. Caraveo
Regional Postmaster General, Western Region
U.S. Postal Service

Richard A. Clarke
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Regional Affairs, Bureau of Intelligence and Research
Department of State

Past Recipients-1988

Dr. Vernon N. Houk
Director, Center for Environmental Health and Injury Control, Centers for Disease Control
Department of Health and Human Services

Raymond G. Kammer
Deputy Director, National Bureau of Standards
Department of Commerce

Past Recipients-1987

John R. Simpson
Director, U.S. Secret Service, and President of INTERPOL
Department of the Treasury

Milton J. Socolar
Special Assistant to the Comptroller General
General Accounting Office

Past Recipients-1986

William E. Douglas
Commissioner, Financial Management Service
Department of the Treasury

Earle L. Messere
Technical Director, Naval Underwater Systems Center, Newport
U.S. Navy

Past Recipients-1985

Robert L. Trachtenberg
Deputy Administrator, Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Administration
Department of Health and Human Services

Robert J. Eichelberger
Director, U.S. Army Ballistic Research Laboratory
Department of the Army

Past Recipients-1984

Stanley Goldberg
Assistant Commissioner, Returns and Information Processing, Internal Revenue Service
Department of the Treasury

Gerald J. Mossinghoff
Assistant Secretary and Commissioner for Patents and Trademarks
U.S. Postal Service

Past Recipients-1983

David O. Cooke
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Administration
Department of Defense

Joyce J. Walker
Deputy Associate Director for Transportation, Commerce, and Housing
Office of Management and Budget

Past Recipients-1982

G. Phillips Hanna
Deputy Division Chief for Human Resources, Veterans, and Labor
Office of Management and Budget

William C. Watson Jr.
Deputy Director, Centers for Disease Control
Department of Health and Human Services

Past Recipients-1981

Dr. William R. Lucas
Director, Marshall Flight Center
National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Charles V. Yarbrough
Director, Management Support
Veterans Administration

Past Recipients-1980

Harry S. Havens
Assistant Comptroller General for Program Evaluation
General Accounting Office

Dr. Francis J. Mulhern
Administrator of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
Department of Agriculture

Past Recipients-1979

Christopher C. Kraft
Director, Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center
National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Dale R. McOmber
Assistant Director, Budget Review
Office of Management and Budget

Past Recipients-1978

Norman A. Carlson
Director of the Bureau of Prisons
Department of Justice

Edwin C. Kilgore
Director of Management Operation
Langley Research Center
National Aeronautics and Space Administration