Janice R. Lachance, Esq.
Chief Executive Officer
Special Libraries Association
The Honorable Janice R. Lachance is the 13th chief executive of the Special Libraries Association. A seasoned leader and communicator with more than 20 years experience in public service and governance, Janice is a collegial executive and team player with a concertmaster leadership style that inspires both allegiance and hard work.
From 1997 to 2001, Janice was the Director (CEO) of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the federal government's independent human resources agency. Appointed to this position by President Bill Clinton and unanimously confirmed by a bi-partisan U.S. Senate, Janice provided policy and program leadership for 1.8 million federal employees. The federal workforce encompasses a vast array of professions including astronauts, medical researchers, statisticians, forest rangers, economists, diplomats, biologists, attorneys, engineers, physicists, executives and, of course, information professionals and librarians.
Because President Clinton recognized the importance of the federal government as a model employer, he advanced Janice's post to Cabinet status, giving her the standing and support needed to elevate human capital issues to the highest possible priority in the United States. And, like many of her executive colleagues, the type of valuable information members of SLA regularly provide informed virtually every important decision Janice made in government.
From an executive management perspective, one of Janice's seminal achievements at OPM was to change its culture from a "command and control" agency to the human resources management consultant of choice for the many Cabinet-level and independent agencies that comprise the federal government's Executive branch. Janice led the agency's 3,700 core employees in reformulating the agency's mission, as well as transforming the agency into an innovative, flexible and entrepreneurial human resources management organization emphasizing customer service, practical solutions, and enduring results.
From a personal perspective, Janice will always remember the many employees who approached her - some even with tears in their eyes - to thank her for her leadership with the many positive changes that make it easier to manage both their work and family responsibilities, particularly in the area of employee benefits. The federal government is the model employer in the strategic use of cost-effective benefits as part of its recruiting and compensation strategies and is often the proving ground where the value of innovative benefits are documented before being adopted by other large employers who compete for the same talented personnel. It's likely that some SLA members now enjoy the positive impact of some of Janice's employment benefit initiatives and leadership.
For example, Janice secured enactment of groundbreaking, bi-partisan legislation establishing affordable long-term care insurance for 20 million federal employees, members of the armed services, and retirees. She extended the concept of the Family and Medical Leave Act to allow employees to use sick leave instead of vacation time or unpaid leave to care for members of their immediate families.
As administrator of the nation's largest employer-sponsored health insurance program, which serves 8.5 million people, Janice often spotlighted women's health issues, such as ensuring coverage of mammography and contraceptives; and expanding coverage of experimental but effective cancer treatments for women. In addition, Janice established the Patients Bill of Rights for federal employees, which is now the model, used in many health facilities for all patients, nationwide. She also instituted long overdue mental health insurance parity for federal employees and their families, giving them the same level of coverage for mental illnesses as they receive for other medical conditions.
Janice brings solid experience in international relations to SLA, which will benefit the organization as it extends its global reach. The endurance of the U.S. government's merit-based civil service system for more than 100 years, as well as OPM's efforts to transform itself and the civil service into a customer-focused model, are of great interest to government leaders around the world.
Consequently, Janice led Ministerial-level delegations to the People's Republic of China, Hong Kong, Republic of China (Taiwan), Australia, New Zealand, Israel, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris, France. In addition, she received officials from dozens of other countries seeking a better understanding of how they might adopt American practices. Working on these diplomatic assignments demonstrated Janice's ability to quickly grasp and address the issues and needs of other cultures, their economic models and their people. A real test of her diplomatic skills came in 1999 when she was the first Cabinet-level official to go to China after NATO accidentally bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, Yugoslavia.
For more than 15 years in various public service positions, Janice served as spokesperson for national and local print and broadcast journalists and editorial boards. Prior to becoming Director of OPM, Janice was the agency's Deputy Director (1997), Chief of Staff (1996-1997), and Director of Communications and Policy (1993-1996). Previously, she served as Director of Communications and Political Affairs and policy advisor for the American Federation of Government Employees, (AFGE) (1987-1993), a voluntary membership organization which provides union representation to 700,000 federal employees. Janice also has extensive experience working for members and committees of the U.S. Congress, where she served in various policy and management positions.
After leaving OPM in 2001, Janice transitioned to a successful management consulting practice specializing in strategic planning, communications, human resources management, and organizational transformation for membership and non-profit organizations. Nonetheless, after a stint at advising other executives she decided she was most interested in finding a new executive leadership position where she could be a part of a team making a positive difference in an organization and in the work lives of professionals. SLA fulfilled five of Janice's most important requirements: her desire to work with bright, innovative people; her desire to work with dedicated volunteer leaders; her interest in key global issues; her goal of positively impacting enterprises around the world and an organization that would benefit from refinements in its strategic thinking and vision. She looks back at her first interview at SLA with respect and fond amusement. Her selection committee interviewers had done so much research on her career to-date that she felt like The New York Times was interviewing her! Immediately, she felt at home.
The first in her extended family to go on to college, Janice graduated from Manhattanville College in Purchase NY and earned her Juris Doctor degree at Tulane University School of Law in New Orleans, Louisiana (1978) where she divided her time between study and local politics. She is admitted to practice law in the State of Maine and the District of Columbia as well as the United States Supreme Court. She has used her legal training as an ever-present aid to clear thinking and to craft and interpret laws, regulations and public policy.
Janice grew up in Biddeford, Maine, a textile mill town on the coast populated predominantly by French Canadians. Knowing she would learn English in school, her parents decided to teach her only French at home, so she did not speak English until starting school where morning sessions were conducted in French and the afternoons in English through eighth grade.
Janice's parents taught her their work ethic and gave her values that have long influenced her career choices. Janice credits her mother with teaching her to become an avid reader and library user. She began to read at the age of four, when her mother inaugurated a tradition by taking her on weekly trips to the library to select the next armload of books in both French and English. Janice's father was president of his textile union's local. Through his example, she learned the value and importance of making a positive difference in people's lives and work. She credits her father with inspiring her to pursue a career in service to those who seek to better the lives of their families by improving their workplace and profession.
In her free time, Janice enjoys traveling, reading and writing; and exploring art galleries, museums and historic sites. She always builds visits to art exhibits and experiences with local culture into her vacations. She also loves antiques and is an avid collector of artifacts depicting the U.S. Capitol as well as whimsical 19th century glass canes fashioned by glass blowers working to test and improve their skills at the end of their workday.
Links
Lachance speeches while Director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.
September 1999 to December 2000
Additional Speeches from Lachance
Transcript of a Lachance radio interview on the Business of Government Hour, June 20, 2000, and a related article
Detailed information on the responsibilities and activities of OPM during Janice's tenure are in the 2000-2001 Government Organization Manual.
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