Federal Labor Relations Authority Chairman Ernie DuBester announced today the appointment of Sarah Whittle Spooner as Executive Director of the FLRA. As Executive Director, Ms. Spooner serves as the chief operating officer of the agency and is responsible for management of agency-wide administrative offices, including budget and finance, administrative services, information technology, and human capital. These offices provide services to all FLRA components, including the Authority decisional component, the Office of the General Counsel, and the Federal Service Impasses Panel.
Ms. Spooner is a career employee of the FLRA, having begun her professional work as an attorney in the Office of then-Chairman Phyllis Segal in 1996. Subsequently, Ms. Spooner served as Assistant General Counsel for Legal Policy & Advice in the Office of the General Counsel and as Senior Attorney in the Washington Regional Office of the FLRA. In 2009, Ms. Spooner assumed the position of Counsel for Regulatory and External Affairs in the Office of Chairman Carol Waller Pope and, most recently, served as Acting Executive Director of the FLRA. She received her Bachelor of Science degree from Salem State College and her Juris Doctor degree from Brooklyn Law School. Ms. Spooner also received a Certificate in Public Management from the USDA Graduate School in partnership with George Washington University and, in 2011, was named a Senior Fellow, having completed the Excellence in Government Fellows Program of the Partnership for Public Service, Center for Government Leadership.
The FLRA administers the labor-management relations program for 2.1 million non-Postal federal employees worldwide. Approximately 1.2 million of these employees are represented in 2,200 bargaining units. The FLRA provides leadership by establishing policies and guidance related to federal-sector, labor-management relations and by resolving disputes under, and ensuring compliance with, the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute.