City Manager, Rancho Cordova, California

Co-Author, Reinventing Government Ted A. Gaebler is an exemplary, life-long, local government manager who has had constructive national and international impacts as co-author of the highly influential book, Reinventing Government. He has served as a City Manager and/or CEO in seven local governments in five states. He has been Manager of Rancho Cordova since 2003, when that large suburb of Sacramento first incorporated. Throughout his 45-year public-service career, Gaebler has initiated programs to make governments more effective through development of leaders both within and outside of local government. While Gaebler is an outstanding manager, making governments better—not “just managing”—has consistently motivated him. Through his roles as City Manager, County Executive Officer, author, lecturer, teacher, and mentor, he has maintained the identify of a dynamic re-inventor and entrepreneur, setting the culture for government change—collaboratively, knowledgeably, and reasonably.


Gaebler’s Reinventing Government book examines best and worst-case situations and promotes integrating into government the most effective practices in both for-profit and non-profit sectors. This book, translated into 18 languages, has been hailed internationally as a trend-setting guide to thoughtful, insightful, meaningful, and effective government. Thousands of elected officials and staffs, on all levels of government, and over 500 city and county governmental agencies have used it to create and implement changes in pursuit of good governance. Gaebler has spoken in forums all around the world.

A key to community success, according to Gaebler, is as simple and complex as a
fundamental mindset. He practices pragmatic, internally driven change, decentralized
authority, clear transparency and accountability, reduced management layers, and
public/private partnerships—all to provide more economical, efficient, and effective
public services. His goal is to create community government that delights people.

Within the organizations where he serves, Gaebler supports his co-workers by
inspiring and tapping their minds, developing ways in which they can contribute to
successful operations.

Sallyanne Harper

Chief Administrative Officer/Chief Financial Officer, GAO

Sallyanne Harper has a dynamic and distinguished record of leading important management improvements at the federal level. In a government career dating back more than 30 years, Harper has held a number of key executive positions, most recently as the Chief Financial Officer/Chief Administrative Officer at the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) and previously as the Chief Financial Officer at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

In each of these senior leadership positions, she earned a reputation for management excellence and creativity and delivered many major operational improvements. Harper has been an unwavering champion and catalyst for greater accountability in and continuous improvement to federal operations. She is known for her strong ethical principles and a “walk the talk” approach to management and leadership.

Since 2000, Harper has managed and directed the full range of all operational and mission support functions at GAO. She has overseen several groundbreaking initiatives to transform how GAO does business. During her leadership, independent auditors have consistently given GAO’s financial statements unqualified opinions with no material weaknesses and no major compliance issues. In 2009, for the eighth year in a row, GAO received the Association of Government Accountants’ Certificate of Excellence in Accountability Reporting for its annual performance and accountability report.

At EPA, Harper implemented many actions that greatly strengthened accountability and improved major operational results. For example, under her leadership, EPA was the first federal agency to fully integrate its budget request with the performance-based annual plan, as required by the Government Performance and Results Act. EPA also received its first-ever unqualified opinion for agency-wide audited financial statements, under her leadership.

Harper, who holds an undergraduate degree from LaSalle University and an MBA from
George Washington University, is a graduate of the Senior Managers in Government
Program at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. She has also
received an honorary degree from LaSalle University.

Kenneth H. Kraemer, M.D.

Chief, DNA Repair Section, Dermatology Branch,
Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health

Dr. Kenneth Kraemer has demonstrated innovative and sustained contributions to public service and science education at the local, regional, and national level. These activities involve students in high school, middle school, and elementary school, as well as
medical students, postdoctoral fellows, and established scientific researchers.

Kraemer received his Sc.B. degree in Biology from Brown University and his M.D. from Tufts University of Medicine. He is Board certified in Dermatology and Internal Medicine, and has a long standing interest in human cancer-prone genetic diseases. His studies
focus on molecular, cellular, and clinical features of rare diseases of DNA repair.

Kraemer came to the National Cancer Institute in 1971 and served as a Commissioned
Officer in the US Public Health Service (USPHS). He is currently the Chief of the DNA
Repair Section in the Dermatology Branch, CCR, NCI. He published more than 200
articles in scientific journals and textbooks. He is a member of the American Society for
Clinical Investigation and has received awards from the Society for Investigative
Dermatology (SID), the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, the
American Academy of Dermatology and the USPHS.

Outside of his NIH duties, Kraemer initiated a novel outreach program for high school
students and teachers. Called the SID Education for Students (SIDES) program, it
draws students and teachers from each host city of the annual SID meeting and allows
them to attend the meeting for a day, with the goal of getting them exited and interested
in scientific research. This award winning event has been highly successful due to
Kraemer’s organizing for the past 18 years.

From 1985 to the present, Kraemer has been co-chairman of the NIH DNA Repair
Interest Group. He set up a system by which the group could hold videoconferences
over the internet, and established a website and an email listserv to link small groups of
scientists interested in DNA Repair throughout the world into a “global village”. There are
now more than 140 of these videoconferences archived and they have been downloaded nearly 10,000 times in the past year. This resource provides the opportunity
for students, researchers and the general public to hear, see and learn about new
advances in DNA Repair from outstanding investigators at a time of their choosing.  

Bernard K. Melekian

Director, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services
U.S. Department of Justice

Bernard K. Melekian was announced as the Director of the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) by Attorney General Eric Holder on October 5, 2009. In the announcement, Attorney General Holder praised Director Melekian’s experience and commitment to addressing issues confronting state and local law enforcement.

Mr. Melekian was the Police Chief for the City of Pasadena, California, for more than 13 years before assuming leadership of the COPS Office. He also served with the Santa Monica Police Department for 23 years where he was awarded the Medal of Valor in 1978 and the Medal of Courage in 1980.

Director Melekian has been the recipient of numerous other leadership and service awards, and is recognized within the law enforcement field as a leader whose commitment to the advancement of community policing is built equally on years of patrol and SWAT experience and a strong record of incorporating the needs of the community into police operations.

Melekian has served as the acting Fire Chief and Interim City Manager for the City of Pasadena. He was Chairman of the California Attorney General’s Blue Ribbon Committee on SWAT Policy, and is the former President of the 2009 Los Angeles County and California Police Chiefs Associations. Mr. Melekian also served on the National Board of Directors of the Police Executive Research Forum.

Director Melekian holds a bachelor’s degree in American History and a master’s degree in Public Administration, both from California State University, Northridge, and is a doctoral candidate in Public Policy at the University of Southern California. He is a graduate of the 150th session of the FBI National Academy and the 20th class of the California Command College.

Director Melekian served in the United States Army from 1967 to 1970. As a member of the United States Coast Guard Reserve, he was called to active duty in 1991 during Operation Desert Storm and served in Saudi Arabia. Melekian served a second tour of active duty in 2003. He retired from the Coast Guard Reserves in 2009, after 28 years of service.

Rosslyn S. Kleeman Keeper of the Flame Award

Helen Chin Schlichte

Kwong Kow Chinese School Chair of the Board of Directors

Helen Chin Schlichte entered public service in 1949. She retired in 2003 from her position as Assistant to the Secretary for Administration and Finance in Massachusetts. During her service she served 13 Secretaries and 12 Governors.

Throughout her career, Schlichte served in leadership positions in many nonprofit organizations. In 2008, Schlichte, a former Kwong Kow Chinese School student, a 93 year old heritage language school, was invited to be volunteer chair of the Board where she works much of the business week.

Schlichte is the Immediate Past President of the South Cove Manor Nursing Home, and
vice-chair of the boards of directors of the United Way of Massachusetts Bay and
Merrimack Valley and the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. She is also a board
member of: the Boston Minuteman Council, Boy Scouts of America; the Boys and Girls
Club of Boston; the Bostonian Society; and the Boston Conference for Community and

Justice. She is a member of the Board of Visitors to the Museum of Fine Arts, Art of Asia, Oceania and Africa Department, and overseer of the Constitution Museum, the Museum of Science, and WGBH public television. Schlichte, past president of the Massachusetts Chapter of ASPA, has been a member of its national council and still serves on the Mode Scholarship Committee.

Her awards include: the Alex de Tocqueville Society Award given by the United Way of
Massachusetts Bay, elected by the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce to the
Academy of Distinguished Bostonians, was the recipient of the Massachusetts Women’s
Political Caucus Abigail Adams Award, the Women in Development Philanthropy Award,
the American Society for Public Administration Donald C. Stone Service to ASPA Award
and the Manuel Carballo Governor’s Award for Excellence in Public Service.

As one of the first Asian women to achieve prominence as a public administrator,
Schlichte has been an effective mentor and strong supporter of women aspiring to
careers in government. Schlichte gives credit to her parents for instilling her with a
commitment for service in the community.