McGinn '73 Speaks at Summit
12 November 2009 McGinn 73 Speaks at Summit
HWS Trustee Gail H. McGinn 73, Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Plans, recently delivered the keynote address at a summit for military families, hosted by the Department of Defense at the University of Maryland. The event was covered by C-SPAN.
In her talk, McGinn described the summit as just what we need to help adjust our efforts to meet the most pressing needs of our military families after eight years of conflict. She went on to describe how support for military families has evolved, how, as McGinn said, Ive seen family support morph from a volunteer effort supporting the force built on the military draft to an institutionalized system for an all volunteer force.
In her duties, McGinn, who has reported to the Under Secretary of Defense since 2002, is responsible for developing integrated evaluation processes to measure the success of personnel programs. She provides advice and assistance to the Under Secretary on the management of military and civilian personnel programs affecting more than 2 million service members and employees; oversees the development of strategic plans for human resources; and directs involvement with oversight and consultant boards to achieve human resource goals.
Since April, McGinn has been performing the duties of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness and in that capacity has been a senior policy adviser on recruitment, career development, pay and benefits, and oversees the state of military readiness.
With a B.A. in psychology, magna cum laude, from William Smith, McGinn was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. At HWS, she was a member of the William Smith judicial board, the Echo & Pine yearbook and the Deans List. She completed graduate study with a masters degree in education from Boston University.
To watch her address at the Summit, click here. For more information, visit her biography page at the Department of Defense.