ABOUT OP&DSD
Regina F. Meiners
Regina F. Meiners currently serves as the Director for the Organizational Policy & Decision Support Directorate (OP&DSD) in the Office of the Chief Management Officer. In that capacity, she advises the Chief Management Officer, the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense, and other senior leaders on a broad range of DoD organizational, management, and governance matters. Mrs. Meiners provides the full spectrum of advice and assistance on planning and implementing Secretary of Defense-directed and Congressionally-mandated reform initiatives aimed at improving the effectiveness and efficiency of DoD organization, structure, and functions; the development and integration of organizational policy; and the tracking and reporting of DoD-wide strategic initiatives. In May 2014, Mrs. Meiners was charged by the Deputy Secretary of Defense to lead the stand-up and operation of the “engine room” in support of senior Departmental governance, with the goal of facilitating, promoting, and integrating the required decision support to the Deputy’s Management Action Group and the Defense Executive Committee.
Mrs. Meiners has functioned as a key advisor on a number of strategic studies and analyses, including, among others, the OSD Organizational Review directed by Secretary Hagel in 2013 and the Efficiency Initiatives directed by Secretary Gates in 2010. In the latter capacity, she served as a primary organizational and management advisor to Secretary Gates’ Efficiencies Task Force and as co-lead for an associated efficiencies study on Reports, Studies, Boards, and Commissions. Previously, and concurrent with her appointment as the Director for Organizational and Management Planning (O&MP), the legacy organization that preceded OP&DSD, Mrs. Meiners served as the Acting Deputy Director of Administration and Management from June 2008 – April 2010.
Prior to her appointment as the Director for OP&DSD (formally known as O&MP) in 2003, she served as the Special Assistant for Executive Headquarters Reform and Modernization, providing advice on an array of Defense transformation efforts to quicken the pace of improved business operations and infrastructure modernization. Separately, she provided organizational and management advice and expertise on reshaping Intelligence, Homeland Defense, and Force Protection structures and functions for the Department in the wake of 9/11. Prior to that, she served as a senior management analyst, conducting studies and analyses to review and optimize functional, organizational, and managerial arrangements to improve the development, oversight, and execution of OSD/DoD-wide policies, plans, and programs.
Mrs. Meiners earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Maryland and a Master in Public Administration from California State University-Long Beach. She is a Presidential Meritorious Executive Rank Award recipient, a graduate of the Federal Executive Institute, and a former Presidential Management Intern, where she began her civilian career with the Department of the Army.