“If you keep doing what you’ve always done, you’ll keep getting what you’ve always gotten.”
November 19, 2014
In additional to being a part of a line of outstanding operational leaders, Megan Brennan has known and worked with Pat Donahoe for much of her career. They both come from Pennsylvania and are both products of the Sloan Fellowship program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Here is her official USPS biography:
Megan J. Brennan was named Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President in December 2010. Brennan leads the continuous improvement of the entire postal network operation as well as the allocations of people and resources. She reports to the Postmaster General.
Brennan has responsibility for the day-to-day activities of 491,000 career employees working in more than 31,000 facilities supported by a fleet of over 200,000 vehicles. She is responsible for Post Offices, delivery and retail operations, facilities and the mail processing network. Reporting to Brennan are the vice presidents of Delivery and Post Office Operations, Facilities, Network Operations, Retail Channel Operations and the seven vice presidents of Area Operations.
Previously she was vice president of Eastern Area Operations. As the senior postal official she oversaw an area that encompassed Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Delaware, Kentucky, Central and South Jersey, Western New York and parts of Virginia and Indiana. Reporting to the deputy postmaster general and chief operating officer, she was responsible for postal operations, including processing and distribution, customer service and administrative operations.
A 27-year veteran of the Postal Service, Brennan served as vice president of Northeast Area Operations from May 2005 until being named vice president of Eastern Area Operations. Prior to that, she was manager of Operations Support for the Northeast Area. In this capacity, she was responsible for coordinating and integrating processing and distribution, transportation and delivery operations throughout the Northeast Area. Brennan also held the headquarters position of manager of Field Support and Integration, where she worked directly for the Chief Operating Officer.
Brennan joined the Postal Service in 1986 as a letter carrier in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and began her management career as a delivery and collection supervisor. She has in depth experience in both line management and support positions, having worked at the district, area and headquarters levels. She served as district manager, Springfield, Massachusetts, and plant manager for the Lehigh Valley and Reading, Pennsylvania, processing and distribution facilities.
Brennan is a graduate of Immaculata College in Pennsylvania. She is a Sloan Fellow and holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
In fact, they go way back. After starting as a letter carrier in Lancaster, PA, Megan Brennan worked for Pat Donahoe when he was Postmaster of Lancaster in the 1990s. And she joined his team in Washington when he took over as PMG in late 2010.
So it is very easy to anticipate that PMG Brennan will continue to hold up the USPS end of the bargain and deliver the best, most cost-effective service possible with all of the constraints and limitations that the USPS operates under as it struggles to adjust to much less First Class Mail and a great growth opportunity in the package delivery business. What are not yet clear is how well she will do, and how different her approach will be, in convincing Congress and the Administration to reform the law under which the Postal Service operates. Indeed, comprehensive reform legislation is the primary goal that Pat Donahoe has not been able to achieve in his four-year tenure. While Megan Brennan has a great track record, we hope that the USPS doesn’t succumb to the old saying:
“If you keep doing what you’ve always done, you’ll keep getting what you’ve always gotten.”
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