John U. Sepúlveda
Assistant Secretary for Human Resources and Administration
John U. Sepúlveda was nominated by President Obama to serve as the Assistant Secretary for Human Resources and Administration for the Department of Veterans Affairs, unanimously confirmed by the Senate, and sworn in by the Secretary of VA, Eric K. Shinseki, on May 20, 2009.
As Assistant Secretary and VA's Chief Human Capital Officer, Mr. Sepúlveda serves as principal advisor to the Secretary, his executive staff, and the Department's human resources managers and practitioners on matters pertaining to human resources; labor-management relations; diversity management and inclusion; equal employment opportunity; resolution management; employee health and safety; workers' compensation; and VA Central Office administration.
Currently, Mr. Sepúlveda plays a leading role in Secretary Shinseki's efforts to transform VA into a 21st-century organization. He oversees VA's unprecedented employee-focused initiative called ADVANCE, which provides a corporate approach to strategic human capital management, to effectively advance VA's transformation.
In 2010, Mr. Sepúlveda was named Chief Human Capital Officer (CHCO) of the year by the CHCO Council for his contributions on Veteran's Employment working groups, which have helped to make significant strides in the overall hiring of veterans in the federal government, and his work leading a Hiring Reform working group focused on the speed of hiring and improving applicant experience.
As Assistant Secretary, Mr. Sepúlveda serves on the Federal Advisory Council on Occupational Health, advising the Secretary of Labor on occupational safety and health matters for Federal employees; and, co-chairs the inter-agency Hispanic Employment Advisory Council, advising the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) on the recruitment, hiring, and advancement of Hispanics in the Federal workforce.
Mr. Sepúlveda brings over 25 years of experience as an innovative leader in the public and private sectors. As Deputy Director of OPM during the Clinton Administration, Mr. Sepúlveda led various initiatives to promote greater diversity throughout the U.S. Government. While at OPM, he served on several diversity and leadership councils. He recently served on the Obama-Biden Presidential Transition Team as an advisor to the OPM agency review team.
Before joining OPM, Mr. Sepúlveda successfully managed a $5 billion portfolio of federally-insured hospital mortgages at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. He also led efforts to restructure and reengineer several major programs within the Federal Housing Administration. From 1996-1997, he worked at the White House in the Office of Presidential Personnel.
Since 2004, Mr. Sepúlveda has served on a special panel advising the Director of National Intelligence and various intelligence agencies on human capital and diversity policy issues. For the past several years, he worked as a senior executive in the housing finance industry.
A native of New York City, Mr. Sepúlveda came to Washington, D.C., in 1993, and held various local and state executive and appointed positions in Connecticut. Early in his career, he taught political science at Hunter College and Yale University. Mr. Sepúlveda holds two Masters Degrees from Yale University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Hunter College.
