JSC Center Director Ellen Ochoa Picks Up Yet Another External Job
Mutual of America Life Insurance Company Appoints Johnson Space Center Director Dr. Ellen Ochoa to its Board of Directors
“Mutual of America Life Insurance Company, which specializes in providing retirement products and related services to organizations and their employees, as well as individuals, announced the appointment of Dr. Ellen Ochoa to its Board of Directors. Mutual of America partnered with Korn Ferry’s Board and CEO Practice to conduct a national search, which resulted in Dr. Ochoa’s appointment.”
Ellen Ochoa Appointed to Dallas Fed Board
“The Federal Reserve Board of Governors has appointed Ellen Ochoa of Houston to the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas board of directors. She will fill an unexpired term ending Dec. 31, 2017, and will be eligible for appointment to a full three-year term on the board. Ochoa previously served as chair of the Bank’s Houston Branch board.”
JSC Center Director Ochoa Elected to Deathcare Product Company Board, earlier post
“Service Corporation International, the largest provider of deathcare products and services in North America, today announced that it will nominate Dr. Ellen Ochoa to be elected to the SCI Board of Directors at the Company’s Annual Meeting of Shareholders to be held in May 2015.”
Johnson Space Center’s director to serve on National Science Board
“Science has always had an advocate in Dr. Ellen Ochoa, director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center. Now, it is official, as Ochoa has been named the final member of the National Science Board’s (NSB’s) class of 2022.”
Keith’s note: That’s four companies/organizations for whom Ellen Ochoa serves on the board of directors while also serving as Center Director for NASA Johnson Space Center. If she has the time to do all of this external stuff perhaps she is not spending enough time on her day job. Why is it that the vast majority of NASA employees are not allowed to moonlight like this – but Ochoa is allowed to do so? Just sayin’.
Why is this even allowed?
This wouldn’t be allowed for a rank and file employee.
Really? Serving on a board doesn’t even count as part-time employment. My understanding is that rank and file employees would be able to serve on boards in the same way.
You have never served on a board of directors – I guess. You usually have a multi-hour/day long meeting once every quarter. Civil servants can serve on non-profit boards – only with approval – and only if it does not conflict with their government jobs are detract from their ability to do their job. As for serving on for-profit boards that is much more difficult to get approved – but it cannot detract from – or conflict with – your day job. She is on 4 boards. 4 meetings each (plus travel). Do the math. She’s spending several weeks a year not at work.
Maybe the boards should telecon.
Its good to be the King.
It is legal. Federal employees are now allowed to serve on the boards of not-for-profit organizations. http://www.nytimes.com/gwir… Mutual of America is of course a major commercial enterprise but technically it is a mutual organization and thus legally is a not-for-profit.
If she has all this time to do things other than her NASA job calls for then she is not doing the job she is being paid to do – at NASA.
While that’s a fun tagline, you haven’t provided evidence of such. Elon Musk can lead several companies simultaneously, Jared Kushner can run half the government – do we have reasons to believe that Ms. Ochoa isn’t running JSC well? Could attending a few board meetings a year really de-rail her center director focus?
Check the rules governing civil servants. Last time I checked Elon Musk was not a civil servant.
Which isn’t the point. But what is the point? That a civil servant shouldn’t be allowed to serve on non-profit boards? Because… why? Because her NASA job would suffer?
The example of Mr. Musk is exactly on point. Mr. Jobs, same, and while I don’t know this lady at all, I do know that Dr. Ochoa is a very capable individual.
As citizens, we are damn lucky to have her.
Serving on a few boards simply underscores her capability- oh, and it shows the NASA flag more widely.
We need more like her.
We don’t know how much time is involved in these other commitments. Although salaried workers are expected to work as many hours as required, legally civil servants are paid for 40 hours of work per week and free to do what they want when off duty. I’m a little more concerned about a commercial enterprise being treated as a nonprofit, although this is common in the healthcare and insurance industries. Of course that’s nothing compared to a 501c4 superpac being treated as a “social welfare” organization.
The only difference in a non-profit and a for-profit company is that there are no shareholders to get profit distributions. Non-profits can be just as cutthroat as a for-profit company.
Keith, I feel bad that no one is listening to you on this thread. You have it right! Priorities are askew at JSc and other centers. The truth be told, what do we need astronauts for? … were not going anywhere again. Time to deal with it, and drastically downsize the agency. The good times have passed.
Service Corporation of America is a NYSE-listed company, not a non-profit.
Things must be mighty slow at JSC. Maybe all the holes in the ceiling tiles have been counted.
Those are pretty external. But is this inherently different from a professor serving on the NASA Advisory Council, or being the PI of a flight project or even an entire mission? The time commitment could be a problem for any of these situations. But as long as the people involved aren’t billing their time to the wrong organization, are doing the work their primary employer contracted them to do and do all the disclosure and conflict of interest things, this isn’t illegal. But sometimes you do feel like asking if someone has and is doing all that.
Each board membership likely involves quarterly meetings and some travel. Do the math 4 boards – 4 meetings a year = 16 days – that’s 3 work weeks. How much annual leave does she have? How much time without pay? What is the overlap with her day job i.e what can she legally charge to NASA? Why is she doing these multiple board memberships while the vast majority of NASA employees do not?
Wrong question, Keith. Right question: why aren’t more of these terrifically talented people doing more outreach?
In fairness, though, you do frame some points that should be addressed, having to do with overlap and pay and the like. These are important issues to be sure but in the larger scheme can be worked out.
Well, that would be a good trick. Especially since someone of those meetings may involve travel and take more than one day. But I couldn’t say if they are quarterly or semiannual meetings. Given her job and seniority, I’d guess she gets more than 15 days per year vacation time. She might spend her Saturdays taking care of JSC reports and paperwork, or work long hours during the regular work week. Since the external jobs are clearly not related to JSC or NASA, she definitely can’t (legally) charge NASA. But, at least in theory, find the time without shorting NASA. But, as I said, it would be a good trick and eat up most of her free time.
She’s been with NASA for 26 years, so she clearly gets 8 hour annual leave per fortnightly pay period, or 26 days a year. If she’s like most senior employees at NASA who are married to their jobs, she probably doesn’t use it all, and SESers are allowed to carry over 90 days of annual leave. I’m willing to assume she’s doing int on her own time.
Don’t forget a day to travel there, a day to travel back, a day or more to prepare. Some can be done after hours or on weekends, of course.
I don’t know for sure but since she started with the government early in her career, long before becoming an astronaut, she might be getting 8 weeks a year of leave. Besides, thing are pretty slow at JSC. They are looking for things to ‘advertise’ like the new astronauts. Remember there are fewer US astronauts going into orbit in a year than used to be on a single Shuttle, so a lot less training going on. They are still building asteroid spacecraft, not sure what they’ll do with it. They still advertise a mission to Mars. That is not happening at least not in the next 50 years. NASAs street cred is down. We are waiting for Europeans to build that Service Module, and for other parts of NASA to finish SLS, and for other not-JSC entities to get Dragon, Star Liner, Dreamchaser, Cygnus, CUBESATS….there is a ‘new’ program to streamline getting ‘new’ payloads on ISS, but in the meantime payload action has been slowww. So, what do people think she needs to be doing? Besides the main job of the Center Director is mowing the grass. She has plenty of people working on that.