Ex-OMB official is named exec VP

President Sheldon Hackney has recommended a finance and budget official during the Reagan and Bush administrations to be the University's next executive vice president. Janet Hale received Hackney's recommendation after a five-month search to name a new top financial officer. Before she assumes the position, Hale must be confirmed by the University Trustees at their March meeting. Hale has worked for the government for the past 12 years and, most recently, she was the Office of Management and Budget's associate director for economics and government. In that job -- which she held from 1989 until early this year -- Hale oversaw the finances for the federal departments of Treasury, Transportation, Commerce, Justice and 25 other smaller agencies, whose budgets total $70 billion. Campus officials said Hale's interpersonal skills made her stand out from the more than 20 candidates interviewed by Hackney during the search. "She's wonderful," Hackney said last night. "Her personality and style will work very well at Penn." Hackney said he was impressed with her energy and sense of humor. Hackney announced his decision for executive vice president last night to students during a McClelland Hall dinner he attended with residents of the Quadrangle's Butcher-Speakman-Class of '28 House. When she is confirmed next month -- as most expect will happen -- Hale will become the University's third consecutive female chief financial officer. She will follow Marna Whittington, who left the University in September to work at a private investment firm. Whittington succeeded Helen O'Bannon, who died of cancer. Vice President for Business Services Steven Murray, who was one of 13 administrators who interviewed potential candidates, said yesterday that he looks forward to working with Hale. "[Hale is a] very enthusiastic individual who seems to relate very well to people," he said. "That's what jumped out at me." Hackney said that if the appointment is confirmed, Hale will begin at the University in March. Linda Hyatt, acting executive director of the president's office, said that Hale's experience with the OMB will give her valuable insight for her new position, since the agency's goal is to do more with diminishing resources. She said Hale seems like a person "who could motivate people at a time when they are being told to do more with less."