Mary Beth Lepore

Ms. Lepore joined the U.S. Forest Service in September 2012 as the senior executive director for national Human Resources (HR) services for a workforce of 40,000 employees, including over 12,000 annual seasonal hires.  She has led major changes in HR systems and tools, guided data-driven hiring process improvements, reorganized HRM to operate within budget, and championed integrated planning and shared ownership of workforce management programs between agency leaders and HR support staff.

From 2010-2012, Ms. Lepore served as the Chief, Strategic Human Capital Planning Division, Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Civilian Personnel Policy.  She led workforce planning initiatives covering nearly 800,000 civilian employees in the Department of Defense (DoD).  She was responsible for developing workforce planning and competency management policies, programs, and tools to support national security requirements and effectively manage, shape and improve the DoD workforce.

Prior to this assignment, Ms. Lepore served 17 years with the Department of the Navy (DON), most recently as Associate Director, Human Resources Operations and Customer Engagement Department, Office of Civilian Human Resources, in Washington D.C.  In this capacity, she provided oversight for the DON’s regional Human Resources Service Centers providing centralized HR services for 200,000 employees and led the transfer of work and closure of two overseas regional offices. 

From 2004-2006, Ms. Lepore led the Navy’s human resources assessment program and initiated a web-based Strategic HR Dashboard tool for workforce data assessment.  In September 2005, Ms. Lepore was appointed as the civilian workforce advocate on Task Force Navy Family, leading recovery efforts for over 4000 employees and their families who were impacted by the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.  Using lessons learned from the Task Force, Ms. Lepore was the functional leader for development of the Personnel Assessment and Accountability System, now used across the federal government to track and support personnel during emergency operations.

From 1999-2003, Ms. Lepore served overseas at the Human Resources Service Center Europe located in London, England, where she directed two departments providing HR systems, staffing, classification, processing, and benefits services for U.S. Forces units in Europe and the Middle East.  She also served as a labor and employee relations specialist, successfully representing the Navy in third-party litigation, and has 12 years of human resources experience with the U.S. Air Force.

Ms. Lepore holds a Bachelor degree in Social Science from Florida State University and a Master of Science in Human Resources Management from Troy State University.  She has received several honorary awards including two Meritorious Civilian Service Awards from Department of the Navy and the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Civilian Service.