Ronald Sanders

A Booz Allen Vice President and the firm’s first Booz Allen Hamilton Fellow, Dr. Ronald Sanders supports federal and other clients in the areas of human capital, learning, and organizational transformation. He joined the firm after completing 37 years of federal service; 20 of those years were in senior executive positions. Before coming to Booz Allen, Dr. Sanders served as the US Intelligence Community’s (IC) Associate Director of National Intelligence and first chief human capital officer, where he played a key role in the establishment of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) and the integration of the IC. He also served as the Office of Personnel Management’s (OPM) first Associate Director for Human Resource Policy, with responsibility for all civil service policies and programs for millions of federal employees and retirees. Among his achievements at OPM, he led the creation of the Senior Executive Service’s revolutionary pay-for-performance system. Prior to his OPM appointment, Dr. Sanders served as the first chief human resources officer for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), where he was honored for his leadership role in the Service’s landmark restructuring. Other executive positions include Director of Civilian Personnel for the Department of Defense (where he received the first of his three Presidential Rank awards), founding Director of the Defense Civilian Personnel Service, and Deputy Director of Civilian Personnel for the Department of the Air Force; in that latter capacity, he earned the Air Force’s prestigious General Robert J. Dixon Leadership Award—the first and only civilian to be so honored. A finalist for the Service to America Career Achievement Medal, Dr. Sanders is also the recipient of the National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal; three Presidential Rank Awards from three different agencies; two OPM Theodore Roosevelt Awards for Distinguished Public Service; and the American Society for Public Administration Award for Outstanding Career Service. He and his ODNI team also earned a coveted Harvard University Innovations in American Government award. In addition, Dr. Sanders taught and directed research centers at the George Washington University (GWU) and Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. He is an adjunct faculty member with the Brookings Institution Center for Public Policy Education, chairs its Executive Education Advisory Board, and sits on the board of the American Society for Training and Development. A Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration, Dr. Sanders earned his doctorate in public administration from GWU. He also holds an M.S. degree in human resource management from the University of Utah and a B.A. degree in business management from the University of South Florida. He attended MIT’s Sloan School of Management Senior Executive Program and completed a Congressional Fellowship with the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee.