U.S. General Services Administration
GSA’s Patty Pelikan set to become STL FEB chair
GSA’s St. Louis East Field Office Director Patty Pelikan is set to take over as chair of the Greater St. Louis Federal Executive Board next month.
Pelikan has been an active member and GSA representative on the FEB since 2012. She served in an FEB executive role for the past two years — first as second vice chair in 2020 and then as first vice chair 2021. She was to assume the chair role in January 2022 but will take over sooner following the departure of Scott Air Force Base 375th Mission Support Group Deputy Director John Ahern. Ahern, the current chair of the FEB, relocated away from the St. Louis area.
“I’ve been active in the St. Louis FEB since I first became the field office director,” Pelikan said. “It provides a great opportunity to work with other agencies and provide meaningful opportunities for all federal employees.”
As chair, Pelikan said she will do what she can to help support the federal community as whole during this time of “changing paradigms” brought on by the pandemic.
“Even as chair I feel like I’m a member of the team and the bigger network,” she said. “What I like about the position I’m going into is that I get to support others as they have supported me during my career. My priorities are driven by what our agencies need for support, which is how it should be. This is a critical time. We’ll work to make sure our training programs continue to be valuable, coordinate activities that are beneficial to all agencies, and keep sharing information.”
St. Louis is home to a number of federal agency district and field offices. There are also many unique federal operations in the St. Louis area including the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, Defense Contract Management Agency Boeing St. Louis operations, the 375th Air Mobility Wing at Scott Air Force Base, U.S. Coast Guard's Sector Upper Mississippi River, the National Personnel Record Center and National Archives at St. Louis, a national IRS taxpayer assistance center, and USDA's Rural Development customer service center.
“I feel like the FEB is key to highlighting all the efforts of the St. Louis federal community,” Pelikan said. “We have regional, district, field, and some nationally based offices, and there is a lot of leadership within the agencies here in St. Louis.”
She also noted the importance of GSA being active in the FEB, saying it is a great resource for hearing from other agencies about operational concerns.
“It gives us another view and awareness of what is coming from other agencies that we wouldn’t always get from a building management capacity,” she said.
The St. Louis FEB:
- Provides leadership training above and beyond what’s offered in each participating agency.
- Coordinates interagency emergency preparedness activities.
- Coordinates the annual Combined Federal Campaign and Feds Feed Families campaigns for area workers.
- Coordinates the President Management%u2019s Council interagency rotation program.
- Manages an alternative dispute resolution and shared neutrals program.
- Offers safety and health programs.
- Operates a workforce diversity council.
- Recognizes employee performance through the Excellence in Government awards program.
About Pelikan
Pelikan joined GSA through a co-op program in 1992 while in college. She then spent two years in an internship rotation as a building manager in GSA’s Federal Center Field Office (now part of the St. Louis West Field Office). She accepted a job as a regional account manager in 2006 and worked remotely from St. Louis while reporting directly to the regional office. She returned to building management in 2009 as a St. Louis West Field Office senior building manager; then was ultimately promoted to director of the St. Louis East Field Office in 2012.
“There were times in my career I debated moving to Kansas City and working in the regional office, but I didn’t want to leave St. Louis in factoring all life decisions,” she said. “Working in a field office is very rewarding but isn’t easy. It is challenging as we are trying to balance a lot of things at all times. My focus is to support our team the best I can. I’m fortunate to work for a wonderful field office.”