Last November, Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe announced that he is retiring effective February 1, 2015, after serving the Postal Service for more than 39 years.  Although the NPMHU had some major differences with PMG Donahoe during the last few years, especially with regard to his efforts to downsize the Postal Service as a means of reducing costs, the NPMHU offers its sincere wishes to the PMG for a well-deserved retirement.  Donahoe was an honorable partner in collective bargaining, both as PMG and during his prior service as Chief Operating Officer.  Almost forty years after starting as an entry-level employee in Pittsburgh, PA, PMG Donahoe deserves our thanks and congratulations for his many years of service.

The USPS Board of Governors reacted immediately, naming Megan J. Brennan, the USPS Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President for the past four years, as the Postal Service’s first female Postmaster General.  PMG-designate Brennan also is a life-long USPS employee, beginning her service as a letter carrier in 1986.

For the past four years, Brennan has had responsibility for the day-to-day activities of almost 500,000 career employees working in more than 31,000 facilities.  Before this most recent assignment, Brennan served as both Vice President of Eastern Area Operations, overseeing an area that encompassed Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Delaware, Kentucky, Central and South Jersey, Western New York and parts of Virginia and Indiana, and before that as Vice President and Manager of Operations Support for the Northeast Area.

The PMG-designate is a graduate of Immaculata College in Pennsylvania, and is a Sloan Fellow who holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

National President Hegarty offered his congratulations to the new Postmaster General, noting the historical significance of her appointment, and expressing hope for a productive relationship aimed at continuing “the invaluable contributions made by the Postal Service and its employees to the American public,” and maintaining the Postal Service’s status as a uniquely American institution.