NASA CFO Jeff DeWit Is Leaving NASA
To my wonderful NASA coworkers and colleagues whom I will miss so much,
As you may have already heard, I’m leaving my position as CFO of NASA, and my last day in the office will be this Thursday, February 13th. Many of you know that it is been a sacrifice for my family as they are in Arizona, and I have only been commuting back about one weekend of every three on average. During busy times in OCFO I have sometimes gone for over five weeks without seeing them. I have been in talks to head home since December, but made a commitment to stay here through the budget rollout, which we just accomplished very successfully. Know that my decision to leave NASA and over five years of public service (counting my previous 3+ years as State Treasurer of Arizona) and rejoin the private business world in Arizona was not an easy one as I absolutely love NASA, and it involved many hours of thoughtful consideration and discussions with my family who also adore NASA. There aren’t many days that go by without my daughters wearing NASA shirts.
It has been the honor of a lifetime to serve as the Chief Financial Officer of NASA, especially during a time when we have been tasked to go further and faster than ever before. I can hardly describe how wonderful this job is, how many great people I have met here, and how much I love and will miss NASA. The dedication of everyone here towards the mission is inspiring, and the people here are what I will miss the most.
In my almost two years as CFO, my team and I have worked long hours to usher in efficiencies and changes which enable NASA to better accomplish all of our missions while protecting taxpayer dollars. Specifically, during my first year we proactively coordinated the development of a new Corrective Action Plan (CAP), comprised of seven specific initiatives which were immediately implemented to improve the cost and schedule performance of NASA, which was the first new CAP to be put in place since the original CAP was established back in 2007. GAO’s latest High Risk List report (March 2019) recognized this new CAP as a critical component of future improvement in the NASA’s programmatic policies and practices.
We successfully oversaw the May 2019 budget amendment process, which secured the initial footing for the Artemis program that will send the first American woman to the surface of the Moon. In support of the FY 2021 President’s Budget Request my office published the 2021 Congressional Justification which contained therein will represent the largest budget increase the Agency has received since the days of Apollo. My office has greatly improved the content, layout, and accessibility of NASA’s external performance and accounting reports, such as its annual Volume of Integrated Performance (GPRAMA), and its annual Agency Financial Report (OMB Circular A-123). We have also overseen two more years of clean audits (8 years in total), which comes on the heels of the three years of perfect audits when I was State Treasurer.
Please know that I will always do what I can to help all of you, NASA, and America be successful. I have immense gratitude to you for the dedication, kindness and hard work of everyone here. Being here shows why NASA keeps winning the best place to work in Government award, and it is because of all of you.
Thank you,
Jeff
