Janice Rachel Lachance

Janice Lachance was the Executive Vice President for Strategic Leadership and Global Outreach at the American Geophysical Union (AGU), a scientific society supporting more than 130,000 Earth and space scientists in 140 countries. Her work at AGU includes the renovation of the organization’s headquarters into a net-zero energy consumption building – the first renovation of its kind in Washington, D.C. Beyond this innovative project, Janice’s duties include: leadership of AGU’s global partnerships and initiatives; positioning and message development across the range of climate, environmental, and science policy issues, discoveries, and solutions; and global government relations and public policy, membership and career services, and association governance.

Prior to her work in the nonprofit sector, Lachance was nominated by President Clinton and unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve as the Director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), where she was responsible for policy and programmatic leadership of the nation’s 2.1-million-member civil service. Leading up to this role, she served as OPM’s Director of Communications, Chief of Staff, and Deputy Director. Janice received the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA) 2020 Elmer B. Staats Lifetime Achievement Award. She is a member of ASPA’s Endowment Board and was its president in 2017-2018. She also has been named a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration and the American Society of Association Executives. Born and raised in Biddeford, Maine, and the first in her extended family to attend college, Lachance graduated from Manhattanville College and earned her law degree from Tulane University.