U.S. General Services Administration
Administrator Murphy Hosts First Tele Town Hall
Administrator Emily Murphy held GSA’s first ever TeleTown Hall with the Greater Southwest Region. Because of social distancing across most of the nation in response to COVID-19, GSA needed to be creative and resourceful in choosing a new approach for the Administrator to communicate with the employees across the nation. It was determined that Google Hangouts was the most effective option for the environment we wanted to create and it proved successful. Google Hangouts and other GSA IT tools have been critical to GSA in maintaining operations in support of our mission and goals in light of recent events.
Acting Regional Administrator and PBS Commissioner Giancarlo (GC) Brizzi started the meeting summarizing accomplishments of the region in response to COVID-19, how we are working in a virtual environment and PBS specific challenges and solutions. George Prochoska, FAS Regional Commissioner, followed with their successes including the delivery of medical equipment to first responders, including N95 masks, and creative approaches he is using to stay connected with his employees like coffee chats as well as group and personal challenges during this time.
Administrator Murphy followed by summarizing the general status of GSA operations including our collaboration with the White House, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Center for Disease Control (CDC) regarding employees, building status, agency notifications, testing and cleaning. She also recognized many Region 7 successes before taking questions from the virtual audience with Deputy Administrator Allison Brigati.
While being selected for Administrator Emily Murphy’s first ever TeleTown Hall was an honor for the Greater Southwest Region, it also created the need for quick communication and coordination across many organizational lines to ensure the nationwide series started out well. Special thanks goes out to the Office of Strategic Communication, Office of Information Technology, Office of Administrative Services and GSA Leadership for the cooperation and collaboration that contributed to the success of the first in this nationwide TeleTown Hall series.