If a Presidential Challenger wins an election, he or she has less than three months to assemble a high performance team to run the largest and most complex organization in the world. Congress has recognized the daunting challenge and appropriated funds to support pre-election transition planning. Long before the 2012 election, senior members of the Obama Administration and Obama Transition team quietly met with representatives of Team Romney to share their transition experiences. Americans would have been proud of the spirit of cooperation and concern for our nation by both camps in that secret meeting. Launched after this meeting was a major effort called Romney Ready to prepare in case of victory. We will hear from the leaders of Romney Ready and a member of the Obama Transition Team to learn about the enormous challenges. Historically, a large number of critical senior positions have remained unfilled after a year of newly elected Presidential Administrations. That would never happen in the private sector. Why does this happen and what changes can be made to help the next Administration (which will be newly elected) expedite the process?

      Invited Guests: 

• Secretary Mike Leavitt – ex- Governor Utah, HHS Secretary and Chairman Romney Ready (by Skype)

• Jim Quigley – Retired CEO - Deloitte, Touche & Tohmatsu Limited (DTTL) (the global network) and Director Romney Ready

• Liz Montoya – Chief of Staff, Office Personnel, Obama Administration, Spring 2014 IOP Fellow