Director – Vacant (Acting Director is Douglas Pennington)
Deputy Director – Douglas A. Pennington
Douglas A. Pennington serves as Deputy Director for the Office of Workers' Compensation Programs (OWCP). In this role, he provides operational and financial oversight to the over 1,300 employees at the national office and across the country. Pennington brings more than 30 years of insurance and benefits leadership and management experience to OWCP. Previously, he served as the Deputy Director for the Division of Energy Employees Occupational Illness, one of the statutory divisions within OWCP. Prior to joining OWCP, he served in senior leadership positions at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) within the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). Pennington began his insurance management career working for over a decade in the private sector before he became a senior insurance regulator with the Washington State Office of the Insurance Commissioner. Pennington earned his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Legal Studies from Pacific Lutheran University, his Master’s in Public Administration from Arkansas State University, a Pre-Doctoral Executive Graduate Certificate in Public Administration from Liberty University, and holds the Certified Fraud Examiner, Certified Risk Manager, Certified Compliance Professional, Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter, and 14 other insurance, audit, and technology credentials/certifications. He is also a member of several insurance, auditing, and technology professional associations, including the Insurance Data Management Association (IDMA), the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (AFCE), the Insurance Regulatory Examiner’s Society (IRES), the Association of Insurance Compliance Professionals (AICP), the Society of Insurance Trainers and Educators (SITE), and the Association for Federal Enterprise Risk Management (AFERM).
Chief of Staff – Vacant
Policy Advisor – Christopher McGuinn
Chris McGuinn serves as the Policy Advisor for the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs. He has held several previous roles at DOL, including Special Assistant in the Office of the Secretary and at OWCP, where he previously worked on IT modernization and the opioid crisis. He has run large government contract teams, led procurement programs, and most recently, managed operations for outpatient addiction treatment programs. Chris has a degree in Government and Law from Lafayette College and certificates in Healthcare Management and Accounting from George Washington University and the University of Cape Town.
Information Technology Project Management Officer – Benjamin Taddeo
Benjamin Taddeo is OWCP Information Technology (IT) Project Management Office (PMO) Officer, overseeing all business aspects of IT for OWCP and its programs. These duties include assuring that existing legacy systems continue to meet business operations, adjudication, reporting, and payment needs until they are replaced through modernization. Mr. Taddeo also manages the effective development of all business systems requirements, business systems process reengineering, data cleanup and migration in support of the multi-year IT modernization occurring across all OWCP systems and programs. Mr. Taddeo began his federal career in 2008 within OWCP and has held several positions of increasing authority throughout his career, working for multiple divisions. Most recently, prior to joining the IT PMO, Mr. Taddeo held the position of DCMWC Branch Chief of Fiscal Operations and Technical Support, where Ben oversaw the concept development, design, testing, and implementation of artificial intelligence for standardized form entry recognition, as well as implementing visual data analytics and cloud data management. In addition, he was responsible for risk management as well as directing strategic planning for the purpose of identifying methods to improve IT and fiscal business operations, programs, and customer services. Mr. Taddeo received his undergraduate degrees from Malone University (BA in Pre-Law), Walsh University (BA in Finance) and a Juris Doctorate (JD) from Southern Illinois University School of Law.