The Office of Organizational Excellence has a primary mission to provide support to the National Weather Service (NWS) Assistant Administrator and Deputy Assistant Administrator on the development and strategy to implement large-scale, significant changes to the organizational structure, infrastructure, or operations of the NWS. The Office is responsible for managing a framework for change which enables and facilitates continuous evolution of the NWS and to help build a Weather-Ready Nation.  

Peyton Robertson is the Acting Director of the Office of Organizational Excellence.  He has worked with NOAA for 25 years and brings to NWS a wealth of experience with partnerships, sustaining relationships and strategic program planning. Peyton previously served as the Director of NOAA's Chesapeake Bay Office.  He served as NOAA’s North Atlantic Regional Team lead and led the Service Assessment for Hurricane/Post Tropical Cyclone Sandy. Peyton has a keen interest in organizational excellence and has developed tools and techniques for sustaining a high level of performance and cultural health. Peyton holds a bachelors in Environmental Science and a masters in Urban and Environmental Planning from the University of Virginia.  He also has a certificate in Executive Leadership Coaching from Georgetown University’s Institute for Transformational Leadership.

 

John Ten Hoeve is the Deputy Director of the Office of Organizational Excellence.  While at the NWS, John has been a key member of several efforts to evolve the NWS, including the reorganization of NWS Headquarters and the Operations and Workforce Analysis developing recommendations for the future organizational structure and operating model of the NWS.  John was also a lead author of a new NWS Governance in 2015 that describes the roles, responsibilities, and decision-making authorities of offices and councils at the NWS.  John joined the Federal Government in 2012 as a Presidential Management Fellow.   Prior to working at the NWS, John served as a NOAA Program Examiner in the Office of Management and Budget and as a data scientist in the Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) Program Office in the National Ocean Service.  John holds a B.S. in Meteorology from Penn State and a M.S. and Ph.D from Stanford University in Civil and Environmental Engineering.  John has also authored over a dozen peer reviewed publications on topics ranging from aerosol-cloud-climate interactions to renewable and nuclear energy.

Andrea Bleistein is the Engagement Lead in NWS’s Office of Organizational Excellence, supporting activities enabling NWS to become the agile and effective organization needed to build a Weather-Ready Nation (WRN). Andrea has more than 13 years of federal service within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) beginning as a NWS student intern while she was enrolled at Penn State. Andrea worked in satellite operations with NOAA’s National Environmental Satellite Data Information Service and transitioned into the private sector supporting the Nation’s satellite service needs, specifically GOES-16. Bleistein returned to NOAA in 2008 and has since taken advantage of many opportunities focusing her interest on the mission of the NWS. Some of these opportunities have included working in NOAA's External Affairs office during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill; serving as policy advisor to Dr. Kathryn Sullivan, Assistant Secretary for Environmental Observation and Prediction; serving as deputy team lead for the development of the Weather-Ready Nation Roadmap; leading the NWS Headquarters Budget Restructure and Reorganization project; leading a field team on Impact-Based Decision Support Services; and currently leading external engagement activities for NWS leadership.  Andrea also serves as AMS Council member and liaison to the AMS Executive Committee and has a B.S. in Meteorology from Penn State and a M.S. Degree in Science and Technology Studies from Virginia Tech.