John E. "Jack" Potter (born 1956) is the president and CEO of the

Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) is an independent airport authority, created with the consent of the United States Congress to oversee management, operations, and capital development of the two major airports serving the U. ...

since July 18, 2011. He is the former

United States Postmaster General The United States Postmaster General (PMG) is the chief executive officer of the United States Postal Service (USPS). The PMG is responsible for managing and directing the day-to-day operations of the agency. The PMG is selected and appointed by ...

and CEO of the

United States Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the ...

(USPS), having become the 72nd postmaster general on June 1, 2001. Potter is the second longest-serving postmaster general, following

Gideon Granger Gideon Granger (July 19, 1767 – December 31, 1822) was an early American politician and lawyer. He was the father of fellow Postmaster General and U.S. Representative Francis Granger. Early life Granger was born in Suffield, Connecticut ...

Early postal career

Potter's father, Richard, was a

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

letter carrier who later became a senior executive of the postal service. After graduating from Cardinal Spellman High School in

the Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New ...

a year behind

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

Justice

Sonia Sotomayor Sonia Maria Sotomayor (, ; born June 25, 1954) is an American lawyer and jurist who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. She was nominated by President Barack Obama on May 26, 2009, and has served since ...

, Potter attended

Fordham University Fordham University () is a private Jesuit research university in New York City. Established in 1841 and named after the Fordham neighborhood of the Bronx in which its original campus is located, Fordham is the oldest Catholic and Jesuit un ...

. He joined the postal service in 1978 as a distribution clerk in Westchester keying ZIP codes into sorting machines. After eight years in New York, including a three-year analyst's stint at 50th Street and Broadway, Potter rose rapidly through the hierarchy, establishing himself as an

automation Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes, namely by predetermining decision criteria, subprocess relationships, and related actions, as well as embodying those predeterminations in machines ...

expert.

USPS Transformation Plan

In April 2002, Potter submitted the ''USPS Transformation Plan'' to Congress in response to the many challenges the Postal Service faced, such as new uses of technology. These challenges threatened the financial and commercial viability of the Postal Service. The ''Transformation Plan'' laid out short- and long-term options for change and was partial basis for the landmark ''Postal Reform And Accountability Act'' (H.R. 6407) in late 2006—the first postal reform since the ''Postal Reorganization Act'' of 1970.

Six-day delivery

On January 28, 2009, Potter testified before the Senate that if the Postal Service is not able to readjust their payment toward the pre-funding of retiree health benefits, as mandated by the

Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA) is a United States federal statute enacted by the 109th United States Congress and signed into law by President George W. Bush on December 20, 2006. The bill was introduced in the United Sta ...

of 2006, the USPS would be forced to consider cutting delivery to five days per week during the summer months of June, July, and August. H.R. 22, addressing this issue, passed the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

and Senate and was signed into law on September 30, 2009. However, PMG Potter has unveiled a plan to eliminate Saturday mail delivery. The universal service obligation and six day delivery are upheld by Congressional language within Appropriations legislation, so a reduction in service would require action from the House and Senate. Chairman José Serrano ( D- NY), of the House Appropriations subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government (which oversees language mandating six day service), said "While I understand the seriousness of the Postal Service's fiscal issues, I remain supportive of a six-day delivery schedule. I will be in conversations in coming weeks with the senior postal leadership and the postal unions in an effort to avoid service cuts." On April 15, 2010, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held a hearing to examine the status of the Postal Service and recent reports on short- and long-term strategies for the financial viability and stability of the USPS entitled "Continuing to Deliver: An Examination of the Postal Service's Current Financial Crisis and its Future Viability". At which, PMG Potter testified that by the year 2020, the USPS cumulative losses could exceed $238 billion, and that mail volume could drop 15% from 2009.

Retirement

On September 30, the Postal Regulatory Commission unanimously voted to deny Potter's rate hike proposal that would force rates for periodicals mailers up eight percent and raise First-Class mail stamps to 46 cents. On October 26, 2010, Potter announced his retirement to the Postal Service Board of Governors, which oversees the post office, effective December 3, 2010. Potter's deputy, Patrick R. Donahoe, succeeded him as head of the Postal Service. Donahoe echoed his predecessor's views on five-day delivery when he assumed office in December 2010. On February 6, 2013, Donahoe announced that the Postal Service would implement five-day mail delivery beginning August 5, a move he claimed would save $2 billion annually. Later the same day, the national board of the National Rural Letter Carriers' Association voted unanimously to call for his dismissal. July 16, the House passed the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations bill, which included language protecting six‐day mail delivery, thereby blocking Donahoe's plan.

President & CEO of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority

On June 22, 2011, the board of directors of the

selected Potter to be the president and CEO of the Airports Authority. He joined the Authority on July 18, 2011.

References

External links

* http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,452989,00.html *
Biography
at US Postal Service website

at the International Directory of Business Biographies {{DEFAULTSORT:Potter, John E. 1956 births Fordham University alumni Living people MIT Sloan School of Management alumni United States Postmasters General People from the Bronx New York (state) Republicans George W. Bush administration personnel Cardinal Spellman High School (New York City) alumni Obama administration personnel