Megan Jane Brennan served as the seventy-fourth

Postmaster General of the United States 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 ...

. Brennan became the first woman to hold the office when she assumed the position on February 1, 2015.

Early life and education

A native of

Pottsville, Pennsylvania Pottsville is the county seat of Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 13,346 at the 2020 census, and is the principal city of the Pottsville, PA Micropolitan Statistical Area. The city lies along the west bank of th ...

, Brennan was one of seven children and attended Nativity BVM High School there, where she played softball and basketball and was on the 1978 state championship basketball team. After graduating in 1980, she attended Immaculata College near

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

, graduating in 1984 with a B.A. in history. Brennan is of

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descent. Brennan earned an

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from the

MIT Sloan School of Management The MIT Sloan School of Management (MIT Sloan or Sloan) is the business school of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT Sloan offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degree programs, ...

in 2003.

Career

She began her career with the

U.S. 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 U. ...

(USPS) in 1986 as a

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in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She subsequently worked as a delivery and collection supervisor, a processing plant manager in

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and the

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in Pennsylvania, and a district manager in Springfield, Massachusetts. Brennan stepped away from the USPS for a year to study as a Sloan Fellow at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

. Following that hiatus, she served as manager of field support and integration and manager of operations support for the Northeast area. In May 2005 she was named vice president for the Northeast area, where she coordinated and integrated processing and distribution, transportation and delivery operations in that region. Brennan was then named vice president of Eastern Area Operations, putting her in charge of postal operations in the states of Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Delaware, Kentucky, Central and South Jersey,

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and parts of Virginia and Indiana. In December 2010, she was named

chief operating officer A chief operating officer or chief operations officer, also called a COO, is one of the highest-ranking executive positions in an organization, composing part of the " C-suite". The COO is usually the second-in-command at the firm, especially if ...

and executive vice president of the USPS. In 2012, she began shutting down mail-handling facilities because of budget cuts brought on by less mail and congressionally-mandated pension-funding rules. On November 14, 2014, the U.S. Postal Service's Board of Governors voted to appoint Brennan postmaster general to succeed

Patrick R. Donahoe Patrick R. Donahoe was the 73rd United States Postmaster General, having been appointed to the post on October 25, 2010. A 35-year veteran of the United States Postal Service, Postal Service, he reported to the Postal Service Board of Governors. ...

, who was set to retire in February 2015. In May 2018, the ''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large na ...

'' reported that President

Trump Trump most commonly refers to: * Donald Trump (born 1946), 45th president of the United States (2017–2021) * Trump (card games), any playing card given an ad-hoc high rank Trump may also refer to: Businesses and organizations * Donald J. T ...

personally pushed her to double the rates on

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...

and other firms. On October 16, 2019, Brennan announced in a statement that she would be retiring upon fulfilling her five-year commitment as Postmaster General. However, on January 6, her retirement was delayed until a successor could be found.

Family

One of Brennan's brothers worked in their hometown Pottsville post office until he died in 2013.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Brennan, Megan J. 1960s births Immaculata University alumni Living people MIT Sloan School of Management alumni People from Pottsville, Pennsylvania United States Postmasters General Obama administration personnel Trump administration personnel Date of birth missing (living people)