Postmaster General Jack Potter today announced appointments to key leadership positions. Joseph Corbett has been named chief financial officer and executive vice president. Susan Plonkey has been named vice president, Sales.Corbett has more than 25 years of accounting, finance and consulting experience. Most recently, Corbett was president and managing director of FinSol, a finance and accounting consulting business he founded in 2005. He also has served as senior manager at KPMG, where he began his professional career; director of internal audit at NVR; controller, chief accounting officer and chief financial officer at Intelstat, Ltd. and chief accounting officer and chief financial officer at BearingPoint.
Corbett begins his new duties on Feb. 2.
“I am extremely pleased that Joe is bringing his knowledge and skills to our organization,” Potter said. “The severity of the current economic downturn has profoundly challenged the Postal Service. Joe’s depth of experience and particular expertise in guiding the financial activities of large and complex organizations through times of change, make him ideally suited for this position.”
Corbett replaces H. Glen Walker, whose leadership was instrumental in aligning financial systems with the complex requirements of the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006, Potter said.
“I am grateful for Glen’s accomplishments,” he said. “Glen’s efforts significantly enhanced our financial transparency with a transition to SEC-like financial reporting and implementation of provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.”
Walker will work closely with Corbett to ensure an orderly transition of responsibilities.
The current economic climate is one reason the Postal Service is moving forward with one, integrated sales and service team. The Sales team now will include the Business Service Network, Business Development Teams and the analytical support provided by the Customer Relationship Management unit.
Integrating all revenue-generating departments within the Postal Service will allow the organization to focus on serving the needs of our customers in order to grow the business. Susan Plonkey will head this effort.
Plonkey helped create Business Development Teams, cross-functional business units with customer service as its primary driver. The teams are an example of a new way of looking at customer support and revenue generation and represent the first step toward the new sales function.
“As we examined our commercial activities, we saw the opportunity to increase our efficiency and effectiveness by combining separate sales and service functions into a single unit,” Potter said.
Plonkey’s experience includes positions as Postmaster, plant manager and district manager in offices, including Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth and Oklahoma City. Immediately preceding her appointment she served as vice president, Business Customer Relations.
Plonkey will report to Bob Bernstock, president, Mailing and Shipping Services. She replaces Jerry Whalen, who will join the Global Business group as executive director, International Sales. Potter said Whalen’s background and sales experience will help further drive the fastest-growing segment of our company, the International group.