President George Bush has appointed Gwendolyn Brown as NASA's new Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Brown's nomination was confirmed by the United States Senate.

"This is a critical position for the agency and I want to thank the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Senator John McCain, for expediting this confirmation," said Administrator O'Keefe. "I'm excited for Gwen and I deeply appreciate Senator Ted Stevens' work in making this confirmation a priority."

The NASA CFO provides professional leadership for the planning, analysis, justification, control and reporting of all NASA fiscal resources, and for agency strategic management and planning, and performance measurement. Before her nomination in July, Brown served as NASA's Deputy Chief Financial Officer for Financial Management.

Prior to joining NASA, she was a senior Program Analyst with the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller), Directorate for Program and Financial Control, at the Pentagon. Brown was instrumental in instituting streamlined reporting requirements and developing electronic management reports, which significantly reduced the amount of required hard-copy accounting data.

Brown began her Defense Department career as a Management Analyst in 1992, where she helped plan, develop and institute modern business and accounting practices. She joined the Pentagon's financial team after serving on the U.S. Senate staff for Senator Ted Stevens, R-Alaska. Brown started her public service career as a manager and auditor for the Defense Contract Audit Agency, Silver Spring, Md., in 1987.

A native of Anchorage, Alaska, she has a bachelor's degree in Accounting from The Catholic University of America and a master's degree in Public Administration from American University, both in Washington, and she has been honored for her outstanding performance throughout her career.