Leadership
Director – Reginald R. Mebane
Reginald R. Mebane, MS, is currently the director of the Office of Equal Employment Opportunity and Workplace Equity (OEEOWE). As director, Mr. Mebane is responsible for advising and counseling CDC’s Director on a variety of equal employment opportunity, diversity management, civil rights and human resources issues impacting the agency’s diverse workforce. He is also responsible for the design and direction of programs, policies and procedures based on rules, regulations, laws and Executive Orders governing equal opportunity, diversity management, civil rights, and human resources. He manages the development and implementation of CDC/ATSDR’s equal employment opportunity policies and procedures to effectively identify, correct and prevent systematic equal employment problems and resolve issues alleging class or institutional discrimination.
Mr. Mebane joined CDC in February 2005 as Chief Management Officer of CDC’s Coordinating Center for Infectious Diseases (CCID). In this role, he had direct authority for the management of the estimated $4.0B CCID budget which included business operations, human capital, information technology, grants, facilities, and administrative services for the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention; National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases; National Center for Preparedness, Detection, and Control of Infectious Diseases; and National Center for Zoonotic, Vector-Borne and Enteric Diseases. Under his leadership, CCID grew in size and scope to $7B, comprising over half the agency’s programs, assets, people and EEO activities.
Prior to working at CDC, Mr. Mebane spent over 23 years at FedEx. After starting his career with the company in 1981, Mr. Mebane was promoted from dock worker, to manager, to the Director of International Operations. In 2001, Mr. Mebane moved to Buffalo, New York, to become the Chief Operating Officer for a $2.0B company that FedEx acquired.
In addition to his management duties, Mr. Mebane was the corporate lead for Diversity training from 1995 to 1997 and became part of the Fed Ex Leadership Institute where he taught leadership and management practices to FedEx employees from all parts of the company, both nationally and internationally.
Outside of his work at FedEx, Mr. Mebane has served on the faculty of both the University of Memphis and the University of Buffalo. He also worked as a psychiatric case manager and psychotherapist in Memphis during the de-institutionalization of the mentally ill and served as a case manager for six years. As a result of this experience, he later became Chairman of the Memphis Health, Education & Housing Finance Board (1994-2001). The restructuring of this board under his chairmanship is his legacy to Memphis in making housing affordable for people of moderate income.
Since joining CDC, Mr. Mebane has been very active relative to Diversity as a member of the CDC Diversity Executive Steering Committee, the Management Board, and the Executive Leadership Board. Mr. Mebane also remains active in community service as a proud member of Leadership Atlanta.
Deputy Director – Linnet Griffiths
Linnet Griffiths is responsible for managing the daily activities of OEEOWE including business services, policy, and communications. She also oversees the Affirmative Employment Program and the Special Emphasis Program.
Prior to joining OEEOWE, Linnet served as the Associate Director for Policy, Performance and Communication in the Office of Safety, Security and Asset Management where she oversaw activities related to employee emergency preparedness, such as the emergency text message alert system. During her time at CDC, she has served as Senior Advisor to the Chief Financial Officer and the Associate Director for Policy in the Public Health Surveillance and Informatics Program Office in the Office of Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Laboratory Services. Linnet first joined CDC in 1998 in National Center for Environmental Health/Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (NCEH/ATSDR) as a policy specialist.
Before joining CDC, she worked as a budget analyst with the U.S. Census Bureau and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. She holds a bachelor’s degree in business and a master’s degree in business administration and management from Bowie State University in Maryland.