WASHINGTON - The IRS Commissioner has selected Robert Buggs as the Chief Human Capital Officer and Jim Falcone as the new Chief, Agency-Wide Shared Services.

�Robert and Jim are strong additions to the IRS leadership team,� said IRS Commissioner Mark W. Everson. �Robert has been a highly effective leader of human capital programs and services, and Jim has a firm understanding of tax administration operations and business priorities.�

Buggs is a senior executive with more than 25 years of experience in human resources management, with about 16 of these years within IRS. Since joining the IRS, he has held a variety of human resources and policy positions, working in areas ranging from labor relations to the Taxpayer Advocate Service.

In 2004, Buggs became the Deputy Chief Human Capital Officer. He shared principal program oversight and responsibility with the Chief Human Capital Officer to formulate and implement human capital strategies, policies and programs for more than 100,000 IRS employees. These programs include hiring and recruitment, learning and education, workforce retention and transition, labor and employee relations, planning and measures, executive services, pay for performance, and succession planning.

Buggs holds a Bachelor of Science Degree from Bowie State University and has completed graduate work at the American and Catholic universities in Washington.

Falcone has more than 33 years of IRS experience, managing operations support programs at the field and national levels. As chief of Agency-Wide Shared Services, Falcone will lead an organization that develops procedures and implements policy for the IRS�s internal real estate and facilities management, EEO and Diversity, personnel, procurement and customer support activities.

Falcone has held increasingly responsible positions in field tax administration at the district, regional and campus levels, including Taxpayer Service Division Chief in Brooklyn, New York, and Quality Assurance and Management Support Division in Brookhaven, New York, before joining Resources Management (which later became Support Services) in 1992.

Falcone played a central role in the restructuring of the IRS following Congress' passage of the Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998 and led the design team that ensured the establishment of the Agency Wide Shared Services organization. He was appointed to the Senior Executive Service in 2001 and named Director, Real Estate and Facilities Management, in 2003. While serving as Acting Director, Mission Assurance, he established the new Mission Assurance organization, responsible for oversight of the IRS physical, data and personal security programs.

Falcone holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business and Management from the State University of New York College at Old Westbury.