CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — The director of the Department of Defense Education Activity Pacific announced this week she is stepping down to take a job elsewhere in the federal government.
Diana Ohman, who oversees 48 military schools and about 24,000 students, told staff Monday she will depart the Pacific in November to work for the Department of Veterans Affairs as Midwest regional director of national cemeteries and monuments, according to DODEA-Pacific public affairs.
DODEA had not created a plan as of Tuesday to fill the vacancy that will be left by Ohman, but will be working on it in the coming days, said spokesman Charly Hoff.
“We are all still processing this to figure out what our next step is,” Hoff said. “We are going to have to come up with a plan to have a smooth transition and we will do that.”
He said Ohman has been a great advocate for the many military students who attend schools in Japan, Okinawa, South Korea and Guam and she will be missed.
“She was the real deal. When she told you something you knew you were going to get it,” he said. “It was an honor working for her.”
Ohman made the announcement via email Monday that she will take the job of memorial service network director for the Indianapolis region of the National Cemetery Administration, which is a division of the VA and oversees monuments and cemeteries in nine states.
While with DODEA, she served for a decade as the area director for Europe before switching positions in 2009 with then-Pacific schools director Nancy Bresell.
Ohman also served as Wyoming secretary of state and superintendent of schools before signing on with the federal government, according to her online biography.
