Selma native Larry Mack is taking his career to new heights, as he was recently named deputy director of the Office of Human Capital at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville.

Named to the position in March 2015, Mack is responsible for helping oversee organization and leadership development, academic affairs, training and incentives, workforce strategy and planning, federal labor relations and employee services and operations.

Mack has more than 20 years of experience in human capital, human resources and personnel management with the federal government.

Most recently, he was compensation manager in the Human Resources Branch of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in Washington.

He held a number of posts with the CFTC during his tenure there. Earlier in his career, Mack was a personnel management specialist at the federal government’s Office of Personnel Management, providing advice and counsel to managers and employees regarding employee and labor relations matters, as well as providing support in the administration of government-wide systems for setting and adjusting rates of pay.

In both high finance and space exploration the goal of human capital professionals is largely the same, Mack said.

“The key part is to devise effective human resource strategies so that they align with the mission and its needs. The way you support the mission is to keep team members from worrying about these issues so they can focus on their work.”

He has earned a number of awards, including the CFTC’s Chairman’s Award for Supervisory Excellence, the Office of Personnel Management Director’s Citation for Exemplary Public Service, the Small Agency Human Resources Council’s Charles A. Bradshaw Award, superior performance awards and several letters of commendation for outstanding service.

Mack earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Alabama State University in Montgomery, and a Master of Arts degree in human resources development from Bowie State University in Bowie, Maryland.

His wife, Tamara, born in Montgomery, Alabama, also grew up in Columbus, Georgia. Mack said that after years in Washington, they were excited by the opportunity to move their family to the South.

“I’m coming home,” he said.

Mack, his wife and their children, Zachary, 16, and Alexis, 3, live in Madison.