Stephen M. Dearing is the Postal Service’s acting vice president and chief data and analytics officer.

The Postal Service has created a new position — vice president and chief data and analytics officer — as part of the organization’s effort to improve efficiency.

Stephen M. Dearing has been tapped to fill the new role on an acting basis and will report to Chief Information Officer Pritha Mehra.

The new position, announced in a memo last week, will be responsible for managing enterprise data sources and coordinating analytics throughout the organization.

The Enterprise Analytics group will be part of the chief information officer organization as a result of this move.

Dearing has most recently served as business Intelligence and operational analytics senior director. Prior to that, he served as corporate reporting director, mailing information systems executive manager and address quality manager.

He played a large role in creating the Informed Visibility platform. Dearing currently holds 10 awarded patents with the Postal Service; another 19 are pending.

Protective gloves can be purchased through eBuy Plus.

Postal Service facilities can now purchase protective, disposable, nitrile gloves through eBuy Plus.

The Topeka, KS, Material Distribution Center (MDC) was previously filling bulk orders for the gloves at no cost as a COVID-19 pandemic response measure to ensure they were available for employees despite supply chain disruptions.

Facilities can continue to order face masks, hand sanitizer and other COVID-19 supplies at no cost through the MDC.

For additional information, email CovidSuppliesCommandCenter@usps.gov.