FLASH MENTORING EVENT IN HONOR OF THE UPCOMING

FLASH MENTORING EVENT IN HONOR OF THE UPCOMING WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH FEBRUARY 23, 2016 MENTOR BIOGRAPHIES

MS. ANN ACHESON (FOREST SERVICE) Ann is the Acting Director, Ecosystem Management Coordination in the Forest Service Washington Office. In this position she serves as the primary leader for a staff of nearly 40 people responsible for national policy, oversight and direction of regulations implementing land management planning and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and their associated monitoring, and administrative processes. She also worked for a year in the White House (Council on Environmental Quality) as the Deputy Associate Director for Lands. In that capacity she was responsible for a broad range of activities related to development and implementation of the Administration’s public and private lands policies across all affected agencies. Prior to that (2007 – 2012), Ann was the Forest Service national air program leader providing national leadership to Regions, Washington Office, and the Department regarding policy and program management implications of air pollution effects to, or from, natural resources the agency manages. She has worked in the FS Regions in Colorado, Montana, Idaho, and Wisconsin. She started her career as a wildlife technician in the early ’ 80 s on the Estes-Poudre Ranger District of the Arapahoe-Roosevelt National Forest in Colorado and then progressed into program leadership positions within the Forest Service. Ann has degrees from Colorado State University in Wildlife Biology and Earth Resources. She works in DC, but home is Ohio where her husband is and a little cabin in the woods.

MS. KIM CASH (FOREIGN AGRICULTURAL SERVICE) Ms. Cash has served in her current position as the Director for the Compliance, Security & Emergency Planning Division within the Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) at the U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) since March 2013. Her previous position was that of Security Officer, FAS. Prior to joining USDA in 2010, Ms. Cash was employed within the Bureau of Diplomatic Security at the U. S. Department of State where she began as an investigative case manager and adjudicator in 1999. Following a period of employment from 2000 -2001 as a manager within the Washington, DC office for Baker & Hostetler, LLC, Kim returned to the Department of State and in 2003 she was selected to lead the Department’s security clearance reform initiatives. In this role, Kim established the Department’s customer service center for security clearance processing and led automation initiatives that included the deployment of OPM’s electronic Questionnaires for Investigations Processing (e. QIP) to over 200 hiring offices worldwide. From 2006 -2010, Kim was the Operations Branch for the Department of State’s Office of Personnel Security and Suitability. Ms. Cash retired in 2008 as a Lieutenant Colonel with 20 years of service as a Special Agent with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI). Her active duty assignments included tours in Colorado and North Dakota, followed by serving as the Commander/Special Agent-in-Charge for the AFOSI’s Detachment in Montana. Kim was competitively selected as one of nine regionally located Forensic Sciences Consultants, with her being assigned to Andrews Air Force Base (AFB) from 1996 -1999. As a reservist from 1999 until 2008, Kim’s tours included serving as a Detachment Commander at Hanscom AFB, MA, as well as supporting the AFOSI Headquarters Forensic Program Manager and the Criminal Investigations Division Director. Additionally, Kim supported the on-site processing of the scene for the Pentagon for 9 -11, with follow-on duty at Dover AFB; and she served as a Squadron Commander at Yokota Air Base, Japan. Ms. Cash is a native of Arizona. She earned her Bachelors of Science degree in Business from the University of Arizona and a Masters in Forensic Sciences at the George Washington University. She completed a Fellowship in Forensic Pathology with the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology and also completed Air Command Staff College.

MS. TELORA DEAN (FOOD AND NUTRITION SERVICE) Telora T. Dean is the Associate Administrator and Chief Operations Officer (AA/COO) for USDA’s Food Nutrition and Consumer Services (FNCS). In this capacity she shares full responsibility with the Agency’s Administrator for the development, design, operation, and improvement of the strategies and systems that create and deliver the Agency’s programs and internal/external services through a $110 billion program and operations portfolio. As the AA/COO, she ensures the proper balance between efficiencies, effectiveness and results and creates maximum value for customers, stakeholders and taxpayers. Prior to assuming the AA/COO helm, Ms. Dean served as the Agency’s Deputy Administrator for Management. In this role, she effected a unified operation to deliver outstanding administrative services through the management of Human Resources, Acquisition Management, Operations and Facilities Management, Information Systems and Employee Engagement Initiatives. Prior to joining FNCS, Ms. Dean provided executive leadership to a number of USDA agencies. As the Farm and Foreign Agricultural Service’s Chief Human Capital Officer, she was responsible for the overall administration, coordination and evaluation of human resource functions for three mission area agencies, supporting a customer base of over 15, 000 employees nationally and abroad. During her tenure as Rural Development’s Acting Deputy Administrator for Management, Ms. Dean was an executive principal in providing direction and oversight to a $628 million annual budget and a $38 billion loan portfolio to support efficient program delivery and services to rural America. Ms. Dean holds a Bachelor’s degree from Alabama Agriculture and Mechanical University and a Master’s degree from Marymount University. She counts Harvard University, American University, George Washington University, and the Brookings Institute as organizations in her accomplished executive toolkit.

MS. ROBIN HEARD (DEPARTMENTAL MANAGEMENT) Robin E. Heard, a native of Louisiana, received her B. A. , Summa Cum Laude, Phi Kappa Phi, from the University of Louisiana at Monroe in 1976 and did graduate work in Forest Resources at the University of Georgia. She began her career over 33 years ago as an administrative trainee with the Soil Conservation Service (now Natural Resources Conservation Service). Her ability to approach administrative and management issues in a holistic manner that enhanced achievement of conservation goals and protected the productivity and satisfaction of the front line employees was quickly recognized. Her success in eliminating "red tape" in providing services to customers was recognized by the Vice. President's Hammer Award. Her commitment to diversity in recruitment and fairness was recognized by a Secretary's Honor Award. She also received a Secretary's Honor Award for her successful effort to reduce bureaucratic burden in agency processes impacting field productivity and employee satisfaction. Ms. Heard rose through the ranks, serving in various management positions throughout the country, including budget, human resources, and resource conservation, to the position of State Conservationist in Pennsylvania, where she instituted costsaving, common sense approaches to conservation on private lands. Her versatility and knowledge allowed her to serve in various acting Senior Executive Service positions, including Regional Conservationist and Chief Financial Officer, before being appointed to the position of Director, Easement Programs Division in the Natural Resources Conservation Service. In January 2009, Heard was asked to assist in the transition and was named Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights. In May 2009, she accepted her current position as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Administration, where she has played a key role in USDA Cultural Transformation.

MS. PEGGY JAVERY (OFFICE OF CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER) Ms. Javery is Director of Fiscal Policy Division in the Office of the Chief Financial Officer’s Financial Planning and Policy organization. She has more than 15 years of financial management experience. She is accountable for providing a sound financial management program for USDA by leading and overseeing financial activities, which includes Travel Policy, Debt Management, Improper Payments and Audit Control. Ms. Javery’s career has included progressive supervisory and leadership positions including Deputy Director, Homeland Security and Emergency Coordination under USDA’s Departmental Management and Chief of Staff for the National Finance Center. She has a proven track record in employee engagement, USDA-wide training, customer relationship management, strategic planning, business development, financial audit and policy. Ms. Javery possesses a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida. She also has a master’s degree in Public Administration (Dean’s List) from Atlanta University, Atlanta, Georgia. She is certified as a Senior Executive Service member; earned a financial certification with the Association of Government Accountants as a Certified Government Financial Manager and accomplished the Lean Six Sigma Greenbelt Certification. Ms. Javery has held several Association of Government Accountants positions at the Chapter, Regional, and National levels. These positions include National Senior Vice-President At-Large, Journal Board Member and a number of Regional and local Chapter positions (Regional Vice-President, Regional Coordinator for Education, and Chapter Executive Committee as President, Co-Education Chair, and Website Coordinator). Ms. Javery has adult children, young grandchildren and enjoys spending time with her family. Her Mom is her number one encourager.

MS. BOBBI JEANQUART (DM - OFFICE OF HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT) Roberta “Bobbi” Jeanquart serves as Deputy Director of the Office of Human Resources Management providing vision and leadership to USDA-wide programs, including human resources policy, employee and labor relations, recruitment and diversity, and workforce and succession planning. Bobbi started her career at USDA as Chief of Staff for Departmental Management and moved on to serve as Acting Director of USDA’s Office of the Executive Secretariat providing overall leadership for the management of correspondence and records for the Office of the Secretary, and as USDA’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Congressional Relations. Before joining USDA, Bobbi was executive director of the National Association of Resource Conservation and Development Councils, providing human resource and financial management to 375 member councils, 38 applicant areas, 7 regional associations, 38 state associations and 20, 000 volunteers. She also worked as Staff Director for U. S. Representative Marcy Kaptur of Ohio—then the Ranking Member of the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee. During her 12 -year career on the Hill, Bobbi handled funding and policy issues in the areas of agriculture, conservation, child nutrition, food safety and rural development issues. Bobbi holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Marquette University and completed her graduate studies in Comparative Politics at the University of Toledo. Bobbi is also a volunteer and founding member of Phoenix Bikes, a community-based program in Arlington, Virginia that empowers youth to become social entrepreneurs through direct participation in a financially and environmentally sustainable non -profit bike shop.

MS. DIEM-LINH JONES (OFFICE OF BUDGET AND PROGRAM ANALYSIS) Diem-Linh Jones is currently the Deputy Director for Budget, Legislative and Regulatory Systems in the Office of Budget and Program Analysis (OBPA). OBPA provides centralized coordination and direction for the Department’s budget, legislative and regulatory functions, and analysis to support the implementation of Department policies. In her current capacity, Ms. Jones is responsible for overseeing the Department’s budget process and legislative and regulatory tracking systems. She is also the Department’s principal liaison with the Appropriations Committees on technical budget matters. Ms. Jones joined OBPA in August 2002 as a staff chief and was selected to the Senior Executive Service in December 2005. Prior to coming to the USDA, Ms. Jones supervised the Office of Planning and Budget at the U. S. Small Business Administration and acted as Budget Officer from June 2000 to July 2001. She started her government career in July 1991 at the U. S. Department of Transportation after graduating from the Department’s Management Training Program. Diem-Linh Jones has a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from the College of William and Mary and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from George Mason University. She and her husband live in Burke, Virginia, with their three sons.

DR. KARLEASE KELLY (DM - OFFICE OF HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT) Dr. Karlease Kelly serves as the Provost of the USDA Virtual University and Deputy Chief Human Capital Officer for the U. S. Department of Agriculture Office of Human Resources Management, Departmental Management. Dr. Kelly provides vision and leadership and coordinates with all USDA Training Officers and human resources professionals on talent development policies and programs. This includes managing USDA’s Senior Executive Service Candidate Development Program, and overseeing USDA’s implementation of Federal training policies such as mentoring, individual development planning, details, new supervisor training, experienced supervisor training, developing the leadership pipeline, executive development, and programs to increase employee engagement and satisfaction. Under her leadership, USDA moved up 5 places in the Best Places to Work Rankings for large agencies from 2013 to 2015. The Virtual University achieved the Bronze Learning Elite Award provided by the Chief Learning Officers magazine in March 2015. Additionally, the Virtual University received first place for the category of Best Leadership Development Program in 2014 from the Human Capital Management Government Conference based on ratings from a panel of peers, as well as third place for Driving Employee Engagement for the category of Workforce Development Program, and third place for USDA’s 360 Degree Assessment Program in the category of Public Sector Innovation in 2015. Dr. Kelly is a member of the American Council for Technology-Industry Advisory Council on human capital management. In November 2015 she was elected to serve as the Chair for the Federal Chief Learning Officers Council. Prior to this, Dr. Kelly served in USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) as the Assistant Administrator for the FSIS Office of Outreach, Employee Education and Training. In this position, she was responsible for developing the knowledge and skills of Agency and State employees, as well as conducting education and outreach activities to meet the needs of small and very small meat, poultry and egg processors to help them enhance their food safety and food defense systems. Under her leadership, FSIS became an Authorized Provider of continuing education units, and received the Exemplar Award from the International Association of Continuing Education and Training (IACET). She worked collaboratively with employee unions and associations as well as universities to partner with them in providing educational services to Agency employees. Additionally, she created and administered an assessment center for leadership development. She spoke at a number of industry meetings about improving workforce training for government and industry employees, including an international meeting in Beijing, China. Dr. Kelly also established the Small Plant Help Desk to respond to questions small meat and poultry manufacturers about providing updated training to employees on food safety policies. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) highlighted the FSIS outreach program serving small and very small plants as unique in providing helpful resources and assistance to small businesses (GAO report 07 -714). FSIS training programs contributed to the Agency winning the 2007 President's Quality Award for the Strategic Management of Human Capital.

LYNN MOANEY (OFFICE OF CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER) Lynn M. Moaney serves as the Associate Chief Financial Officer over Policy and Planning and is responsible for overseeing the Department-wide development and implementation of Fiscal Policy (including Travel, Debt Management and Audit Follow-up), Internal Controls, Shared Cost Program and Working Capital Fund Budget Formulation and Billing, Staff Office Budget Execution as well as Administrative Operations in the Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO). She also serves as the Chair of the National Finance Center (NFC)/OCFO Diversity and Inclusion Council and is active on several Boards within and outside the federal government. Prior to this position, Ms. Moaney served as the Deputy Chief Financial Officer at the Federal Communications Commission where she was responsible for the day-to-day management and development of financial systems, budget, audit findings and remediation, financial statements and new or proposed changes to policy and procedures that affect financial operations. She has over 25 years developing and maintaining financial standards and a proven record of leading organizational initiatives. Ms. Moaney graduated from Howard University with a Bachelor of Business Administration Degree in Accounting. Ms. Moaney returns to the OCFO family as she previously worked in Financial Operations and was instrumental in implementing the Department’s legacy Foundation Financial Information System (FFIS). She re-joined as a newly appointed Senior Executive in September 2014.

DR. ZINA SUTCH (DM - OFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE SECRETARIAT) Dr. Sutch serves as the Director of USDA’s Office of the Executive Secretariat leading the Office in the oversight of all correspondence for USDA’s Secretary Vilsack. Prior to holding this position, Dr. Sutch served as USDA’s Director of Diversity, Recruitment and Work/Life, in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration. She led the Department in the development and implementation of programs and policies that help ensure a modern, diverse, and inclusive workforce. She also oversaw accountability efforts for the Secretary’s Cultural Transformation initiative, analyzing data across categories that include diversity, hiring reform, training, and leadership, while focusing on employee engagement. Prior to leading this Division, Dr. Sutch served as the Deputy Provost of USDA’s Virtual University and USDA’s Chief Training Officer. Her career at USDA began when she joined the Federal government as the Leadership Development Program Manager at USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service and progressed to the Department level when she served as a Training Officer for the Chief Information Officer. She has been with the Federal government for 9 years and has over 25 years of experience in the field of education and training in both the public and private sectors. Prior to joining federal government service, Dr. Sutch worked with the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Public School System assessing and developing improvement plans for low performing schools. She was a faculty member and taught graduate and undergraduate courses at George Mason University, Bowie State University, and Baltimore University. Prior to joining George Mason University, Dr. Sutch was the Associate Director of the K-16 Partnership Development Center at the University of Maryland in College Park, providing teacher training, leadership development, and certification courses to classroom teachers and administrators. Dr. Sutch started her education career as a classroom teacher and moved into leadership positions serving as Education Director then School Principal and Director in the private and public school sectors. Dr. Sutch possesses a Ph. D. from the College of Education at the University of Maryland, College Park, and a Masters degree from the Graduate School of Education and Human Development at the George Washington University. She currently lives in Falls Church Virginia and has two daughters.

WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP Thank you to all of our Mentors for volunteering to serve in this event and for their leadership at USDA. Flash Mentoring Event Tuesday, February 23 rd 1 -3: 30 pm Whitten Patio