John Herbst Email & Phone Number

Deputy Chief at the Washington Support Unit, a part of the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Arabian Peninsula Affair that supports the U.S. side of the bilateral Program of Technical Cooperation in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Through this program, U.S. government agencies provide technical support to counterparts in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in areas of cooperation pursuant to the Agreement for Technical Cooperation between the United States of America and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia signed in Jeddah on May 8, 2023.

Serve as the Team Lead covering foreign assistance programs in Europe, South and Central Asia, and Southeast Asia. From December 2023 - May 2024, served as the acting Deputy Director overseeing over $1 billion in foreign assistance programming globally.

Office of Programs -- Serve as the Deputy Team Lead for the Eurasia team and manage programs in Afghanistan, Central Asia, and Mozambique.

Office of Programs -- Directly manage, coordinate, and develop over $100M in U.S. foreign assistance counterterrorism capacity building programs for Afghanistan, Central Asia, India, Pakistan, and Mozambique.

Office of Crisis Response and Special Coordination -- Develop and implement critical counterterrorism preparedness programs such as training exercises, working groups, forums, and seminars.

• Managed the Information Collections program at the Office of Information Management for the Department of Defense. • Supervised a team of six contractors, reviewed analysts’ work, and assigned out all of their tasks. Interviewed prospective analysts and made hiring recommendations based on my program’s needs. • Three of the six contractors I supervised received promotions under my leadership. • Briefed the senior government lead (GS-14) daily on team status and how information collections were progressing. • Ensured the program was operating smoothly and that DoD components were complying with the Paperwork Reduction Act. • Tracked down rogue collections and reached out to components to bring them back into compliance. • Developed and implemented new procedures that shortened the information collections process by several months. Established new metrics based on these procedures to evaluate how the program was improving – reported said metrics to government and contract leads on a monthly basis. • Reduced the number of expired information collections, which is reported to congress, to the lowest levels since March 2017. • Significantly improved relationships with DoD partners and received rave reviews from our customers due to the new proactive approach I initiated. • Worked on projects to review and rewrite DoD Manuals and Issuances for our program. • Led $50k+ effort to develop a new SharePoint site for our office.

• Consulted on a government-wide reform effort that sought to achieve $1B+ in savings across the military health system through the rationalization of IT systems. • Drafted briefs on metrics for this effort that were presented to high ranking civilian (SES level) and military officials (Generals). • Created and revised tasks, which extended across all directorates at the Defense Health Agency. • Attended all sub-group meetings for this effort to ensure teams were meeting the required timeline and then reported progress directly up to project lead (GS-15) on a weekly basis. • Led, and developed agendas for, weekly meetings, which were attended by all sub-group members, to recap progress and determine next steps for this effort. • Mapped out critical paths and dependencies across tasks to establish the project plan.

• Project Coordinator on a study that sought to achieve $100M+ in savings through the rationalization of IT systems.• Researched system requirements/descriptions on SharePoint and open information sources to assist in portfolio rationalization. • Maintained a list of hundreds of taskers, points of contact and systems to ensure project was running smoothly, all timelines were being met and that all systems were accounted for. • Frequently conducted briefings for new members who joined the study. • Supported several clients (GS-14s) by writing meeting minutes, drafting governance briefs, managing SharePoint sites and updating/editing spreadsheets. • Developed new requirements for systems under consideration for acquisition.• Presentations that I drafted were frequently briefed to the DoD CIO and governance boards. • Only contractor at QualX to ever attend an offsite conference at the request of the government.

• Managed a $1M+ a year data protection business for Massachusetts. Generated interest, conducted my own marketing, held demonstrations, coordinated with my Dell team and outside sales representatives, and worked the sales process until completion. • Conducted sales negotiations directly with CEOs, CIOs and Vice Presidents. • Closed one of the largest sales in Dell software history ($300k+). • Promoted three times in one year and was the youngest Inside Sales Representative in the office. • Named Business Development Representative of the quarter twice.• #1 in sales for Southeastern region in September and October• 610k+ in total sales • 121% of quota in Q2 2015• 261% of quota in Q3/Q4 2014

Working with channel partners, managed service providers, and directly with IT professionals in the southeastern United States. I generate interest, run the demonstration, and work the sales process until completion. I also work alongside Dell hardware and outside reps to run data protection sales in their respective accounts. Accomplishments:270% of Quota Q3 2014

• Worked on various projects including an approved $50,000 proposal, which I drafted, to bring a theater company to Uzbekistan. • Wrote a cable on torture and extradition in Uzbekistan, and interviewed a human rights activist. • Was very active with English language programs for Uzbek youth by moderating speaking sessions and presenting on American culture. • Drafted summaries on English language programs and other Public Affairs outreach events for social media.• Conducted fingerprint scanning in the consular section and assisted with processing visa applications; I communicated in Russian on a daily basis. • Helped track Uzbeks with visas in the U.S. to determine if they were in violation.• Voluntarily took Russian language courses while working at the Embassy.

• Authored a white paper concerning open information sharing in Afghanistan. • Wrote blog posts for CrisisMappers and worked with crowd sourcing groups. • Helped organize Camp Roberts workshop, which brought representatives from various government agencies and Non-Governmental Organizations to discuss how to respond in the event of a natural disaster (e.g., Hurricane Katrina, wildfires in California, etc.).

Worked with young children on baseball skills during the winter and summer.Oversaw two counselors in my group. Ran groups of up to twenty children.

Master’S Degree, International Security

Completed my graduate degree while working full time and finished with a 3.87 GPA. Wrote papers on Russian intelligence services.

Bachelor'S Degree, International Affairs And History

Activities and Societies: Won a Phi Alpha Theta book scholarship. Was a member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars.Completed.

H.S. Degree