Melissa Harto Email & Phone Number

Washington Dc-Baltimore Area

Washington D.C. Metro Area

• Supervise six GS-15 Branch Chiefs that are responsible for budget formulation, budget execution, strategic planning, finance, human resources, and facilities by managing work assignments, providing coaching and mentoring, and conducting performance appraisals.• Lead the audit efforts for the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) by remediating past audit findings, responding to inquiries, and collaborating with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Office of the Chief Financial Officer on remediation efforts.• Lead the Planning, Programming, Budget and Execution process for the Federal Insurance and Mitigation Administration within FEMA.• Manage the human capital actions, such as recruitment, hiring, awards and performance reviews, for the Federal Insurance and Mitigation Administration.• Coordinated the annual Fund Management Directorate offsite (virtual this year) by working with our contract facilitators to develop the agenda, deliver the offsite, and conduct follow up meetings with the Division Directors to continue the action plans developed at the offsite.

Arlington, Va

• Supervised four GS-14 Branch Chiefs that are responsible for budget formulation, budget execution, procurement, and payroll management by managing work assignments, providing coaching and mentoring, providing informal and formal performance reviews, and resolving human resource matters.• Managed the Mission and Business Support $61 million annual budget, and work with the appropriate offices to develop spend plans and monitor expenditures during the year. Provide a weekly update and briefing to the Deputy Director on budget formulation and execution.• Worked with two federal employees and five contract staff to map existing business processes; develop process improvements to ensure that critical business processes are rigorous, accurate, collaborative, and repeatable; establish standardized procedures that leverage efficiencies to maximize resources; develop performance metrics that leverage data analytics to inform senior management decisions; and automate methods and tools to streamline processes and eliminate redundancy.• Coordinated the human resources actions for the Budget Division and work with the Office of Human Capital (OHC) on recruitment actions to fill vacant positions. This includes drafting position descriptions, identifying the required competencies for Budget positions, reviewing job announcements, conducting interviews, and making selections from among the qualified candidates. • Supervised the development and on-time completion of the Congressional Budget Justification materials for the agency’s $3.3 billion request for FY 2020 by providing critical oversight on the project schedule, document creation and reviews, and work of 3 federal employees. Worked with all relevant stakeholders during the budget justification development process to ensure the final product was well-written, accurate, thorough, and consistent.

Washington, District Of Columbia

• Supervised four GS-15 Branch Chiefs that are responsible for budget formulation, budget execution, performance management, and cost modeling.• Provided tactical and strategic guidance to Branch Chiefs to improve processes within their line of business and increase coordination with the other programmatic Branch Chiefs, as well as their customers.• Integrated activities across the organization, prioritized essential actions, reconciled conflicting viewpoints, and resolved problems as they arise. Provided daily briefings to the acting Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and acting Deputy Chief Financial Officer (DCFO).• Provided direction on the continued development of the agency’s analytical and cost modeling efforts, which are fact-based, structured, and repeatable data driven approaches to define agency requirements for both staffing and funding. These tools are used to strengthen the agency’s justifications for current funding and future year requirements.• Briefed ICE senior leadership on ongoing and emerging issues, and provided analysis and recommendations to ensure programs remain solvent and are able to fulfill operational requirements throughout the fiscal year.• Managed and directed the development of the Congressional Budget Justification materials for the agency’s $1.2 billion FY 2017 budget amendment request to fund critical mission requirements. Briefed senior leadership and Congress on the request and the supporting analyses conducted by multiple teams of federal staff.• Supervised the development and on-time completion of the Congressional Budget Justification materials for the agency’s $7.9 billion request for FY 2018 by providing critical oversight on the project schedule, document creation and reviews, and work of five federal employees and four contractor staff. Worked with all relevant stakeholders during the budget justification development process to ensure the final product was well-written, accurate, thorough, and consistent.

Washington D.C. Metro Area

• Advised the CFO in areas such as budget, financial management, workforce management, facilities, performance measures, and strategic planning. Represented the CFO at meetings he was unable to attend. Resolved issues of concern on behalf of the CFO with his direct reports, which included three Senior Executive Service and two GS-15 employees.• Served as the primary contact for the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the lead on all briefs and technical assistance for the OMB examiners. Served as secondary point of contact for technical assistance to the appropriations committees’ staff. Worked closely with ICE programs to advance agency funding and legislative priorities.• Redesigned ICE’s budget execution process to place tighter internal controls throughout the process, including the requirement for the agency to produce annual acquisition, hiring, and information technology plans. The redesigned process was briefed to ICE Senior Leadership and the appropriations committees’ staff. It was implemented on October 1, 2016.• Advised the CFO and DCFO of unexpected budget changes and assisted in developing the strategy to reallocate agency resources to meet the operational requirements.• Served as the OCFO primary point of contact regarding Presidential Transition, Congressional Questions for the Record (QFR) and Appropriations Reports. Duties include creating transition materials, developing responses to QFRs assigned to OCFO, reviewing all QFR responses drafted by ICE programs or other DHS components, and communicating with ICE Executive Secretariat and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). • Created briefings, white papers and other materials to be used by the CFO or other senior leadership in meetings with DHS leadership, OMB, or Congressional members/staff.

Washington D.C. Metro Area

• Managed daily office operations and served as a resource on human capital management, time and attendance, employee performance, travel and training authorizations, contracting and budgeting.• Managed and provided budget analysis/recommendations to ICE leadership to ensure programs remained solvent and were able to fulfill operational requirement throughout the fiscal year.• Briefed OMB on budget justification and defended budget submissions, costs estimate and future program objectives.• Utilized budget execution reports and financial/budgetary parameters necessary to trace budget authority, allotments, commitments, obligations and expenditures for each program activity to ensure compliance with Congressional appropriations.• Coordinated the production and clearance of responses from Congressional briefings, QFRs, and Congressional reports.• Monitored two contract staff and ensured completion of deliverables including taskings, standard operating procedures, and re-design of the office’s SharePoint site.• Ensured the completion of the correct documentation for employee promotions, performance work plans, and year-end appraisals.• Worked with the office Staff Assistant on items such as scheduling, training, purchase of supplies, and equipment inventory.• Worked with the CFO Workforce Management office and OHC on issues regarding hiring, on-boarding, and employee relations.

Washington D.C. Metro Area

• Served as the senior budget analyst on the Budget Formulation team by coordinating the development of ICE’s $6 billion annual budget, funded from annual and multi-year appropriated accounts.• Improved ICE’s relationship with the Department, OMB, and the Hill by providing better budget justifications and by anticipating requests for supplementary budget materials. Hill staffers commented on the improved quality of ICE’s budget justification materials following the submission of the FY 2013 Congressional Budget justification. Received an ICE Director’s Award for this effort.• Developed the comprehensive “Build to Budget” workbook that crosswalks prior year funding levels to present year funding levels, and documents inflationary changes, program changes, and staffing levels.• Managed and directed the development and submission of the agency’s five-year funding request known as the Resource Allocation Plan. Analyzed and interpreted Department guidance to ensure agency compliance. Worked with internal stakeholders on writing compelling narratives with performance metrics to justify funding requests.• Developed proposed appropriations language in support of new or revised program and budgetary requirements.• Delivered decision briefs to the CFO on all budget decisions including future year resource allocation, OMB Passback, and Congressional marks.• Developed responses to data calls and information requests, including QFRs, DHS data calls, ICE management requests, and ad hoc requests from Congressional staff, DHS, and OMB.

• Served as lead analyst for the $230 million Department of Public Safety account, and nine other smaller public safety/criminal justice accounts totaling approximately $192 million.• Conducted short and long-range program analyses to make budget recommendations to management and senior leadership, including the Governor.• Delivered decision briefs to the Governor and her senior staff on all public safety budget issues for inclusion in the Executive Budget.• Developed the initial revenue projections for the implementation of a statewide Photo Enforcement Program that were included in the enacted biennial budget.• Reviewed legislation for financial implications and made recommendations to the Governor and senior staff on whether legislation should be signed or vetoed.

• Provided administrative support to three Assistant Vice Presidents• Responded to inquiries from legislators and their staff• Researched and monitored legislation impacting the university and higher education• Tracked lobbying expenditures and filed quarterly reports with legislative ethics commission

M.P.A., Public Administration

B.A., Political Science

Activities and Societies: Alpha Omicron Pi, Phi Sigma Pi