Meredith Sparks Email & Phone Number

Support the financial aspects of the Post Road Foundation's grant under the Department of Energy, including accurate record keeping, cost review, and invoice and report preparation.

Support the operations of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation-funded Science of Teaching grant, including procurement, finance, logistics, website maintenance and updates, committee coordination, and translations.

Research Triangle Park, Nc

Lead project operations activities within International Education's portfolio from project start-up to closeout, namely projects in Cambodia and grant activities in Bangladesh, Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, and Vietnam ranging in size from $4 million to $25 million. Provide advanced daily oversight and coordination of complex activities for projects. Provide mentoring and support to junior operations staff. Responsible for internal and external financial reporting and monitoring and analysis of cost performance. Collaborate with other project management team members to identify and mitigate risks. Responsible for leading and managing start-up and closeout processes. Develop and maintain project management schedules, work plans, and other general project management resources and tools. Establish and maintain financial tracking tools and budgets, monitor expenses and help to design and implement strategies that address financial performance issues and help to identify risk. Support the recruitment and onboarding of project- and US-office based project staff and other human resources processes, including identification of short-term technical assistance needs and resources. Prepare travel and consultant approval requests, information for contract modification requests, and other actions for submission to clients. Support the contracting and monitoring of subcontractors and consultants. Participate in procurement processes and ensure compliance. Coordinate support services from RTI business partners and regional offices.

Research Triangle Park, Nc

Provides advanced operational support to projects and project management teams. Develops and maintains project management schedules, project work plans, and other general project management resources. Supports grants management and compliance. Performs budget formulation and provides monitoring and reporting support. Supports cost performance monitoring and reporting. Ensures accurate and compliant record keeping and administration performance. Provides general project management reporting to project management teams. Serves as a liaison and coordinates support services, as appropriate, from business partners. Serves as a liaison with technical specialists to coordinate technical development and support for projects. Monitors and leads the correction process to ensure project documentation, deliverables, and data are maintained consistently in accordance with policies and standards. Has lead responsibilities for specific project phases that include project startup and closeout, management of subcontractors, and other related tasks. Identifies, prepares scopes of work, negotiates, and manages activities for subcontractors and consultants in support of project implementation, ensuring that activities are on time and of high quality. Collaborates with the project management team to identify and manage risks. Works directly with clients on projects, discussing project activities, challenges, and successes. Supports project implementation for projects, both with and without a field team, ranging in size from $1.8 million to $63 million. Supports projects in Cambodia and Uganda, as well as grant activities in Bangladesh, Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, and Vietnam.

Research Triangle Park, Nc

Manage the logistics, calendars and agendas for projects. Manage various project trackers including administrative tracker, travel tracker, personnel tracker, consultant tracker, and deliverable tracker. Prepare packages for proposed new project staff members and consultants for client review and approval. Process consultant requests, assist in rate determination, review consultant invoices and ensure consultant payments are made in collaboration with accounts payable. Coordinate project deliverables, maintain deliverable tracker and submit documents to DEC. Coordinate the approval and updating of various project or field manuals. Coordinate grants and subcontracts procurement, processing, evaluation and invoice review and payment. Process subcontractor requests and review subcontractor proposed budgets and personnel and perform subcontractor invoice review for management approval and payment. Assist with review of client invoices. Assist in the preparation and review of budgets. Prepare and manage accruals reports. Prepare travel and personnel requests for client review and approval. Maintain administrative trackers and prepare and share agendas for various weekly and bi-weekly meetings. Project experience in Cambodia and Uganda.

Chapel Hill, Nc

Provide editorial and production assistance and coordination for communications projects, outreach, and products, including writing, editing, formatting, proofreading, social media, and basic design. Manage the Communications and Advocacy requests for support system and coordinate departmental procurements to outside consultants and vendors. Manage consultant paperwork, approvals and onboarding and monitor contracts records and related budgets. Manage calendars for tracking department-coordinated products, conference participation, and events, and also coordinate conference registrations and exhibit logistics. Manage the dissemination of publications and exhibition materials at conferences and events. Manage internal departmental SharePoint site as well as external departmental SharePoint site. Manage conference attendance and travel for IntraHealth participants. Maintain working knowledge of wide variety of IntraHealth activities and share widely via social media.

Rtp, North Carolina

Supported business and technical development research. Wrote and developed tools for projectsacross strategic areas. Completed multiple competitor analyses. Assisted on projects addressinggender, youth, and monitoring and evaluation. Gained experience with contracts (USAID & DFID)and SalesForce.

Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Assisted professor with undergraduate course Global Issues by leading recitations, meeting with students during office hours, and grading assignments for approximately 50 students.

Kigali, Rwanda

Trained and served as a Community Health Peace Corps volunteer in Rwanda. Promoted education of health-related issues, including nutrition, water sanitation, HIV/AIDS, maternal and child health, and family planning.

Coral Gables, Fl

Called University of Miami alumni, solicited donations and provided customer service. Raised $32,223.09 in scholarships and aid for the University of Miami.

Washington, Dc

Researched possible grant recipients to present to the board and planned fundraising and educational events. Specifically researched orphanages in Haiti that were viable candidates for a grant and planned fundraising and educational events regarding interfaith relations.

Masters Of Arts, Global Studies

Concentration in Politics, Societies, and Institutions Thesis: The United Nations Development Program and Faith-Based Organizations.

Bachelor Of Arts (B.A.), International/Global Studies

Bachelor Of Arts (B.A.), Political Science And Government

Bachelor Of Arts (B.A.), Religion/Religious Studies

Activities and Societies: Theta Alpha Kappa Religious Studies Honor SocietyDepartmental Honors, W. Sloan McRae Outstanding Religious.

Contemporary Islam

Traveled to Jordan, Syria and Egypt where we met with local dignitaries, students, non-profits, politicians, activists and NGOs..