Michelle Anne Newby Email & Phone Number

I manage a portfolio of foreign policy grants to academics and universities across a range of career levels and grant sizes.

I work on CKF's foreign policy team, where I evaluate grant proposals, prospect new relationships, develop graduate student programming, plan strategy, and measure outcomes. Our goal is to empower academics doing policy-relevant foreign policy research so that their research can inform U.S. policy-makers' decisions about U.S. engagement in the world. I shape our decisions about what topics to focus funding on, what types of financial (or non-financial) support would be most impactful, and how to connect academics to the policy community.• Evaluated 200+ grant proposals in response to multiple Requests for Proposals (RFPs), ranging in size from $5,000 dissertation grants to five-year multi-million dollar projects supporting university centers.• Measured and tracked outputs and outcomes for an $8 million portfolio of grants using analytical data-management tools such as Salesforce, PowerBI, Airtable, and Microsoft Excel and information gathering tools such as Twitter, Google Alerts, Altmetric, Google Scholar, and JSTOR.• Supported five grant managers with written feedback on interim and annual grantee reports, questions for scholar interviews as part of the grant application process, and guidance on CKF's new RFPs and research topics of interest.• Developed annual strategic plans and budget forecasts and completed quarterly assessments to measure progress towards goals.• Executed a pivot of our graduate student programming in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, shifting from in-person colloquiums to an online international relations paper workshop series and online professional development opportunities.

As Stand Together's foreign policy team's project manager, I planned our strategic goals, developed metrics for tracking our progress, wrote quarterly and annual reports, and ensured clear communication across the team. I simultaneously volunteered some of my time to the Charles Koch Foundation as a research analyst, evaluating grant proposals and outcomes. As the team and responsibilities grew, it became clear this should be two full-time positions and I moved to the Charles Koch Foundation as a Senior Research Analyst.• Collected data and wrote the 30-page 2019 annual report.• Worked with colleagues from multiple departments to develop the 2020 strategic plan.• Developed an Airtable-based tracking and planning system to set quarterly targets, assign responsibility, and track progress towards targets.

Washington D.C. Metro Area

As a member of CKI's foreign policy team, my role and responsibilities grew in time with our portfolio. When I was hired, CKI had not yet begun working on foreign policy and my first task was a several hundred page landscape analysis of the leading scholars, think tanks, and influencers shaping U.S. foreign policy. By the time I left, I'd evaluated hundreds of grant proposals, personally managed some of our relationships with grantees, learned how to professionally network and represent CKI at formal events, advised on topic and panelist selection for public educational events, and helped develop and shape our long-term strategy. I also supervised three employees and mentored others.• Reviewed incoming grant proposals collectively worth over $5 million, managed relationships with recipients, and wrote final reports on grant outcomes.• Represented CKI at the annual meetings of the American Political Science Association, International Studies Association, International Security Studies Sectional conference, and numerous grantee-sponsored events and conferences.• Wrote and edited biweekly report for CKI's Board of Directors highlighting key grantee products and research, foreign policy news, and upcoming events.• Supervised and trained three employees; participated in 30 hours of skill training on legal responsibilities, company policies, coaching strategies, and best practices for supervisors.• Summarized and commented on over 400 news articles for a daily external email blast.• Researched the biographies, missions, and foreign policy views of hundreds of individuals and organizations to evaluate suitability for grants and speaking engagements.• Assisted the recruitment team in reviewing candidates' resumes and writing samples; interviewed candidates for multiple staff and intern roles.• Wrote event summaries and short essays for CKI's blog.

I was hired as a freelance writer by Contentra Technologies to assist them in developing textbooks, worksheets, and other educational resources. Each assignment was unique with strict technical requirements. Contentra Technologies continued to hire me project after project because my work required minimal editing, my content was never rejected by the client, and I was consistently early when it came to meeting deadlines.• Rewrote existing U.S. government high school textbook to meet English Language Learners (ELL) standards.• Proposed, researched, and wrote short essays for 16 enrichment activities associated with a high-school sociology textbook.• Researched and edited primary and secondary source material for use with 19 reading exercises corresponding to a high-school sociology textbook.• Fact-checked portions of a high school history textbook.

Washington D.C. Metro Area

I served as a member of a team working on several projects to improve the transparency of U.S. Congressional legislation. One part of the project involved applying XML tags to proposed legislation in order to track the agencies, laws, programs, and appropriations mentioned in a bill. Another part of the project was an experiment with improving the coverage of proposed federal legislation on Wikipedia (a key source of information for most people). As a result, I read thousands of pieces of legislation in the 113th Congress and wrote Wikipedia articles on many of those that made it to a floor vote.• Represented the Cato Institute and our project on a panel called "Wikipedia and Congress" that aired on C-SPAN.• Wrote 364 Wikipedia articles (primarily on Congressional legislation), making 6,314 edits on 1,442 unique pages.• Applied XML tags to over 2,000 bills introduced into the 113th Congress.

Washington D.C. Metro Area

I was a research intern for the Foreign and Defense Policy team at Cato, providing on-demand research services for six scholars. Some of my projects included tracking down public opinion polling, fact-checking citations, or providing news summaries. I also began volunteering for the project on Congressional transparency that would become my full-time role at Cato. The internship included regular presentations by Cato scholars about their research, exposing me to a wide-array of public policy debates.

Rock Hill, South Carolina

The White Home is a small historical museum focused on one of the families that helped found the town of Rock Hill, South Carolina. I volunteered about 30 hours a month helping with social media and the organization's newsletter and participating in events. I also worked 8-12 hours a month in the gift shop as the cashier and tour guide.• Organized, formatted, and edited the quarterly newsletter using Microsoft Publisher.• Upgraded and expanded the organization's social media profile, particularly on Facebook and Wikipedia• Independently managed the gift shop by opening and closing the museum, greeting visitors, giving tours, and serving as the cashier.

Charlotte, North Carolina Area

As an administrative clerk working in the Charlotte regional office of the U.S. Census Bureau, my responsibility was organizing the paperwork associated with our 87,000 employees and assisting them with any payroll issues or emergencies that came up. Thanks to a system I helped develop, our regional office received calls from other regions asking our advice about how to complete this filing process more quickly.• Audited the Official Personnel Folders (OPF) for approximately 5,000 census enumerators and clerks looking for completeness and accuracy.• Answered the Employee Payroll Hotline to troubleshoot employee payroll issues; deescalated situations with angry employees; made follow-up calls to ensure situations had been successfully resolved.• Resolved employee payroll problems using Decennial Applicant, Personnel and Payroll System (DAPPS); prepared re-issuance paperwork to get employees new checks as needed.• Collaborated with a small team of fellow clerks to develop an extensive organizational and alphabetizing processes to efficiently sort and file over 440,000 SF-50 forms and other loose documents and match them with the existing 87,000 OPFs.• Led 25 employees in implementing the newly designed alphabetizing and filing system; monitored progress and reported it to supervisor (who worked a separate shift).

• Worked independently and as part of a team as a cashier in various gift shops throughout the amusement park; cleaned, organized, and stocked displays.• Provided customer service to guests by offering directions, advice, and assistance.

Atlanta, Georgia

I was hired by Dr. Ezra Vogel (Harvard University) to visit the Carter Presidential Library and physically examine primary source materials tagged with the keyword "China." Vogel was looking for material specifically related to Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping's visit to the United States, but China was the narrowest search term available. I evaluated 600 documents for their relevance to his project, provided regular summaries to Vogel, and sent him photocopies of selected materials. He published a biography of Deng in 2011.

Troy, Michigan

• Created and distributed minority employment data collection form, then collected and organized the results of the minority employment form as preparation for the City of Troy to file a federal report.• Updated employee job descriptions, retyping and standardizing the files as necessary.• Evaluated the City of Troy's employee handbook, studied and analyzed the employee handbooks of similar cities, then outlined suggestions for revising the City of Troy's handbook.

Oxford, Georgia

Oxford College uses the Supplemental Instructor program to provide group tutoring directed at courses with high failure rates rather than at individual students. After excelling in the class, I was hired to host weekly review and tutoring sessions for Political Science 101, an introductory political theory class, for two semesters. I found it incredibly rewarding, especially when I could see something click with a student, or when I was told how valuable my prep was for their exam.• Led weekly tutoring sessions for up to 40 students.• Worked closely with the course instructor to review students' progress and areas for improvement. • Prepared weekly handouts and in-class exercises; wrote comprehensive review outline to use in preparation session for in-class essay test.• Key Accomplishment: began each semester with only five or six regular attendees; finished each semester with 20 regular attendees and 40 attendees at review sessions before exams.

Master Of Arts - Ma, International Relations, 3.7

Activities and Societies: Committee on International RelationsMasters Thesis: Oil On The High Seas: Why the Chinese feel they have no.

Bachelor Of Arts - Ba, Political Science, History, 3.9

Associates Degree, Liberal Arts