Julia Karmiris
Federal Affairs, Policy And Budget Expert
Washington D.C.,District of Columbia
Summary
A results-driven professional with nearly a decade in experience with the Federal Government. Demonstrates high level of strategic planning and operational management to drive growth and optimize resources. Focused on fostering team collaboration and maintaining flexibility to adapt to changing business needs, ensuring reliable outcomes and enhanced productivity.
Overview
12
12
years of professional experience
8
8
years of post-secondary education
2
2
Languages
Work History
Executive Officer
U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)
Washington, District Of Columbia
07.2024 - Current
- Member of the Bureau for Management’s Operations Management Division while awaiting deployment to anticipated assignment in Maputo, Mozambique.
- Completed training for my Contracting Officer warrant in alignment with the Federal Acquisition Regulation and dozens of other executive officer trainings including areas of human resources, mission management, contracting, travel procedures, policy development, legal frameworks, security, and interagency coordination.
Team Leader (FP-02)
USAID
12.2020 - 07.2024
- Worked in the Economic Growth Office (EGO), which covers a diverse portfolio including agriculture, environment, private sector, and infrastructure.
- Managed a $60 million portfolio, overseeing program implementation, budget oversight, and stakeholder engagement in food security and environment sectors.
- Designed, implemented, and evaluated agriculture, natural resource management, and disaster risk reduction programs aligned with national and international development frameworks.
- Acted as agreement Officer Representative (AOR) for the missions Agriculture and Nutrition Activity, and the Mission’s Conservation Activity.
- Led the development of Liberia’s Global Food Security Strategy (GFSS) country plan, ensuring the integration of Federal policy and strategic frameworks.
- Conducted policy research, analyzed trends, and developed evaluations to assess program impact, ensuring data-driven planning and decision-making.
- Provided technical guidance and leadership in project management, overseeing implementation partners and ensuring compliance with USAID and international best practices.
- Designed and conducted training workshops and capacity-building seminars for mission staff, improving program execution, promoting skills development, and providing best practices for stakeholder engagement. Developed team members' skills through targeted coaching sessions, resulting in improved individual performance.
- Led complex field missions, engaging with government officials, donors, and civil society to strengthen policy dialogue and development cooperation.
- Utilized data visualization tools to analyze program performance, identify trends, and inform strategic planning.
- Managed program budgets, prepared funding proposals, and ensured financial accountability in project execution.
- Led high-level interagency and donor meetings, including agenda setting, stakeholder engagement, and policy discussions.
- Served as Mission Disaster Relief Officer, and act as the lead on the ground contact for Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance. Led coordination with the Government of Liberia, United Nations, Red Cross, and other key humanitarian actors.
- Arranged duty trips for headquarters and regional USAID staff. Managed high-level trips for the U.S. Ambassador to Liberia, and Congressional delegations from Washington D.C.
- Worked with Government and World Food Programme counterparts to support the successful distribution of emergency food baskets to vulnerable households.
- Coordinated disaster preparedness training between Liberia’s National Disaster Management Agency and the U.S. Department of Defense.
- Contributed to cross-sectoral policy development, program coordination, and donor engagement to advance international development objectives.
- Acted as a Team Leader for the Mass Casualty Response Team, and as the Coordinator for the First and Second Tour Foreign Service Officer group.
- Set performance expectations for the team, monitored progress towards goals and provided constructive feedback as needed.
- Enhanced team productivity by implementing efficient work processes and regularly reviewing performance metrics.
- Empowered team members by delegating responsibilities according to individual strengths and areas of expertise.
- Collaborated with other department leaders to establish shared goals and ensure alignment across teams.
- Streamlined workflows for increased efficiency, reducing turnaround times for critical tasks.
Budget Lead (GS-14)
USAID
Washington, District Of Columbia
04.2020 - 12.2020
- Provided strategic leadership in program management, policy formulation, and resource mobilization within the Center for Digital Development.
- Managed all budget tracking, allocations, reporting, obligations, disbursements, and movements of funds for the centers $40 million portfolio.
- Served as activity manager for the global Digital Frontiers activity.
- Supported development of USAID’s Digital Strategy, and drafted cables for worldwide information on the strategy launch.
- Coordinated with the Bureau for Policy, Planning and Learning and drafted an Automated Directives System (ADS) chapter and helped document on digital inclusion.
- Led activity design process for new central mechanism for digital connectivity.
Deputy Director for Budget
USAID
Washington, District Of Columbia
02.2020 - 04.2020
- Member of the executive leadership team on the COVID-19 Task Force, served as the Deputy for Budget for the $1.25 billion provided to State and USAID through an Emergency Supplemental.
- Developed and managed cross-cutting Budget Unit, with 10 staff members, working on budget-strategy alignment, tracking and reporting, accounting and awards management, monitoring, evaluations and adaptive learning, and a coordination unit for intra- and interagency collaboration.
- Collaborated with colleagues from the Bureau for Global Health (GH), the Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA), the Department of State COVID-19 Task Force, and the Department of State’s Bureau for U.S. Foreign Assistance Resources (State/F) to develop a clear process for decisions, approvals, and allocation of resources.
- Coordinated with the Program Team on budget/strategy alignment, and ensure resources and programmatic decisions are aligned with the overall strategy for COVID-19 supplemental response.
- Prepared initial Spend Plan for Congressional Reporting for first tranche of supplemental resources.
- Prepared and transmitted updated spend plans for Congressional notifications every 60-days.
- Worked with systems experts to develop a COVID-19 budget tracking system that links planned and approved funding decisions to the Phoenix accounting system, for holistic tracking.
- Briefed senior-leadership from the COVID-19 task force, USAID, and State Department, of resource allocation decisions, and status of resources.
- Established and managed a team of monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) Specialists to develop a standard list of indicators and metrics for reporting on results.
- Developed MEL activity, for whole-of-approach evaluation.
Partnerships Advisor & Program Manager
USAID
Washington, District Of Columbia
01.2020 - 02.2020
- Partnerships Advisor & Program Manager for the $300 million Women’s Global Development and Prosperity (W-GDP) Initiative Fund.
- Establish and strengthen relationships with the private sector, for public private partnerships, private sector engagement, alliances and transactions, and developed memorandums of understanding and partnerships for technical assistance and activities furthering and women’s empowerment.
- Worked with technical offices, bureaus, gender advisors and other USAID parties to develop ideas for programming, coordination, interagency collaboration, and private-sector engagement.
- Coordinate with the Bureau for Food Security, the E3 Land Office, and other technical offices, on linkages between women’s economic empowerment and agriculture, land tenure, water, sanitation, and hygiene, democracy, human rights, and governance, education, health, and other sectors.
- Strengthen partnerships with international organizations, donors, and government agencies to align programs with global development goals.
- The Department of State, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the National Security Council (NSC), and the White House.
- Provided analysis and advised the E3 and USAID Front Office on complex programmatic issues.
Budget Analyst (GS-13)
USAID
Washington, District Of Columbia
10.2016 - 01.2020
- Lead Budget Analyst for the Bureau for Food Security (BFS) and the Agency’s Water and Gender portfolios, and alternate Analyst for the Bureau for Global Health, and the Office of Afghanistan and Pakistan Affairs.
- Acting Team Lead of the Budget Execution Team, covering all budget functions post-appropriations. Including the 653(a) annual budget allocations, earmarks and directives, recoveries and carryover, and pipeline.
- Briefed, advised, conducted in-depth analysis and provided recommendations for the USAID Front Office on allocations and funding decisions.
- Served as the key communications link and liaison to and manage coordination for BFS, Water and Gender, with the Department of State’s Office of U.S. Foreign Assistance Resources (State/F), OMB, the NSC, and facilitate cross-bureau coordination.
- Support bureaus on high-level strategic thinking and coordination, to ensure that budget allocations align with Agency priorities, and U.S. Government strategies for various sectors.
- Advocate for and identify funding for priority needs of the Agency Front Office, Bureau leadership, or Mission leadership.
- Assist bureaus with justifications for resources and flexibility and directive justifications within provided allocation levels.
- Developed week-long Agency-wide Budget and Resource Management Training (BRMT).
- This is a comprehensive training of budget background and all Agency processes around budget.
- Designed activities, verified content, and presented a condensed 'Budget 101' presentation to USAID/Afghanistan Mission.
- Facilitated cross-department communication to ensure consistent understanding of budgetary goals and constraints.
- Provided training and guidance to junior analysts, fostering a collaborative work environment conducive to professional development.
- Generated annual budget forecasting information for executive and corporate reports.
- Identified and monitored budget expenses for accuracy and signs of fraud.
- Evaluated procurement needs and projected expenditures.
- Implemented budgetary monitoring techniques to improve corporate spending habits.
- Monitored and reported budgetary discrepancies to corporate senior management to maximize reporting efficiency and finalized spending plans.
- Recommended financial solutions to corporate management based on detailed financial analysis.
- Reduced unnecessary expenditures, reallocating funds to more critical areas.
- Conducted rigorous cost-benefit analyses for departmental projects, leading to optimized resource allocation.
- Engaged in continuous learning to stay updated on best practices in budget analysis and financial management.
- Supported executive decision-making by providing accurate financial forecasts and recommendations.
Special Advisor
USAID
Baghdad, Iraq
04.2019 - 05.2019
- Developed a new budget tracking interface for the Program Office, to track prior, current and out-year budget expenditures and planning figures to better link strategic planning with budget preparation and execution.
- Coordinated cross-Agency and inter-Agency discussions around funding priorities, annual allocations, and financial management.
- Analyzed current country-context and assisted with the management of current institutional budget processes.
- Acted as a liaison with the Desk Officer to update technical mission staff on current operations and processes at headquarters, and to update the Bureau on current planning and upcoming deliverables.
Acting Team Leader
USAID
04.2018 - 06.2018
- Managed team of two FSN staff while serving as Acting Team Lead, for the Program Management Unit.
- Reprogrammed $15 million in expiring funds for a buy-in to spur private-sector investment and loan guarantees.
- Successfully advocated for unearmarked funding to support the vital Afghanistan Competitiveness of Export-oriented Business Activity to support micro, small and medium enterprises and drafted a memorandum of understanding with the Afghanistan Civil Aviation Authority.
- Reviewed programs, projects, concept notes, monitoring and evaluation plans, annual work plans and assisted in the integration of cross-cutting concepts such as agriculture, gender, environment, governance, local economic development, conflict, and corruption.
- Prepared briefing materials and presented on current strategies for senior mission leadership, provided support for the Country Development Coordination Strategy (CDCS) process, briefed mission leadership on new and on-going programming, prepared materials for mission-wide Quarterly Financial Reviews and Portfolio Reviews, presented to the mission Front Office.
Budget Analyst
USAID
09.2017 - 12.2017
- Advised all Mission Technical Offices on out-year budget formulation with regard to legislative compliance, Mission strategic alignment, adherence to USAID forward funding guidelines, and overall accounting accuracy.
- Managed a variety of ad-hoc and routine reporting requirements associated with Afghanistan’s $3.5 billion portfolio.
- Ensured all Mission planned activities have sufficient funding in the pipeline or in future budgets, requiring close coordination with the Office of Financial Management, Technical Offices and the Office of Acquisition and Assistance.
- Drafted, processed and cleared documentation for funding reprogrammings, Congressional Notifications, incremental funding requests, official host government implementation letters, and bilateral agreement funding amendments.
- Managed the Mission’s FY 2017 Operational Plan (OP) responses to approximately one hundred inquiries from State and USAID, in order to officially submit the time-sensitive OP, ensuring the necessary incremental funding of Mission programming.
Temporary Project Assistant
Robert Half
Washington, District Of Columbia
05.2016 - 10.2016
- Assisted USAID and UNICEF projects by working on content development, salary approvals, contracts, program analysis, and administrative assistance.
- Developed a new website for a large USAID program.
Government Affairs & External Relations
UNHCR – The UN Refugee Agency
Washington, District Of Columbia
01.2016 - 05.2016
- Assisted in writing of testimony for Deputy High Commissioner for Senate hearing.
- Tracked and analyzed legislation and Congressional; compiled data on current refugee rhetoric and migration patterns.
- Reported on Congressional hearings and briefings; for issues relevant to UNHCR; provided recommendations on Congressional meetings; conducted research on the global response to refugees and resettlement; prepared talking points and background data and information on Members and Congressional Staff.
Legislative Intern
U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs
Washington, District Of Columbia
09.2015 - 12.2015
- Assisted Professional Staff with research on topics relevant to the foreign policy agenda; attended policy briefings.
- Drafted letters for Federal Agencies, composed policy memos, edited Chairman’s floor statements.
Teacher
Bannakanluang School
09.2013 - 04.2014
- Taught English and Health to 1st, 2nd, and 5th grade in rural Northeast Thailand.
Education
Presidential Management Fellowship -
United States Office of Personnel Management
Washington, District Of Columbia 10.2016 - 10.2018
Master of Arts - International Peace & Conflict Resolution
American University, School of International Service
Washington, District Of Columbia 09.2014 - 05.2016
Bachelor of Arts - History
University of Pittsburgh, Dietrich School of Arts And Sciences
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 09.2009 - 04.2013
Study Abroad - International Affairs
University of Cape Town
Cape Town, South Africa 01.2012 - 06.2012
Skills
Relationship management
Administrative oversight
Process improvements
Contract management
Fiscal management
Policy development and optimization
Organizational leadership
Policy development
Customer relations
Branding
Talent management
Budget analysis
Timeline
Executive Officer
U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)
07.2024 - Current
Team Leader (FP-02)
USAID
12.2020 - 07.2024
Budget Lead (GS-14)
USAID
04.2020 - 12.2020
Deputy Director for Budget
USAID
02.2020 - 04.2020
Partnerships Advisor & Program Manager
USAID
01.2020 - 02.2020
Special Advisor
USAID
04.2019 - 05.2019
Acting Team Leader
USAID
04.2018 - 06.2018
Budget Analyst
USAID
09.2017 - 12.2017
Budget Analyst (GS-13)
USAID
10.2016 - 01.2020
Presidential Management Fellowship -
United States Office of Personnel Management
10.2016 - 10.2018
Temporary Project Assistant
Robert Half
05.2016 - 10.2016
Government Affairs & External Relations
UNHCR – The UN Refugee Agency
01.2016 - 05.2016
Legislative Intern
U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs
09.2015 - 12.2015
Master of Arts - International Peace & Conflict Resolution
American University, School of International Service
09.2014 - 05.2016
Teacher
Bannakanluang School
09.2013 - 04.2014
Study Abroad - International Affairs
University of Cape Town
01.2012 - 06.2012
Bachelor of Arts - History
University of Pittsburgh, Dietrich School of Arts And Sciences
09.2009 - 04.2013
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