Summary
Overview
Work History
Education
Skills
Websites
LANGUAGES
Timeline
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Ileana R. Valle

Alexandria

Summary

Multilingual and impact-driven professional with over 10 years of experience advancing international cooperation and humanitarian assistance across Latin America and the Caribbean. Adept at leading complex donor-funded initiatives, strengthening local institutions, and forging partnerships with governments, multilateral institutions, and civil society. Extensive experience living and working abroad, cultivating cultural intelligence, resilience, and stakeholder diplomacy – skills that have proven necessary to lead sustainable business practices in global contexts. Proven ability to align social impact strategies with organizational, public policy, and business goals.

Overview

13
13
years of professional experience

Work History

Operations Senior Manager | Diplomat

U.S. EMBASSY SAN JOSÉ, LAC Regional Office
09.2023 - Current
    • Supervise and provide operational leadership, direction, and guidance to the San Jose regional office comprised of 30 USAID employees and contractors, including the direct supervision of five local administrative office staff, resulting in increased team cohesion and employee morale.
    • Manage the 3.5 million operational and administrative budget for the USAID/BHA San Jose regional office, while serving as the primary LAC point of contact for all administrative, operations, and budgetary issues between USAID and U.S. Embassy administrative offices in the region.
    • Manage the office in the absence of the Regional Director and Deputy Regional Director, to include representing USAID/BHA in weekly Embassy Country Team meetings, further strengthening the communication and collaboration between BHA and U.S. Embassy Costa Rica's Front Office (FO).
    • Proficient in interpreting and applying complex government regulations that have informed regular operations and administrative briefings aimed at strengthening the programmatic staff's increased understanding of USG regulations.
    • Oversee the local compensation plan changes, leading to increased employee satisfaction.

Project Manager, Citizen Security | Diplomat

U.S. EMBASSY BOGOTÁ, Office of Migration (OM)
10.2021 - 09.2023
  • Monitored and evaluated activity performance for the 19 million OM citizen security, human rights, and justice portfolio and served as the primary point of contact (POC) between USAID, host country counterparts, and consortium of three implementing partners.
  • Provided strategic and diplomatic engagement with senior Government of Colombia (GOC) officials, U.S. Embassy stakeholders, and regional authorities to advance OM program priorities.
  • Led the strategic coordination across the OM portfolio, ensuring programmatic synergies, leveraging opportunities, avoiding duplication of efforts, and achieving overall development objectives for Colombia.
  • Established and maintained strategic relationships with GOC officials, community leaders, nongovernmental organization leaders, and donors, ensuring understanding of Colombia's socioeconomic needs and policy priorities.
  • Led regular monitoring trips to all nine OM-focused geographies to ensure programmatic goals were being achieved and to provide guidance and advisory when aspects of the program were not meeting goals.
  • Demonstrated ability to manage high-pressure scenarios, including security incidents and political sensitivities, ensuring mission alignment and staff safety.
  • Drafted speeches and talking points for high-level and programmatic events and social media content.

International Development and Training Lead

WOMEN OF COLOR ADVANCING PEACE AND SECURITY
05.2021 - 04.2022
  • Led WCAPS' strategic initiatives related to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility within international development.
  • Managed organizational-wide stakeholder engagement with international partners seeking to collaborate with WCAPS to increase visibility for women and diverse groups within foreign affairs and national security.
  • Oversaw WCAPS' chapters across four continents: North America, South America, Europe, and Africa.
  • Managed the development of policies and operational procedures to ensure the effective administration of six chapters outside of the United States.
  • Oversaw fundraising and development initiatives, including stakeholder engagement, and public-private partnerships with both domestic and international donors to ensure programmatic alignment with WCAPS' diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility policies, leading to 3 million in grant awards.
  • Supervised, mentored, trained, and guided one mid-level team member, ensuring high-performance and substantive professional development, leading to increased employee morale.
  • Managed and coached approximately twenty-five volunteers across the organization.

Senior Operations Manager

BETTER ENGINEER (BE)
05.2019 - 05.2021
  • Worked under the COO, responsible for operational direction for the company, led the development of various new initiatives that have improved overall company effectiveness and efficiency by 15 percent.
  • Led the development of approximately 10 different company policies, procedures, and benefits, which improved employee commitment and morale.
  • Oversaw the effective management of 10 BE personnel and over 20 contractors, ensuring low turnover.
  • Managed 15 client accounts to ensure overall satisfaction and timely processing of invoices.
  • Ensured the swift and quality selection of over 50 engineers ensuring a fit on technical client projects.
  • Oversaw the monthly employee and contractor payroll processing for 30 BE employees and contractors and led continuous operational process improvement efforts.
  • Oversaw the bookkeeping process and managed external accountants overseeing the effective accounts receivable and payable processing.
  • Led the development of compensation and benefits policies for the company, resulting in increased employee morale and satisfaction.

Co-Founder and Vice President

EQUANIMITY FOUNDATION
01.2019 - 05.2021
  • Co-led all strategic initiatives, priorities, and plans and led all short- and long-term organizational opportunities across the United States and Latin America, resulting in significant corporate visibility with the national and international global development communities.
  • Represented EQF with internal and external partners and during public and private events.
  • Led networking and stakeholder engagement efforts with public officials, the public sector, civil society organizations, and policy experts to forge strong organizational relationships and strategic partnerships, particularly in Colombia and El Salvador.
  • Led in-country project oversight of EQF's international presence across the Latin American region, such as monitoring and evaluation (M&E) and financial management initiatives, resulting in the quality implementation of EQF's initial two projects in El Salvador.
  • Advised the Executive Team on policy development and updates to properly inform short-term and long-term programmatic priorities.
  • Oversaw the development and management of operations and program talent and provided appropriate mentoring, development, and performance evaluations, resulting in improved team cohesion.
  • Directly supervise mid- and junior-level technical staff members; provide proper training and mentorship to ensure optimal performance.

Senior Program Officer

CREATIVE ASSOCIATES INTERNATIONAL
08.2017 - 12.2018
  • Led the program management of the 50 million Communities in Transition Division portfolio, primarily focusing on citizen security, rule of law, and security sector reform projects, including Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) development projects in Central America.
  • Served as the primary point of contact (POC) for the logistical, programmatic, financial, and technical support for the United States Agency for International Development's (USAID) Crime and Violence Prevention Project (worth 39 million dollars), including project reporting and monitoring and evaluation through qualitative and quantitative analysis of output and outcomes, has led to improved operations in the field.
  • Served as finance and budget lead, including budget monitoring and corporate forecast projections, and facilitated training on new financial management systems, resulting in improved financial risk mitigation and information flow to the Division's business development strategy.
  • Supported business development initiatives, such as intelligence gathering capture trips, technical writing, and budget formulation for citizen Security and rule of law programming for INL and USAID solicitations.
  • Served as Gender Community of Practice and the Citizen Security and Rule of Law Practice Area focal point and co-led the gender training development for five projects and three internal working groups to augment the firm's thought leadership and strategic direction.
  • Oversaw operational effectiveness, which led to the improvement of the local staff compensation and benefits plan.

International Program Manager | Expat

WITNESS FOR PEACE (WFP)
05.2013 - 06.2015
  • Led and managed Nicaragua and Honduras advocacy programs, worth a total of five hundred thousand, to further its mission of promoting just and sustainable economies in the Americas through effective grassroots organizing, coalition-building, and strong stakeholder coordination, which led to improved cohesion of WfP and its local partners.
  • Developed policy, economics, and history content for signature WfP delegations and performed the quantitative and qualitative evaluation of two country programs, resulting in a 10 percent increase in delegation attendance.
  • Served as the logistical lead for two annual youth and three academic delegations in collaboration with educational institutions, prominent international activists, and WfP leadership.
  • Performed monthly project reporting and financial analysis to ensure superior performance and strong fiscal management.
  • Facilitated a total of three security and programmatic training for five incoming project team members to ensure the integrity of both projects in Honduras and Nicaragua.

Enterprise Risk Consultant

DELOITTE & TOUCHE LLP
02.2012 - 05.2013
  • Developed and delivered comprehensive monthly and quarterly risk analysis for private and public entities, including the Bureau of Prisons (BOP), which consistently informed robust and ongoing risk mitigation strategies.
  • Prepared monthly detailed financial statements for the Bureau's submission to the Department of Justice and provided additional financial advisory to Bureau leadership.
  • Performed exhaustive financial audits to ensure full government compliance, resulting in increased client trust and improved risk mitigation initiatives.

Education

Master of Arts - International Relations and International Economics

Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS)
Washington, DC | Bologna, Italy
08.2017

BBA -

Strayer University
Arlington, VA
08.2009

Skills

  • Foreign Policy Geopolitical Risk & Strategy
  • Multicultural Communications
  • Strategic Diplomacy
  • Transformational Leadership
  • Global Stakeholder & Diplomatic Engagement
  • Project and Program Management
  • Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL)

LANGUAGES

English (native)
Spanish (native)
Portuguese (full professional proficiency)

Timeline

Operations Senior Manager | Diplomat

U.S. EMBASSY SAN JOSÉ, LAC Regional Office
09.2023 - Current

Project Manager, Citizen Security | Diplomat

U.S. EMBASSY BOGOTÁ, Office of Migration (OM)
10.2021 - 09.2023

International Development and Training Lead

WOMEN OF COLOR ADVANCING PEACE AND SECURITY
05.2021 - 04.2022

Senior Operations Manager

BETTER ENGINEER (BE)
05.2019 - 05.2021

Co-Founder and Vice President

EQUANIMITY FOUNDATION
01.2019 - 05.2021

Senior Program Officer

CREATIVE ASSOCIATES INTERNATIONAL
08.2017 - 12.2018

International Program Manager | Expat

WITNESS FOR PEACE (WFP)
05.2013 - 06.2015

Enterprise Risk Consultant

DELOITTE & TOUCHE LLP
02.2012 - 05.2013

Master of Arts - International Relations and International Economics

Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS)

BBA -

Strayer University

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Ileana R. Valle