MARIA A abpdpn@r.postjobfree.com(***) **5-0041

OBJECTIVE: to use my leadership skills as a Chief of Party and Senior Project Manager, and my experience as a management consultant with one of the leading management consulting firms, to make positive changes to organizations, processes, management procedures, services, structures and norms to improve the general wellbeing of people. I bring to this position 16 years of experience implementing complex projects that have resulted in a significant growth and improvement of operations.

Core Skills

LEADERSHIP: As Project Manager and Chief of Party over the past 16 years, I have led teams across multiple geographies, in complex country settings, and with diverse backgrounds. I have represented my projects before clients of the highest levels of Government including Vice-Presidents of Countries, Ministers of Finance, Heads of Customs Authorities, among others. I developed recruiting strategies and led recruiting efforts. I have taken numerous courses on people development, leadership of teams, including virtual teams, and management of client needs. I have led large conferences (over 250 people) and am an avid public speaker in Spanish and English. I enjoy training and teaching and have experience with adult learning and developing train-the-trainer programs.

PROJECT MANAGER: I have led large complex and multi-component US Government funded projects value range from $1.8 million to $15 million – including scope, people, financial, risk, quality, performance management, monitoring and evaluation, as well as procurement. Projects included transformation of government agencies, simulation and war gaming, creation and design of new units and departments, development of new processes, definition of skill set for new staff, assessment and development of new IT systems, among others.

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT: I led over 30 proposals, capture efforts and expressions of interest, with values between $1 million and $60 million. Experience as proposal manager, capture manager, technical lead and writer, researcher, recruiting, past performances, and cost proposals. Led the development of the Latin American market for my employer, direct marketing experience. Managed marketing efforts in the Middle East.

TECHNICAL SKILLS: Core competencies in law, competitiveness, export promotion, trade, customs, improving the business environment, public-private partnerships, process improvement, organizational restructuring, policy reform, gender, workforce development, small-medium enterprise development, training.

CLIENT BASE: Experience with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Department of Homeland Security – CBP, The World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, Commercial Clients, Foreign Governments.

COMPUTER SKILLS: Proficient with MS Project, Excel, Visio, PowerPoint, Word and SharePoint.

LANGUANGES: Fluent in Spanish, English, very basic Portuguese, very basic Arabic and American Sign Language.

CLEARANCE: I am a US Citizen and can obtain a security clearance.

Education

LL.M. International Trade Law and Policy – University of Arizona, 2002

J.D. Universidad Catolica Andres Bello – Venezuela, 1995 Summa Cum Laude

Project Management Professional Certificate - P.M.P # 425758– valid until 2013

Experience

INDEPENDENT CONSULTANT

CARANA Corporation, March – August 2012

Business Environment for Agile Markets (BEAM): March – July 2012: Under the scope of the USAID funded Business Environment for Agile Markets (BEAM) I led assessments in Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala to validate progress to date in completing actions necessary to facilitate trade and comply with these country's WTO Trade Facilitation Agreements. The work required in-country meetings with public and private sector stakeholders, analysis, and coordination with the USAID Missions in each country, the US Department of Commerce and Customs and Border Protection. I drafted 4 reports, including specific scopes of work that will guide the future work of USAID for Central America.

PRIDE JAMAICA: June–July 2012: Supported CARANA's USAID Jamaica funded Promote, Renew, Invigorate, Develop and Energize the Economic Environment (PRIDE) project, to assess the impact of PRIDE Jamaica to date, and develop a lessons learned and best practices report.

Business Development: March–August 2012: Supported CARANA’s marketing efforts by helping to develop market strategies, identify key local stakeholders and position the firm for a food security and trade project in Central America. Technical lead and writer on the trade and customs portion of the proposal. Wrote the Performance Management Plan (narrative and key performance indicators for trade) as well as the Life of Activity Work Plan (Narrative and Graphic).

Crown Agents, February 2012: Developed a Performance Management Plan for a bid with USAID Armenia.

Nathan Associates, Arlington, VA, October 2011-December 2011: Assisted in the development of various market strategies to access USAID funded projects.

National Law Center for Inter-American Free Trade, Tucson AZ, October 2011- December 2011: Led the new business development strategy of the Center. Work included developing new service offerings, developing marketing materials, and leading marketing trips to Washington, DC to meet with potential clients. In addition, the work included training Center staff on business development methodology, proposal development processes as well as data gathering and data mining.

Texas Transportation Institute, University of Texas A&M, August 2011 – October 2011 – Inter-American Development Bank funded project: Served as customs and trade expert, collecting qualitative and quantitative data regarding the volume of vehicles that use of the Pacific Corridor, from Mexico to Panama. The work included connecting with the customs authorities and main chambers of transporters of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua and Panama to obtain their historical data of volume of vehicles in their portion of the corridor, and their views on the needs for improvement of the infrastructure. The work resulted in an in-depth analysis of the infrastructure needs of the region in order to facilitate the growth of the Pacific Corridor.

Booz Allen Hamilton, Inc., August 2011 – October 2011 – World Bank funded project: Served as Senior Project Manager for a Financial Crisis Simulation Exercise for the Costa Rican Superintendence of Banks. Led relationship with the World Bank representatives as well as the Government of Costa Rica. Led data gathering trips, the As-Is report as well as the development of the simulation exercise.

EMPLOYEE

Booz Allen Hamilton, Inc., Lead Associate, July 2005 – April 2011

1. In 2011 I served as capture manager and technical lead for a USAID funded $8 million proposal to support the economic growth of El Salvador. I also served as Project Manager for a World Bank funded Costa Rica Financial Simulation exercise. Led teams in Costa Rica to assess the strength of the financial sector. I helped to develop a strategy and design for the new Macedonian export promotion agency, under a USAID Macedonia funded project.

2. October 2010, I led the assessment of the business environment of Mexico, under the BizCLIR USAID funded project.

3. Project Manager (2006-2008 and 2009-2010) and Chief of Party-Country Director (2008-2009) USAID-El Salvador Customs and Business Environment that Promote Trade and Investment Project.

Supported community development activities and small-medium enterprises as well as the implementation of Small Business Development Centers in El Salvador.

The worked resulted in the reduction in clearance times of goods at El Salvador’s main ports of entry, a significant reduction in the inspection rates at main ports of entry from 27% (2006) to 7.5% (2010), while increasing collections due to detection of risky cargo by 50%.

Helped to draft customs legislation such as a procedure for Advanced Rulings.

For the Office of the Technical Secretariat of the Presidency, Maria helped to draft a new modern Secured Transactions Law and a new Bankruptcy Law for the country.

Helped develop a virtual e-commercial registry.

Maria managed work with the Small and Medium Enterprises Commission and the Ministry of the Economy to complete an analysis of the SME support network in the country, including small farm businesses.

To ensure a successful implementation, Maria helped to hire local and international experts, who were instrumental in providing the technical expertise needed for the diversity of components of the project.

4. 2008, Manager and technical director: Pakistan Gender analysis and assessment for USAID Pakistan.

5. 2006-2007, managed the Assessments and Technical Assistance components of the $15 million USAID/BizCLIR project.

6. 2005-2006 for the Egypt Ministry of Finance, managed a project to modernize the Egyptian Customs Authority by developing the Account Management System, a new risk management system for the country where risk analysis is company based and not transaction based. She also managed the design of a new Tax Appeals process for the Egyptian Tax Authority and helped design a Customs Training Academy for Egypt.

National Law Center for Inter-American Free Trade, Research Attorney, October 2001- February 2005

1. General research on international trade and customs issues, as well as support for marketing opportunities

2. Worked on a project for U.S. Customs to study Transshipment and Other threats to the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights in the United States, Mexico, Canada and the European Union.

3. Worked on projects focusing on e-commerce, e-document and e-signature laws in Latin America and the Caribbean.

4. Consulted on a project destined to assess the implementation of the eight business facilitation measures that were adopted for implementation by Free Trade Area of the America (FTAA) member countries.

5. Supported the USAID Seldon (currently USAID BizCLIR) project by conducting assessments of the commercial and business environment in Central America for the implementation of the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA).

d’Empaire Reyna Bermudez & Asociados, September 1997- December 2000

1. Assisted many foreign and domestic clients to set-up and complete the processes necessary to invest in the Venezuelan telecommunications, oil and gas and energy sectors.

2. Worked with clients concerning international public offerings, mergers and acquisitions, corporate structures, foreign investment, general corporate and labor matters.

Clyde & Co., March 1994-August 1997

Assisted clients in connection with:

1. Oil and gas regulations, profit-sharing agreements, operating agreements, technical assistance agreements; services contracts and foreign investment provisions

2. Investments in the mining and energy sectors

3. Environmental regulations governing mining, oil and gas explorations

4. Investments and regulations of the telecommunications sector Languages

English (fluent); Spanish (fluent); Portuguese (basic); Arabic (very basic); American Signed Language (basic)

Publications

Arizona Journal of International and Comparative Law, Study of Selected International Dispute Resolution Regimes, with an Analysis of the Decisions of the Court of Justice of the Andean Community, 2002, Volume 19 Number 3.

Teaching

Assistant professor of Administrative and Criminal Law, Universidad Catolica Andres Bello, 1994-1995

Train-the-Trainer programs for Egypt Customs (2006) and for El Salvador Customs (2007-2009)

References

Kim Kotnik, 202-***-****, abpdpn@r.postjobfree.com; abpdpn@r.postjobfree.com – Ms. Kotnik was my manager during my last 3 years in Booz Allen.

Carlos Arce, El Salvador USAID Mission, abpdpn@r.postjobfree.com – +503-****-**** – Mr. Arce was the COTR for the El Salvador USAID project I led as Chief of Party.

Regina Hehir, Business Development Lead, Deloitte, 703-***-****, abpdpn@r.postjobfree.com – Booz Allen colleague.

Mira Ibrisimovic, Business Development Lead, QED, 703-***-**** - Booz Allen colleague

George Atalla, Booz & Co., abpdpn@r.postjobfree.com – Senior manager during the Egypt Customs project.

© 2012 Maria A Rodriguez Murphy

© 2012 Maria A Rodriguez Murphy

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