The following document acts as a general writing sample, while demonstrating how I have translated ideas into actions so as to provide a concrete example of my experience. I focus on a single example to illustrate my capacity to develop ideas, strategies, and relationships to generate funding and take actions, both on the ground and in the realm of research, policy, and program implementation.

The purpose is to offer a concrete example in which I was the major player in achieving the results, while a Federal Employee with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, International Activities (NOAA Research). OAR has a budget of about $330 million per year. At the time of my hiring, the IA office recruited me from the National Conservation Training Center, USFWS where I completed my two years as an US Presidential Management Fellow.

NOAA Research was looking to expand their scope of work abroad by developing more expansive research programs to support the agency’s mission. This shift in focus required new funding; since these actions were not always appropriated by Congress, but authorized. Subsequently, IA hired me as the Team Leader for International Partnerships and Funding Opportunities and then tasked me with developing an internal strategy to acquire external resources to support NOAA Research.

IA sought an individual that could do with little advice or guidance, quickly develop an understanding of NOAA headquarters’ corporate priorities, and learn the ‘in-and-outs’ of the National Sea College Program, the National Undersea Research Program, and NOAA Research’s 12 laboratories and 11 joint institutes, as I would represent them internationally, particularly in Latin America and the Caribbean.

My aim was to find the money and the partners for NOAA Research to capitalize on the financial resources available through multi-lateral institutions, other US agencies conducting international work, and then leverage those resources through creative partnerships. Other than that, I had no more guidance when I started with NOAA.

During my first six months, I spent nearly 100 percent of my time getting to know the researchers and their goals so that I could begin identifying opportunities, while establishing relationships with relevant actors internal and external to the agency. The outcome was a fairly rapid compilation of information that permitted me to develop an international partnership and funding strategy by collaborating with a wider set of actors. Ultimately, it resulted in creation of NOAA Research’s International Technical Assistance Program (ITAP).

I quickly established that the best opportunity was in Central America, where USAID had engaged the National Sea Grant College program to give technical help to support post-Hurricane Mitch reconstruction between 1999 and 2001. From a technical perspective Sea Grant met a clear need in the region by providing a useful nested governance model for resolving marine and coastal resource conflicts; from a political perspective it was a good investment in building relationships with Central American countries in the lead up to negotiations for the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA).

I began speaking with NOAA leadership about the concept of developing Sea Grant programs in other countries modeled on and linked to the US program. Whereas NOAA’s focus had always been on technical exchanges and help, my proposed strategy sought to discuss the institutional failures and deficiencies in governance in the region over the long-term, and not to focus on short-term technical exchanges unaligned with wider goals.

The challenge was identifying the resources to research whether it was possible to adapt the US Sea Grant model to a Latin American and Caribbean context more broadly. NOAA leadership immediately provided me with the travel money to take my ‘tin cup’ to the region and propose my strategy. After many meetings with US embassy staff, ministers and vice ministers in Nicaragua, Honduras, and El Salvador, and regional and local NGOs, I learned that the Caribbean Economic Community (CARICOM) and the Central American Commission for Environment and Development (CCAD) were having a meeting in Belize City, Belize to discuss regional issues associated with marine and coastal resource management.

I immediately changed my travel itinerary and flew to Belize, despite it not being in my original travel orders. I ended up attending the meeting as an US delegate and quickly identified the US Department of State’s Regional Environmental Hub Officer, David Alarid, as the best person to approach on my strategy and funding request. Upon meeting David, I neither mentioned my ideas nor talked about money, instead I focused on developing a comfortable rapport with him.

Once the CARICOM/CCAD meeting concluded, David asked me to join him and a small group of others on a weekend trip to the nearby San Pedro Island. After a couple of days of beach going, dining out and spending time with David, I was able to quite comfortably broach the subject of the concept and strategy for Sea Grant program development in the region, an opportunity to use a proven institutional model to fill governance vacuums in the context of democratic and capitalist transformations. He asked a few questions, including how much it would cost to do the research, to which I was able to respond; $150K. He asked for a proposal by the end of the week, and within three months the full amount, approved and disbursed. As a result of my unsolicited proposal (often the more difficult type of funds to acquire), I was able to meet my first aim.

With Acquisition the these funds, I became the Senior Program Manager for Latin America and the Caribbean, and I began focusing my efforts on building further political and financial support for Sea Grant program development in the region. I used  the funds to hire a contractor to support my efforts. The remaining funds, leveraged over later years, resulting in over $2 million in leveraged funding that supported the collective efforts of NOAA Research, and the other partners that I brought into the project.

In order to complete the proposed goals. I established a number of creative partnerships with the University of Rhode Island Coastal Resources Center (CRC), the University of Rhode Island Sea Grant program, the National Sea Grant Association, the US Department of State, and government and university officials in Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Ecuador. The funding for the initiative originated from the State Department’s Ocean, Environment and International Scientific Affairs Initiative (OESI) grant program, which was highly dependent on David Alarid’s support for my proposal.

Once the funds awarded arrived, I developed strong relationships with others within the OESI office and the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, which led to a renewal of the grant two years later as the State Department raised the initiative to higher levels. The funds acquired were the result of collective efforts among the partners to use the 501(c)3 status of CRC, and the technical expertise internal to the National Sea Grant College network to leverage further support for pilot programs. In addition to the activities taking place on-the-ground, funded by OESI and related grants, I was also able to translate my actions into a major NOAA Research initiative after compelling the White House Council on Environmental Quality to include my aim as a part of the Bush administration’s US Ocean Action Plan, having it become a key part of the White Water to Blue Water Initiative spearheaded by the State Department in the wider Spanish-speaking Caribbean.

My efforts also raised international program development as a strategic priority of NOAA Research at the level of its Administrator, Vice Admiral Conrad Lautenbacher (Retired), and the Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Affairs. As the Senior Program Manager for Sea Grant International, I then acquired oversight responsibilities for new research and program development efforts in the Western Pacific, SE Asia, Northern Africa, and Asia.
The efforts I described here clearly show my capacity to development the necessary relationships to translate ideas into actions and advance institutional goals. Subsequently, the example illustrates my fundraising capacity and my ability to lead a strategy from concept to implementation, my entrepreneurial approach to development, and my ability to develop innovative partnerships.