Danette Fleishman

I serve as Budget Acquisition Section Chief at USCIS, a sub-agency under the Department of Homeland Security, where I've been for over 10 years and have spent over 15 years total in budget acquisition management. My main areas of expertise include budget management, acquisition review, contracting, and forecasting of funds and current expenditures. Right now we're in the thick of the annual operating plan, which consists of looking at what we currently spend, what we have spent, and what we're going to be spending in the future. I came into this field from logistics management in the military, where I realized I had an innate skill for project management and understanding numbers, data, rhythms, and patterns. I've always had the mindset of 'If I know, who else needs to know?' and 'How does that affect the next person?' What drew me to budget acquisition is that numbers don't lie, and I understand that if the money's not there, nothing's happening - you could have the right people, the right supplies, the right suppliers, the right location, but without the money, nothing's happening. I've worked in both the civilian and federal sectors, and they are very different. My most notable professional achievement is leading and growing people as a supervisor - I've seen many people that worked for me exceed far past me, and that makes my heart happy.