13L

Kitty Wooley, M.A., PMP, began her government career in San Francisco in 1994, following a decade as a college financial aid director. Initially, she conducted site reviews of student aid operations in California, Arizona, and Nevada. In 1996, she moved to Washington, DC, to manage the development and national rollout of a risk analysis system intended to enable 300 regionally based specialists to prioritize oversight of 7,000 colleges. Since then, Kitty has managed projects that require skills in crosscutting analysis, communication of complicated subjects to non-experts, solicitation of buy-in, and connection of colleagues across boundaries. In 2008, she implemented and managed an internal feedback pilot that invited all managers and supervisors to help Office of Management peers improve agency support services. Currently she works in leadership development and knowledge management for the Deputy Chief Human Capital Officer in the office of the Assistant Secretary for Management, U.S. Department of Education.

In the whitespace, Kitty co-founded Conversations About Leading in 2003. This dynamic monthly dialogue, that connects employees with outstanding leaders, has been recognized for its effectiveness by the Council for Excellence in Government. Also in 2003, she hosted a dinner that inaugurated Senior Fellows and Friends, an award-winning multisector network of 480 federal employees and others who want to improve government. For the past two years, Kitty has helped design and publicize two innovative projects, Flash Mentoring and FedPitch, that were sponsored by 13L, a midcareer leadership collective. She now serves on the advisory board of Young Government Leaders, a large interagency network, in the hope that this talented incoming group, in partnership with motivated professionals of all ages, will give its best to the transformation of government.