Beth McGrath

Ms. Elizabeth (Beth) A. McGrath was sworn in as the Department’s first Deputy Chief Management Officer, a Senate-confirmed and politically appointed position, on July 1, 2010. Ms. McGrath leads the Department’s efforts to better synchronize, integrate and coordinate DoD business operations and serves as the Principal Staff Assistant (PSA) and advisor to the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense for matters relating to management and improvement of business operations.  Ms. McGrath is focused on achieving sustainable and enduring improvements and efficiency and effectiveness in the Department’s business related enterprise policies, processes and systems.  She also serves as the DoD Performance Improvement Officer and is responsible for formulating the legislatively mandated Departmental Strategic Management Plan.

Ms. McGrath serves as the Milestone Decision Authority for numerous business-focused Major Automated Information Systems (MAIS) and also executes the Department’s primary governance body for business transformation, the Defense Business System Management Committee; establishes performance goals and measurements for the Department’s business operations; implements the Department’s Continuous Process Improvement efforts; and is the Vice-Chair of the Performance Accountability Council that is responsible to the President to reform the government-wide security clearance process. Her responsibilities require extensive integration and coordination across the Department as well as with many Federal agencies, such as the Office of Management and Budget, Director for National Intelligence and the Department of Veterans Affairs. 

Previously, Ms. McGrath served as the Deputy Director for Systems Integration, Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) where she created a financial migration strategy that was executed with a collective budget of approximately $1B.  She managed the entire financial architecture supporting DoD-wide standard financial systems, integrating it with the Department’s evolving target, enterprise architecture.  Project scope included logistics, personnel, medical, acquisition and financial missions including many information technology solutions.

Prior to joining DFAS, Ms. McGrath served in a variety of program management roles culminating in Program Executive Office-level oversight responsibility. She possesses extensive knowledge of acquisition-related statutes, regulations and policies with over 20 years applied acquisition experience with Major Defense Acquisition Programs and MAIS.  She served as the Business and Acquisition Manager on an international torpedo defense program with the United Kingdom and held numerous other financial, acquisition and program management positions within the Department of the Navy.

Ms. McGrath was awarded the Meritorious Executive Presidential Rank Award for Fiscal Year 2008 and the Office of the Secretary of Defense Exceptional Civilian Service Award in October 2008.  She holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics from George Mason University, is a graduate of the Federal Executive Institute, is certified Acquisition Level III in Program Management, Financial Management and Logistics and is a member of the DoD Acquisition Professional Community.