Julie M. Anderson is the Chief Operating Officer and a Managing Director at Civitas Group where she leads the Commercial Strategy Practice.  Her expertise is in the area of organizational transformation, including strategy development and execution, operational excellence, financial management, resource planning, human capital development, and marketing and communications.  At Civitas Group she works with private and public sector clients to help them achieve their goals through analyzing markets and external environments, planning and implementing growth strategies, managing asset portfolios, improving operational processes, and managing organizational change.

Recently, Ms. Anderson served as Acting Assistant Secretary for Policy and Planning and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in the Obama Administration.  In these roles, she supervised strategic planning, operational planning, and policy development for VA.  She served as a senior advisor to the Secretary on decision-making around both internal departmental policy and external policy that affects veterans.  Ms. Anderson also led the transformation, innovation, and strategic management efforts for the Department, including the VA Strategic Plan FY2011-2015 and Transformation 21 initiatives.

Prior to her appointment, Ms. Anderson worked for IBM’s Public Sector Global Business Services practice in Washington, D.C.  In that role, she served as an associate partner managing initiatives on public sector strategy, health care, homeland security, and cybersecurity issues. Within the public sector, she has also served as a legislative aide to U.S. Senator J. Robert Kerrey of Nebraska focusing on energy and transportation issues and as a policy analyst in the Office of the Secretary of Transportation where she co-led the welfare-to-work initiative. Following the election of President Obama in November 2008, Ms. Anderson managed the VA Agency Review Team for the Presidential Transition Team.

Ms. Anderson earned her Master of Business Administration from Duke University in Durham, NC.  She also has a Master of Public Policy from the University of Chicago and is a graduate of Nebraska Wesleyan University in Lincoln, NE, where she was named a Harry S. Truman Scholar.