Kirsten Wallerstedt, Senior Manager
Kirsten has over 15 years of complex project management leadership experience across the private sector, government, and global nonprofits. Currently, she leads the Project Management Office (PMO) for the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES) at the National Science Foundation. The NCSES PMO has brought major advancements in project and program management to the Center, fostering a date-driven culture with Center-wide reporting and risk management. In addition, the PMO supports NCSES’ execution of the provisions in the Evidence Act related to the Single Application Portal (SAP), providing project management, communications, meeting support, and schedule management for the inter-agency working groups overseeing the development of the SAP.
Under Kirsten’s oversight, the NCSES PMO is also supporting the development of the “Data Place” which is establishing a system to document and process all incoming (i.e. external) data requests and produce analytics dashboards. These metrics will be utilized to improve processes and synergies between teams within the Center.
Kirsten is an experienced team leader and has superior client relationship management expertise (executive presentations, communications, change management, etc.) She is also an excellent facilitator, having led multiple executive ideation workshops for leadership teams to define and prioritize annual goals. She is results-driven and capably leads teams toward a long-term vision, while also adept at helping move teams through day-to-day coordination and collaboration, knowledge management, and problem solving.
Prior to joining Emerging Sun, Kirsten was a U.S. Lead for Hilton Worldwide’s corporate transitions team, and previously served as the Senior Manager for process improvement during 6 years at Verisk Analytics. She has led several international consulting projects in developing countries, and is an experienced product owner, working closely with IT teams to meet client requirements. In her early career, Kirsten worked with the Nonprofit Technology Enterprise Network (N-TEN), helping to make nonprofits more effective through the use of technology.
Kirsten has a background with a wide variety of public policy expertise and has spoken at numerous conferences and webinars and authored articles. She has dual degrees in Business Administration and Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Master’s Degree in International Relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, with a focus on International Business Relations.