Dr. Cheryl Cotton is a Principal at Lynch Consultants.  She brings her financial management expertise and is focusing on OMB Circular A-123, Risk Management and Internal Controls services, Improper Payment review and analysis and financial process improvement.  She is a management consultant with 6 years of experience supporting Federal clients.  She has supported Navy, the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia, the Chemical and Biological Defense Program (CBDP), the Department of Labor, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). 

Prior to joining Lynch Consultants, Ms. Cotton served as a member of the Senior Executive Service (SES) in the Department of Defense.  She also has 20 years of experience as a Naval Officer.  Her career focus is financial management, human capital management, process improvement and analytics.  She has extensive experience in Planning, Programming, Budgeting and Execution (PPBE), accounting functions and systems and military and civilian personnel forecasting and costing. 

Cheryl holds a PhD in Organization and Management from Capella University, a Master of Science in National Security Resourcing from National Defense University, a Master of Science in Operations Research from Naval Postgraduate School, a Master of Business Administration with a concentration in accounting from Jacksonville University, and a Bachelor of Business Administration with a concentration in accounting from University of the Incarnate Word. 

(540) 834-3490

DATA ANALYTICS & DATA MANAGEMENT

We apply descriptive, diagnostic, prescriptive, and predictive analytics and then present analytical results using compelling data visualizations to help our government stakeholders understand the importance of the trends and insights that emerge. Some examples of our data management and analytics support to our federal clients include:

  • Department of Defense (DOD) – Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) – Assist with planning, executing, monitoring, and providing support to DLA’s finance and accounting systems and data environment and provide recommendations on managing data populations; extracting and staging data populations for analysis and reporting; and assisting in the identifications of risks, process improvements, lessons learned, and other ad-hoc support to data management activities.
    • Developed data loads and new data visualizations to establish a central, enterprise reporting portal to present key performance indicators to support business operations and manage cash position goals that help executive-level reporting and enable drill-down capabilities to help identify the root cause of performance issues.
    • Assisted in the delivery of Robotic Process Automations (RPA) to support financial reporting processes, enabling the elimination of manual, time-intensive tasks and repurposing their internal subject matter professionals to higher value activities. Automation facilitated the validation of a high volume of financial records with an increased accuracy rate compared to their human counterparts and resulted in DLA saving thousands man hours.
  • Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) – Process development for the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Bureau of Primary Health Care (BPHC), Systems Division, devised a new methodology for collecting and reporting aligned data by examining existing reports and platforms and mapping elements to be joined in a single dynamic reporting tool.

FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT & RISK ADVISORY

We work with federal agencies as partners on every project and bring a holistic perspective, deep knowledge of government operations, resource management, and specialized skills in program integrity, including advanced risk analytics. We want our partners to lead, transcend traditional processes, and grow stronger and more capable.

  • Navy and Marine Corps – Financial Improvement Program and Audit Sustainment – Provide financial management and internal controls across Headquarters and Fleet commands, supporting more than 50 workstreams aligned with business process standardization, financial systems and data integration, internal controls policy and execution and validation within the assessable units (AUs), and plant, property, and equipment (PP&E) accountability.
  • Department of Veterans Affairs – Risk management – Undertook a comprehensive revitalization of programmatic internal controls with the lead Headquarters element to build a sustainable methodology to identify, define, remediate, and report programmatic risks within the key program offices. The holistic approach included an assessment of organizational alignment with business structure, risk profile, and intended outcomes to provide Risk and Audit Optics codified in the Green Book and Yellow Book Assess impact of evolving organizational strategic orientation.
  • Department of Housing and Urban Development – Risk Management – Supporting risk assessment, management, and remediation of the financial management systems consistent with OMB A-123 Appendix D, and with remediation of material weaknesses that helped the department achieve an unqualified audit opinion. We support the OCFO, implement the risk management operations and simultaneously interact closely with the program offices responsible for the financial management systems and relevant material weaknesses.

CIO Advisory & IT STRATEGY

With federal IT Investments exceeding $200B annually and only having a success rate of approximately 50%, LC provides precise, sophisticated, and dedicated analysis to ensure our clients are effectively strategizing and acquiring the most needed advancements, as well as providing the independent oversight and governance to increase the probability of success. Some examples include:

  • Food and Drug Administration (FDA)- Developed an IT Governance Board to manage the entire Select, Control and Evaluate SDLC lifecycle. Implemented a process where the governance board assessed and approved or denied every new project, required regular briefings to the Board and reviewed Annual Operating Assessments on developed systems.
  • Department of Transportation (DOT)- Supported the implementation of a new Departmental Grants Management System. Provided the Department with an 8-step approach to ensure documentation of all requirements, comprehensive assessment of alternatives, necessary Gap Analysis reviews, and delivered ultimate recommendations.
  • Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)- Created a Portfolio and Project Management Methodology that incorporated Governance, Project Management, Risk Management, and status reporting. We work with projects and senior leadership to ensure transparency in progress, status, risks, issues, and dependencies.
  • Department of the Navy (DON)- Focused on the Business Mission Area suite of systems, with specific emphasis on finance, property, and logistics in order to rationalize and streamline the underlying business processes and data flows for key activities, such as Acquire-to-Retire (A2R), Hire-To-Retire (H2R), and financial statements.

PROGRAM & PROJECT MANAGEMENT

The complexity and importance of federal programs demand rigorous application of project and program management principles and our consultants are leading the way. Program success depends on coordinating a diverse set of stakeholders to develop a common understanding of requirements, maintain clear channels of effective communication, manage expectations, and monitor progress, performance, and continuous improvement. How we support clients is detailed below:

  • Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) – Program management for projects as diverse as financial management, information technology, and internal controls. We work at multiple HHS Operating Divisions (OpDivs) including the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).
  • Department of Defense (DOD) – Armed Forces – Support for some of the largest financial management and internal controls audit support programs in the Armed Forces, including Department of the Navy (DON) and United States Marine Corps (USMC).
  • Department of Defense (DOD) – Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) – Delivering program and project management support for logistics and supply management, audit sustainment, and Business Process Analysis (BPA) projects agency-wide.
  • Defense Policy Review Initiative (DPRI) – Realigned approximately 25,000 Marine combat forces from Okinawa to mission-critical geographic locations across the Pacific to coordinate with military service components regarding crucial dependencies, such as Harbor enhancement, facilities construction, training ranges, and local government agreements.