Caroline Bixiones

Experience

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  Japan Exchange and Teaching Program(me) (JET)

  Jun 2005 - Aug 2007

  Assistant Language Teacher, Chuo Ikuei Senior High School

  Selected to participate as only non-Japanese English teacher at a public senior high school as member of one of Japan’s largest cultural exchange programs run by Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs• Created original English lesson plans and exams and taught with Japanese peers to deliver 12 lessons per week to sophomores, juniors, and seniors• Managed classroom activities with assistance from Japanese colleagues• Assessed students’ written work and oral communications both formally and informally• Selected text books for school’s English oral communication coursework • Initiated and implemented a 35 student pen pal exchange program with a high school in Jacksonville, NC• Served as President of the Tottori Prefecture Association of JETs (AJET) Show less

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  PEPY Ride

  Jan 2008 - Jul 2008

  Tour Coordinator

  PEPY Tours’ adventure and volunteer tours focuses on educational and sustainable development in Cambodia, while introducing the beauty, history, and culture of this post-genocidal country to its participants.• Managed daily communications with all PEPY Tours participants, potential participants, and partner organizations • Collected, compiled, and maintained participant information in an Excel document• Designed information tracking devices and standard operating procedures for the role of Tour Coordinator• Organized travel logistics for all tours including the management of schedules and itineraries • Led bike tours and volunteer tours of over 30 participants through Cambodia; managed finances during tours• Maintained and updated PEPY Tours’ website (www.pepytours.com) with tour information• Continue to provide training and assistance to new employees in tour coordinator position• I continue to serve as a member of the International Fundraising Committee consulting on funding strategy, grant proposals, and fundraising event planning Show less

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  Grassroots Campaigns

  Sept 2008 - Nov 2008

  Canvass Director

  Hired as an Assistant Director in the DC fundraising office and promoted to Canvass Director to open a new office in Wilmington, NC for the MoveOn.org voter registration drive.• Raised over $3,000 in less than two weeks for the Democratic National Committee as an Assistant Director on the door-to-door canvassing team.• Managed a team of over 40 canvassers that collected over 1,500 valid voter registrations in 2 weeks• Trained new canvassers and field managers; organized and oversaw the execution of daily work plans• Directed recruitment and hiring of new staff; maintained daily tracking of recruitment, staff, and field data• Managed payroll and all finances including travel reimbursements, requisitions, and budgets Show less

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  IntraHealth International

  Mar 2009 - Jul 2011

  Project Specialist, Operations

  • Develop, manage and monitor the budget for IntraHealth’s Operations Department; established expenditure tracking system for financial projections• Provide operations support to project teams in Zambia to ensure program compliance with local law and USAID regulations• Coordinate annual physical inventory check of 16 field offices • Create database of IntraHealth’s registration to operate in foreign countries and support the registration process• Manage procurement of labor lawyers in the field • Assist project operations start up and close out, including inventory disposal, employee contract and lease terminations and initiations• Actively participated in six month organizational strategic planning processes• Support the operations team including the Vice President, a senior manager, and two managers to meet deadlines and complete project deliverables• Maintain documents for field office personnel (over 500 staff) and operations department on the company intranet; includes tracking leases, registration, employee contracts, contract adjustments, and labor law correspondence Show less

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  ICMA - International City/County Management Association

  Jul 2013 - Mar 2014

  •Support the day-to-day operational and programmatic implementation of two projects (USAID and USDA sub-contracts) with field offices in Afghanistan•Act as liaison to client and primary liaison between field offices and home office support teams; represent ICMA at annual conference, workshops, and stakeholder meetings•Identify short-term technical assistance needs; recruit and guide consultants to be consistent with ICMA standards and program objectives; prepare consultant scopes of work, review consultant deliverables, and authorize payment•Manage expatriate staff including recruitment, fielding and travel logistics, and technical support•Ensure timely submission of all contract deliverables and close-out reporting requirements•Manage program budgets totaling over $25 million; Review field expense reports and track program expenditures on a monthly basis; track obligated funding and modify contract budgets as needed•Serve on proposal teams in a variety of roles/functions including coordination, production, research and technical review•Created a financial analysis workbook, which includes budget templates, level of effort trackers, pipeline and projection managers, cost share reporting, and financial reporting tools; trained staff and institutionalized the use of the tool •Serve on two internal process improvement teams focused on strengthening ICMA program management standards and coordination•Provide training to new program manager staff; guide and oversee work performed by 2-3 assistant program managers•Travel to Afghanistan frequently to provide operational and programmatic support working with project and MAIL staff to implement ICMA’s capacity building and change management scope of services; including assisting in local staff recruitment and training, and providing facilitation support for training and workshops, budget and workplan development, and start-up operations for new projects Show less •Served on a short-term assignment as Acting Deputy Chief of Party of USAID Afghanistan’s $130 million Irrigation and Watershed Management Program (IWMP)•Assisted the Chief of Party (COP) in overseeing all administrative functions of the project: finance, human resources, IT, security and operations. Amongst other activities, this includes facilitating staff meetings, monitoring staff travel, participating in USAID coordination meetings, and recruitment of long-term technical assistance•Supported the COP and Home Office in preparation, review, and tracking of all USAID technical deliverables and admin/contract submittals such as international travel requests, LOE & rate approvals, subcontractor vetting, policy manuals, procurement/grant approvals, and contract modifications•Reviewed all project programmatic reports, including but not limited to monthly, quarterly, annual and final reports in full compliance with contractual requirements•Liaised with USAID/Afghanistan mission, government officials, and other donors and partner organizations associated with the work of IWMP•Supported the COP with project budget planning and management•Coordinated with operational departments – Security, Finance, HR, Operations – to strengthen systems, revise policies and procedures, and keep technical staff informed of operational activities Show less

  • Program Manager

    Jul 2011 - Mar 2014

  • Acting Deputy Chief of Party

    Jul 2013 - Oct 2013
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  RTI International

  Mar 2014 - Jul 2017

  Senior Project Management Specialist

  • Support all phases of project implementation, from project start-up to closeout.• Develop and maintain project management schedules, work plans, and other general project management resources and tools.• Establish and maintain financial tracking tools and budgets, monitor expenses, and help to design and implement strategies that address financial performance issues and help to identify risk.• Support the recruitment and onboarding of project staff and other human resources (HR) processes, including the identification of short-term technical assistance needs and resources.• Prepare travel and consultant approval requests, information for contract modification requests, and other actions for submission to clients.• Support the contracting and monitoring of subcontractors and consultants, review invoices; modify contracts when needed; and ensure timely payments.• Participate in procurement processes and ensure compliance.• Liaise and coordinate support services from RTI business partners and regional offices.• Track completed/approved deliverables, especially those required for USAID's Development Experience Clearinghouse and RTI-managed websites.• Ensure accurate and compliant record keeping; monitor and lead any correction process required to ensure project documentation, deliverables and data are maintained consistently in accordance with policies and standards.• Provide general reporting to project management teams.• Provide technical assistance and support to projects as needed.• Support business and proposal development, contributing to budgets and cost proposals, participate in review teams Show less

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  Ipas

  Aug 2017 - Jun 2021

  Associate Director, Global Award Management

  • Lead the organization’s procurement program, which includes purchasing of all goods and services such as independent contractors, subawards, grants, and purchase orders.o Completed an overhaul of outdated Procurement Policy, Standard Operating Procedure and Procurement Templates ensuring compliance with donor regulations and alignment with Ipas systems; Manage and maintain these policies.o Develop new templates, standards, and strategies to support all country offices, including headquarters, procurement initiatives.o Lead revision of the procurement to pay function in the organization’s Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system (Workday) and built intranet service center to support procurement.o Supervise Procurement team and act as buyer for US office approving requisitions, issuing procurement contracts, executing change orders, and negotiating with suppliers.o Advise programs on the entire procurement life cycle such as development of scopes of work, payment schedules, advances to suppliers, contractual terms, and solicitations.o Develop procurement training program including online webinars, demonstrations, and self-paced recorded trainings.• Manage the organization’s global travel policy and ground transport and vehicle use policy, intranet travel resource center, and relationship with travel agent. Develop, lead training, and assist programs in implementing these policies.• Developed and maintain organization’s start-up toolkit including start-up checklist, resources and templates covering all operations through close out.• Lead initiatives to reduce indirect rate through direct billing of allowable and allocable IT costs and travel insurance expenses. • Supported a global revision of headquarters and country office fringe rates.• Served as Project Management Lead for the final year and close out of Preventing Maternal Deaths, a seven-year, nine country global DFID award, as sub-contractor to Marie Stopes International. Show less

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  RTI International

  Jul 2021 - now

  Senior Subcontracts Officer