Melverta Bender
Project Manager
Mississippi
Summary
Experienced detailed oriented, organized, and dependable project and grants management professional. Team player with advanced understanding of budgeting, financial assessment, management, and reporting. Successful at managing multiple priorities, including coordinating, monitoring, and evaluating operations.
Overview
12
12
years of professional experience
4
4
years of post-secondary education
Work History
Director, Office of STD/HIV
Mississippi State Department Of Health
Jackson, MS
03.2020 - 02.2023
- Provided direct administration, accounting, financial, budgeting, reporting, and oversight of approximately $49m in federal and state-level funding.
- Prepared documents, budget justification and revisions throughout the award cycle (pre-award, activity phase, close-out, scheduled reporting, auditing, and post-award).
- Performed operational and financial assessments to ensure grants-related regulatory compliance, systems, processes, policies, procedures and internal controls of sub-grants and contracts.
- Researched grant opportunities from government and non-government agencies, including academic institutions.
- Conducted technical research for the development of new sub-grantee and contractor solutions.
- Leveraged professional networks and industry knowledge to strengthen client, stakeholder, and community relationships.
- Led development of assessments utilizing varied data collection tools to determine resource needs and allocation, gaps in services, strengths, and areas of improvement.
- Utilized project management technology and Best Practices to improve internal processes, including prioritizing, monitoring, and adherence to timelines.
- Implemented projects and training in the areas of grant writing, compliance, and financial reporting to support sub-grantees and contractors.
Project Manager, Multicenter NIH Clinical Genomics
Brigham And Women's Hospital
Boston, MA
10.2019 - 03.2020
- Managed study components for the PopSeq Project (Return of Genomic Results and Estimating Penetrance in Population-Based Cohorts) based at the Jackson Heart Study (Jackson, MS) while simultaneously supporting activities at the Framingham Heart Study (Framingham, MA)
- Helped team meet regulatory requirements by coordinating documentation and filings.
- Coordinated with cross-functional teams to resolve project issues and mitigate risks.
- Drafted project reports to identify successful outcomes, insights and future recommendations.
Project Manager/Research Director
University Of Mississippi Medical Center
Jackson, Mississippi
07.2013 - 10.2019
- Provided day-to-day administration, project management, operations, and financial management of approximately 17 projects totaling $16.2m in federal, state, and industry-sponsored funded projects/programs and research.
- Performed operational and financial assessments to ensure grants-related regulatory compliance, systems, processes, policies, procedures and internal controls
- Reviewed, prepared, identified, led, and participated in the development of proposals and concept papers to generate additional funding
- Established strategic goals for broad-scale research through acquisition of appropriate funding and program support.
- Recommended program and administrative policies, procedures, and and internal controls to ensure alignment with funding regulatory requirements
- Developed and initiated projects, managed costs, and monitored performance.
- Planned, designed, and scheduled phases for large projects.
Project Manager, Health-Promotion Research
University Of Mississippi Medical Center
Jackson, Mississippi
03.2011 - 07.2013
- Served as a research administrator and project manager, providing direct operational and financial management of $1.2 million federal cooperative agreement
- Identified plans and resources required to meet project goals and objectives.
- Drafted project reports to identify successful outcomes, insights and future recommendations.
- Provided detailed project status updates to research team and stakeholders
- Provided detailed technical and operational direction in project challenges, consistently meeting deliverables according to deadlines.
- Monitored project performance to identify areas of improvement and make adjustments.
Education
Ph.D.: Public Policy And Administration
Jackson State University
Jackson, MS12.2023
M.P.H. - Behavioral Health Promotion
Jackson State University
Jackson, MS 08.2004 - 12.2006
M.L.S. - Master of Liberal Studies
Millsaps College
Jackson, MS 08.1997 - 07.1999
Skills
- Verbal and Written Communication
- Continuous Process Improvement
- Grant Writing and Grants Management
- Project Planning, Implementation, and Oversight
- Financial/Fiscal Management and Reporting
- Research Administration
- Risk assessment and analysis
- Monitoring and evaluation
- Project/Program Management
- Regulatory Compliance
- Operations Management
- Policies, Procedures and Internal Controls
Affiliations
- Project Management Institute (PMI)
- American Public Health Association (APHA)
- Mississippi Public Health Association (MPHA)
Technology
- Microsoft Office Suite
- Project Management: Teams, Slack, Asana, Smartsheet, Trello, Monday.com, Microsoft Project
- Reference Management: Mendeley, EndNote
- Data Visualization: Tableau
- Document Management: Q-Pulse, Google Workspace, Google Docs, DocuSign, Box, Dropbox, SharePoint, Jotform, Adobe Acrobat, Smartsheet
- Grants Management: GrantSolutions, Salesforce, Electronic Handbook (Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA))
- Survey Development: REDCap, SurveyMonkey, Google Forms
- Virtual Meeting Platforms: Zoom, Webex, GoToMeeting, Microsoft Teams
Professional and Personal References
Available upon request.
Timeline
Director, Office of STD/HIV
Mississippi State Department Of Health
03.2020 - 02.2023
Project Manager, Multicenter NIH Clinical Genomics
Brigham And Women's Hospital
10.2019 - 03.2020
Project Manager/Research Director
University Of Mississippi Medical Center
07.2013 - 10.2019
Project Manager, Health-Promotion Research
University Of Mississippi Medical Center
03.2011 - 07.2013
M.P.H. - Behavioral Health Promotion
Jackson State University
08.2004 - 12.2006
M.L.S. - Master of Liberal Studies
Millsaps College
08.1997 - 07.1999
Ph.D.: Public Policy And Administration
Jackson State University