As the Director of Management for the Joint Staff, Ms. Zakary manages enterprise services enabling the agility and efficiency required to adapt Joint Staff capabilities to a rapidly evolving Joint operational environment. She serves as the principal advisor on mission support and management operations and acts as the Joint Staff’s principal planner, director, and representative on all mission support and management matters. She leads a large staff of civilian, uniformed military and contractor professionals in the areas of financial management, facilities planning and operations, communications and information systems, physical and personal security, official records management and staff action processes, travel, and logistics.
Ms. Zakary has over 25 years of experience leading organizations in strategic planning and realignment, policy development, performance measurement and process improvement, acquisitions, and enterprise management functions. She began her career performing engineering analyses and simulation modeling as a civilian with the Naval Surface Warfare Center. She continued her tenure across the Department of Defense with positions in the U.S. Navy, U.S. Army, and U.S. Marine Corps, where she served in a variety of engineering and program management leadership positions for major weapons programs and enterprise services. Ms. Zakary also served as the Deputy Executive Director of the Foreign Service Institute, U.S. Department of State, and worked in the private sector leading strategic planning and process improvement initiatives.
Ms. Zakary earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research from Virginia Tech, and a Master of Science degree in Numerical Science from Johns Hopkins University. She is DAWIA Level III certified in numerous career fields, is a certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, and holds Project Management Professional (PMP)® certification.
(CURRENT AS OF JANUARY 2023)