Beth-Anne Sullivan

Tell us about your career at the Laboratory?

I lead the Laboratory's Information Service Department's (ISD) Project Management Office (PMO), helping project teams deliver on an ambitious portfolio of projects in service to our research. With only one year of service, I have already had the opportunity to collaborate with a variety of staff across the Laboratory and take part in so many different types of projects.

Most recently, I have been leading the Cybersecurity Model Maturity Compliance (CMMC) program. The DoD-mandated CMMC framework is designed to protect controlled unclassified information by ensuring we meet specific cybersecurity standards; these best practices have introduced new ways of working that require significant collaboration across the Laboratory as we align on a common set of standards. CMMC is not just about compliance — it's about protecting research, and ensuring national security and mission success.

What's an achievement you're proud of from your time working here?

I am most proud of the work we have accomplished through our Partnership for Operational Strategic Transformation group. This is a cross-functional group that is working to develop a common playbook for running projects across the Laboratory. This playbook contains a set of best practices, templates, and tools on how to run an operations project and aims to make it easier to onboard new project managers and will help us coordinate consistently across teams. I am so proud of the collaboration and commitment the team has shown in sharing ideas and working together towards a common goal.

What are some of your future goals?

My future goals are centered around building out our portfolio management practices with my fellow operations PMO leaders. We have made tremendous progress over the last year building the foundation and plan to make improvements in cross-functional resource planning, capacity management, as well as helping measure the value these projects are bringing to the Laboratory.

As a self-professed IT geek, I am also really excited about the prospects that generative AI will have on the way we work in the project management field and am excited to learn more about its potential impact to areas like risk forecasting and resource allocation.

How has the Laboratory supported your professional growth?

I believe mentoring is very important. When I first joined the Laboratory, I was blessed with a great mentor in Jessica Kesner, who really helped me understand the research mission and how we manage research projects. I look forward to paying that forward by sharing my background and experiences with those considering a career in project management.

Do you have any advice for someone seeking to work in your field?

My best advice is to not get discouraged when you have a project failure. Failure is inevitable in the project management world, but can also be an opportunity to learn. Be honest and open, take accountability with your stakeholders on the reasons for failure, and try to cut your losses as early as possible in the project. Take the lessons learned and use them to build a strong risk management plan for your next project. Failures happen, but how you support your team in the aftermath defines you as a leader.