Started on the ground. Built the systems behind it.
I started as a wildland firefighter in 2006. From there I worked from Bureau of Indian Affairs regional and agency offices to headquarters, across wildfire, natural resources, trust land, and federal and Tribal programs.
At headquarters, the work was rarely about one thing. Modernizing the agency's geospatial program meant changing how it was funded and staffed. Giving wildland fire its own division meant resource analysis, funding allocations and organizational change all at once. Planning the workforce meant matching positions to succession plans for the people coming next.
I started Lillie Consulting to bring that whole-picture work to the utilities, landowners and Tribal Nations doing the work on the ground: an honest look at where you stand, a plan that holds up, the tools to carry it out and the people to make it last.
One approach, three parts
Most of the problems I see aren't a bad plan, a missing tool or the wrong team. They're a plan nobody resourced, a tool nobody was set up to use, or a team working from different information. I work across all three so they line up.
A plan has to hold up when it's tested.
I've built plans that had to survive budgets, reorganizations and real fire seasons, and I review them the same way.
- Led the analysis that moved wildland fire into its own BIA Division of Wildfire Management
- Analyzed how BIA agency offices could be consolidated to serve Tribes better
- Today: independent expert reviews of wildfire mitigation plans
Data only matters when people use it.
Tools should fit how the work is actually done, with the funding and staff to keep them running.
- Brought in to realign and modernize BIA's geospatial (GIS) program
- Shifted funding from contracts to in-house positions and stood up the Division of Resource Integration
- Today: early-detection sensors and data tools, integrated into how you already work
Plans and tools run on people.
The right people, in the right roles, at one table, with a reason to keep going after the consultant leaves.
- Oversaw BIA's Division of Workforce and Pathways
- Represented BIA on an Office of Wildland Fire project aligning positions with succession planning
- Today: partnership funding retreats, program and change management
Headquarters leadership
Special Assistant in the Office of Trust Services. Led GIS modernization, the analysis behind the Division of Wildfire Management, and workforce and pathways programs.
Wildfire & natural resources
Starting as a wildland firefighter in 2006, then working in regional and agency offices on wildfire, natural resources and trust land.
Tribal programs manager
Led Tribal programs and managed a nationwide assessment of Indian Affairs water systems and facilities, coordinating engineers, planners and Tribal communities.
Board member
Board member of the Center for Rural Outreach and Public Services, and consulting partner on a Tribal Nation's funding partner retreat that brought federal, state and private funders together.