Biographical Notes
Janet St. Laurent (United States of America) - Chair
Ms. Janet St. Laurent is the Director of the Center for Audit Excellence, an organization at GAO whose mission is to build institutional auditing capacity and promote good governance by providing high quality training, technical assistance, and related services to domestic and international accountability organizations. As Director of the Center, Ms. St. Laurent is responsible for leading the development of Center training and technical assistance services and projects; developing relationships and partnerships with domestic and international organizations with similar goals to build institutional audit capacity; recruiting and supervising Center staff; and developing and implementing sound business processes and internal controls to manage Center activities and facilitate achievement of the Center’s mission.From January 2008 to January 2014, Ms. St. Laurent served as Managing Director of GAO’s Defense Capabilities and Management team. Her principal duties included managing GAO’s work on defense issues including force structure, readiness, logistics, infrastructure, defense budget, emerging threats, and military and civilian personnel issues. During her tenure, she led her team to achieve more than $30 billion in financial savings as a result of recommendations made to and implemented by the Department of Defense. She has testified numerous times before congressional committees, including the House and Senate Armed Services Committees. As Managing Director, she also mentored and supported the professional development of 250 staff members by developing team-based training, serving as an Adjunct Faculty member in GAO’s Learning Center, and hiring and promoting staff.
While serving as Managing Director, Ms. St. Laurent was also appointed by the Comptroller General to co-lead GAO’s first two congressionally-mandated annual reports examining duplication, overlap, and fragmentation among federal government programs. In that capacity, she worked with numerous GAO teams to develop a methodology and approach and developed a first-of-a-kind report that summarized GAO’s analysis. She also testified before the bi-partisan Presidential Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform (Simpson-Bowles Commission).
Ms. St. Laurent received a master's degree in Public Administration from Syracuse University and a Master of Science degree in National Security Strategy from the National War College. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.
Ms. St. Laurent has received numerous awards at GAO including the Comptroller General leadership award. In 2015, she received the Distinguished Public Administration Alumni Award from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University. In 2011, she was selected as a Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal finalist in recognition of her work on national security issues. She has participated in numerous public speaking engagements, including appearances on CSPAN, Bloomberg News, and public radio.