Ms. Jennifer C. Walsh serves as the DoD Performance Improvement Officer (PIO) and Director of Administration and Management (DA&M). She was appointed to this position effective September 18, 2023. As the PIO, she supports DoD-wide governance and institutional reform initiatives, chairs the Defense Performance Improvement Council, leads Department management engagements with the Office of Management and Budget, and serves as the central liaison with the Government Accountability Office and the DoD Office of the Inspector General for audit engagement and follow-up. As the DA&M, she serves as a principal advisor to the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense on DoD-wide administrative and management matters and provides policy guidance, advice and assistance on organizational and management issues, organizational adjustments, and structural realignments and congressionally mandated and senior-leader commissioned management reforms. Within this portfolio, she serves as the Chief Information Officer (CIO) for the Office of the Secretary of Defense, overseeing partnerships that enable IT system requirements and modernization; and chairs both the OSD Management Forum to address OSD-wide administrative and management issues; and the Pentagon Governance Council to address facility, safety, force protection, resilience, and continuity for the missions, personnel, and capabilities associated with the Pentagon Reservation. Ms. Walsh also exercises authority, direction, and control over the Director, Washington Headquarters Services (WHS) and the Director, Pentagon Force Protection Agency (PFPA).

Prior to the PIO and DA&M assignment Ms. Walsh served as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Hemispheric Affairs in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy. Supporting the Assistant Secretary of Defense, she held leadership, policy management, and advisory responsibilities for the following offices: Defense Continuity and Mission Assurance; Homeland Defense Integration and Defense Support of Civil Authorities; Western Hemisphere Affairs; and Arctic and Global Resilience.

Ms. Walsh entered federal government service in 1996 in the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) and was appointed to the Senior Executive Service in 2010. Her OSD experience includes assignments in the Policy offices for Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction, Middle East Policy, Afghanistan/Pakistan/Central Asia, Russia/Ukraine/Eurasia, Plans, Support to Public Diplomacy, Strategy, European Policy, Asia-Pacific Policy, Technology Security Policy & Counter Proliferation, and the Defense Technology Security Administration (DTSA). She assumed the duties of Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary (Homeland Defense and Global Security) duties in September 2020 and maintained the position following an OSD Policy 2022 re-organization and component name change to Homeland Defense and Hemispheric Affairs. She also served in the role of Performing the Duties of the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy from January 20 - April 29, 2021; and served as the Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Global Security from April 30, 2021 - March 3, 2022.

Prior to joining the Department of Defense, Ms. Walsh served as a J. William Fulbright Scholar to Sweden and worked as a policy analyst for the Southern Governors’ Association in Washington, D.C.

Ms. Walsh is a 2007 graduate of the National War College (NWC) at the National Defense University and served as the OSD Policy Chair on the NWC Faculty from July 2014-June 2017. She earned a Master of Public Affairs degree from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Louisiana Scholars’ College at Northwestern State University.