Jacquelyn Cabada Branscomb Haeberle

Directed the grantmaking strategy branch and a team of senior specialists, advising Program and Grants Management offices on policies, statutes, and regulations to ensure compliance across a $5 billion annual funding portfolio.

• Led and scaled the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO)/Grant RFP Simplification Pilot across 8 portfolios, utilizing a test-and-learn framework to cut average proposal word counts by 52% and sentence lengths by 38%, making federal funding accessible to local communities.

• Received the 2024 HHS Secretary’s Award for Administrative Excellence and the ACF Assistant Secretary Honors for leadership of the simplification pilot, recognized department-wide for reducing administrative barriers.

• Partnered across 10 technical portfolios to translate programmatic objectives into streamlined funding announcements that secured executive approval while maintaining risk mitigation and compliance controls (2 CFR 200).

• Supported and mentored a team during an organizational transition, implementing workload balance initiatives and achieving a 98% on-time launch rate for funding opportunities.

Modernized grantmaking workflows and served as the primary regulatory advisor to agency leadership on funding announcements and compliance.

• Redesigned the grant planning timeline to start development earlier in the fiscal year, removing structural bottlenecks, giving staff more time for reviews, and giving applicants more time to write proposals.

• Created and delivered clear guidance, FAQs, and grants management trainings for 225+ personnel nationwide, standardizing funding processes and mitigating operational risks.

• Brought program directors and legal counsel together to resolve language disputes, keeping child welfare grant opportunities on track while managing legal risks.

Coordinated enterprise-wide initiatives to identify and eliminate structural barriers in the grant lifecycle across 12 departments.

• Directed an empirical research analysis of 200 federal funding announcements across 11 departments, utilizing Flesch-Kincaid readability metrics and applicant burden data to identify systemic inequities and justify the launch of the HHS SimplerNOFO Prototype.

• Formulated the HHS Equity in Grants Project strategic framework, embedding standardized, objective criteria into funding design, competition, and post-award processes.

• Developed and launched an "Equity Toolkit" to help program leaders design unbiased scoring systems and make applicant evaluation fairer.

Advised program leadership on policy, analyzed grant data to improve planning, and spearheaded employee engagement initiatives.

• Analyzed four years of historical processing data to establish a 75-day target for writing and publishing grants, helping leadership plan and schedule cycles accurately.

• Built weekly tracking dashboards that gave leadership updates on the status of pending grants, ensuring funding opportunities met publication deadlines.

• Founded and led the ACF Asian American and Pacific Islander Employee Resource Group, creating a supportive space and professional development opportunities for over 100 staff members.

Coordinated policy projects and built tracking systems to monitor agency priorities and manage operational risks.

• Assessed over 45 program risks, helped leadership identify the top 7 priorities, and developed risk response plans to protect the program's long-term health and ensure audit readiness.

• Mapped out internal workflows to spot bottlenecks, creating an interactive Deliverables Matrix in Excel that helped cross-functional divisions stay on top of upcoming priorities.

Supported board operations, managed agency planning, and secured revenue.

• Wrote federal, state, and local grant proposals in partnership with budget staff, securing over $10,000,000 to expand community service programs.

• Developed financial management systems, managed corporate accounts, and prepared financial statements for the Board of Directors to facilitate financial oversight and compliance.

• Created databases and tracking systems to collect financial and program data for state and federal reports.