Kathleen Turco

General Services Administration
Kathleen Turco
Chief Financial Officer

Kathleen Turco landed her dream job three years ago when she became the chief financial officer at the General Services Administration. "It was my career aspiration many years ago," she says.

Turco manages an annual budget of $19 billion for what she calls the "premier acquisition agency." Most recently, she led the financial management division of the task force charged with reorganizing the Federal Technology Service and Federal Supply Service, which are separate IT divisions. The task force drafted a plan released in June that suggests the two combine into a single unit, the Federal Acquisition Service, which would streamline GSA's financial management and give the CFO more oversight authority.

Prior to arriving at GSA, Turco held two positions at the Internal Revenue Service. She was deputy chief financial officer, where she oversaw the agency's $8 billion budget, and later became the director of financial policy, planning and programs modernization and information technology services. Turco also has experience with restructuring at IRS, where she worked on an overhaul from 1998 to 2002 that she says created a much more "customer-aligned" department.

Though she has worked in finance her entire career, Turco was an elementary education major at the University of Maryland, and first cut her teeth in government as an intern at the Education Department in 1985. She spent three years there and became a program analyst in the Office of Planning, Budget and Evaluation. From there, she moved to the Office of Management and Budget, where she served for 10 years.