NextWave — Federal Finance Staff Training
By Ann Ebberts, CEO of AGA, & Lori A. Sexton, CPA, CGMA
At a recent meeting of the AICPA’s Government Performance and Accountability Committee (GPAC) in May 2024, Ann Ebberts, the CEO of AGA (formerly the Association of Government Accountants), provided insight into the very successful NextWave federal leadership training program. The NextWave program was developed internally by EY, and given its success, EY partnered with AGA to adapt and apply the innovative approach to help aspiring leaders in the federal government learn more about themselves, their teams, and their environment in preparation for potential entry into the ranks of senior executive service.
The events at the beginning of this decade changed the work environment dramatically, creating new challenges related to recruiting and retaining talent, interactions within teams, and the continued development of prospective leaders. The digital architecture of the future of work and the need to optimize within the hybrid work environment created the demand for NextWave.
Utilizing three pillars consisting of training, mentorship/sponsorship, and self-reflection, the program exposes participants to an innovative way of thinking about themselves, interactions with their teams and leadership, their personal development, and experiences needed to further their own leadership journey. The intent of the program is for participants to leverage their personal purpose and new knowledge of their own personas to build a vision, teams, and infrastructure needed to realize the federal finance organization of the future. Participants are empowered and enabled to develop a transformative mindset, generate a career-oriented action plan, apply techniques learned, and integrate high performance, while building a network of like-minded peers with whom to reimagine the finance function of the federal government.
Success is enabled through the understanding of how each individual fits within six identified personas. The six personas and their focuses are as follows:
The Catalyst helps the organization deliver complex change programs and strategic initiatives.
The Oracle helps the organization make better decisions.
The Concierge provides and continuously enhances customer experience for both internal and external stakeholders as consumers of financial information.
The Curator collects, processes, and delivers transactional information.
The Guardian drives trust in daily operations.
The Steward optimizes the use of funds across the enterprise.
Participants will assess how they view themselves in relation to these personas, as well as their peers in the program. Those assessments are then contrasted to yield individual insights. The knowledge of the personas ultimately results in the aspiring leader understanding how they, individually and with their teams, can deliver business value to their organization.
The core desired outcomes reflect different styles of leadership and emerging technologies as the participants are guided in generating business value to the federal finance function within their current position, agency, and department.
The current program participants are members of the third cohort and will celebrate their graduation from the program at AGA’s Professional Development Training event in Denver, Colorado, in July 2024. AGA is proud to work with the EY NextWave program leadership to deliver the NextWave Federal Finance Program as it helps to identify, develop, and prepare the next generation of federal finance professionals.
Author bios
Ann Ebberts, CEO — AGA
Ann Ebberts is the Chief Executive Officer for AGA, leading the national office staff that provides member services to its more than 80 chapters and supports achievement of the strategic goals as defined by AGA’s national governing board. Ann is the publisher of the Journal of Government Financial Management and, as CEO, oversees the development of educational and networking events for financial management professionals and the CGFM certification program, conducts research, and promotes accountability and transparency as well as intergovernmental cooperation and innovation. Prior to joining AGA in Oct 2014, Ann spent 30+ years providing management and technology consulting services to the federal government in financial and project management, process improvement, program evaluation, and implementation support for agency-wide shared services projects. She spent 26 years at Booz Allen Hamilton where she was a vice president on the financial services team. Ann has a bachelor’s in marketing management from Virginia Tech, a master’s in systems management from the University of Denver, and is a certified Project Management Professional.
Lori A. Sexton, CPA, CGMA, Associate Technical Director — AICPA & CIMA
Lori A. Sexton is an Associate Technical Director of Management Accounting at AICPA & CIMA, together as the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants. Among her responsibilities are research and development of management accounting resources, serving as an advocate for the public sector, and liaison to the Government Performance and Accountability Committee (GPAC). She also has experience providing audit, attest, tax, and consulting services to public sector and not-for-profit entities, as well as those in health care, manufacturing, financial services, and other niche sectors. Her past roles within the private sector have included international financial services and working with GSEs (government-sponsored entities), with a focus on financial, audit, and risk management