Lucy Stewart, MBA, serves as the director of project and operational management at J. Craig Venter Institute, boasting nearly two decades of unwavering dedication to pioneering research project management. Her career is characterized by a diverse and impactful portfolio of projects that are centered on intricate, longitudinal, infectious disease and bioinformatics projects, solidifying her as a distinguished professional in the field. Beyond her role in project oversight, Ms. Stewart excels in cultivating collaboration among diverse stakeholders, ensuring optimal quality, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness within each project. Her leadership prowess is evident in her adeptness at assembling and guiding dynamic teams while prioritizing the needs of research participants. Ms. Stewart's strategic approach consistently identifies critical process enhancements, harmonizing project objectives with the dynamic evolution of research practices.

Ms. Stewart's multifaceted expertise extends to her significant experience in managing large and complex awards. Before her tenure at JCVI, Ms. Stewart held a post-graduate fellowship with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) through Oak Ridge Institute for Science in Education (ORISE). Here, she adeptly bridged connections between principal investigators, study subjects, collaborators, local communities, and funding agencies. Her responsibilities included overseeing a monumental recruitment initiative encompassing over 10,000 potential study subjects, managing 900 active research participants across multiple longitudinal studies, and meticulously supervised the collection and reporting of 50,000 diverse samples.

Prior to her fellowship with the FDA, Ms. Stewart played a pivotal role in managing over $30 million in NIH grants and contracts for the Blood Center of Wisconsin, now Versiti, and the Medical College of Wisconsin. Her contributions included facilitating business proposals, lab, vendor, and sample management and providing administrative management support to the Director for the Center of Immunology at the Wisconsin Blood Research Institute. Additionally she worked on reporting on the quality of healthcare across the state of Wisconsin by collaborating and collecting data from over twenty Wisconsin area hospital systems for the Medical College of Wisconsin. Ms. Stewart's rich and varied experience underscores her profound impact on the strategic and operational aspects of groundbreaking research endeavors, positioning her as an invaluable leader in the realm of project and operational management.

Ms. Stewart received a Bachelor of Science in administration/management from Southern Illinois University and a Master of Business Administration from American Intercontinental University.

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