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Michelle Poché Flaherty

Biography
With 20 years of public service experience, Michelle Poché Flaherty has held senior executive positions in federal, state and local government.  Since 2006, she has worked for the City of Rockville as an internal consultant responsible for change management, leadership development and performance improvement.  In addition, she serves on the Board of Examiners for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.

From 2002 to 2006, Michelle held the position of Assistant County Manager for Washoe County, Nevada, with a population of just under 400,000, where she managed half the departments reporting to the county manager, including planning, parks and public works.

In 2001, Michelle served at the U.S. Department of Transportation as Acting Deputy Chief of Staff and Special Assistant to Secretary Norman Y. Mineta.  Her work there included coordinating the department’s response to the events of September 11th, for which she was awarded the Transportation 9-11 Medal.

In 1999, Michelle was appointed by the Governor of California to the position of San Francisco Bay Area Regional Director for the state’s Technology, Trade and Commerce Department.  She and her staff coordinated economic development across thirteen counties and more than 100 cities for a region of six million people.  She also served as an ex-officio member of the California Coastal Commission.

For more than a decade, Michelle worked in public policy in the Silicon Valley area.  At the County of Santa Clara, she served as Chief of Staff to Supervisor Joe Simitian.  She worked in government affairs for the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, and served for five years on the staff of Congressman Norm Mineta.

Michelle graduated with honors from the University of California at Santa Barbara and continued her professional development at Harvard University through the John F. Kennedy School of Government’s Program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government, and at the University of Virginia’s Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service through its Senior Executive Institute. She is a graduate of the International City/County Management Association’s Leadership ICMA program. Michelle is professionally trained in coaching, holding a certificate as a core essentials graduate of Coach U, and is past president of the Chesapeake Bay Organization Development Network.