Ballard, who received a BA in English in 1980 from the University of Dayton in Ohio, a Master of Science in Management in 1989 from Friends University in Wichita, Kansas, and a Master of Science in National Resource Strategy from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces in 2001, also completed the Industrial College of the Armed Forces Senior Acquisition Course, and Leadership for a Democratic Society at the Federal Executive Institute. In her thirty years of federal government work she has served as Director of Combat Support Operations; Deputy Executive Director of Contract Management Operations in the Defense Contract Management Agency; as a Contract Specialist in the Aeronautical Systems Division, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, where she was designated a Procuring Contracting Officer; as the Principal Administrative Contracting Officer and Director of Contract Operations for the Air Force Plant Representative Office, Boeing Military Airplanes, Wichita, Kansas; as the Director of Pacific/Caribbean Contract Operations in DCMA International, serving as a liaison to the Air Force Material Command; in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, where she led several projects for the Deputy Secretary of Defense; and as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army (Policy and Procurement).

 

She began her current position March 2, 2008.

 

While serving as a senior procurement officer for the Army, Ballard was questioned during House Government Reform and Oversight Committee hearings about the allegation that former Halliburton subsidiary KBR had hired the private security company Blackwater USA to service KBR in Iraq even though the law prohibited private security companies from operating in the war zone. In an initial hearing on the subject, Ballard assured the committee that Blackwater had not been hired under a KBR subcontract. But in another hearing six months later she told the Committee that “after extensive research” it was determined that her earlier statements were incorrect, and by the end of the full hearing she announced that the Army would be reducing its fee to KBR because it was apparent, under several layers of subcontracts, that Blackwater had indeed been hired.

 

Ballard was a contributor to the presidential campaign of Barack Obama.

 

KBR’s $400 Million Iraq Question (by Jeremy Scahill and Garrett Ordower, The Nation)

Officials admit private security firm was hired under Iraq logistics contract (by Jenny Mandel, Government Executive)

After Many Denials, Army Confirms Private Security Contract in Iraq (by Larry Margasak, Associated Press)

Official Bio