Justice Management Division
Serving Justice - Securing Results

Jolene Ann Lauria Sullens is the Deputy Assistant Attorney General / Controller for the Department of Justice (DOJ). She is the principal financial management and budget expert for the Department of Justice. In this capacity, she is responsible for the development and execution of a budget of over $23 billion, DOJ’s Performance and Accountability Reports, and the operational responsibilities which are at the core of executing one of the nation’s largest public sector budgets. This budget spans over 40 separate component organizations, including high-profile law enforcement organizations, such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Drug Enforcement Administration, the United States Marshals Service, and the Bureau of Prisons. Her responsibilities also include the issuance of the Department’s public financial statements, its accounting operations, and operational control over Departmental funds such as the Working Capital Fund, the Assets Forfeiture Fund, and the Civil Debt Collection Fund. As Controller, she is responsible for making critical strategic planning and resource recommendations to the Attorney General, Senior Policy Staff, the White House, and Congress. She is also the lead executive responsible for implementing the Department’s Unified Financial Management System.

Ms. Lauria Sullens has served in several key financial management positions during her 20 years in the Federal government. Prior to this position, Ms Lauria Sullens was the Director of Budget Staff for the Department of Justice where she had operational responsibility for the formulation and execution of the Department’s budget, and its performance outcome measures. She was the Deputy Chief Financial Officer/Director of Budget at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), a $4 billion organization. As Deputy CFO/Director of Budget, Jolene was responsible for all budget and financial management activities for a vast array of programs from weather and climate prediction services to critical environmental research to managing the nation’s fisheries. Jolene has held a variety of other positions in the budget and financial management arena including: senior budget examiner to the Attorney General for Immigration and Federal Prison issues, budget analyst for President’s Office of Management and Budget, and as professional staff at the U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee for Commerce, Justice, State, the Judiciary, and related agencies. In addition to budget related positions, Jolene has held analyst positions at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Public and Indian Housing Policy, the Montgomery County Government, Office of Legislative Oversight, and the Baltimore City Department of Social Services, Intergovernmental Liaison Unit. She has also worked for non-Profit organizations such as the International City Management Association, and the American Society for Public Administration.

Jolene is the Department of Justice’s Performance Improvement Officer with responsibility for coordinating the performance management activities of the agency, and serves on the Performance and Budget consortium of the National Academy for Public Administration. She has served as the President of the Maryland Chapter of the American Society for Public Administration and on ASPA’s Executive Board for the Section on Criminal Justice Administration. She also served several years on ASPA’s National Conference Program and Marketing Committees, was an invited panelist to several National conferences, was co-chair of the 1989 National Capital Area Student Consortium Conference, and has held every elected position in the Maryland Chapter of the American Society for Public Administration. Jolene was also a 1989 Presidential Management Intern/Fellow (PMI).

She has served as Chair of the government-wide Budget Officers Advisory Board (BOAC), the Vice-Chair of the Budget and Performance Integration Council; and is currently the Chair of the Advisory Group on Financial Matters that reviews the budget for Interpol (worldwide).

She has a B.S. in Political Science, a certificate in Public Administration from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and has a Masters degree in Public Administration (MPA) from the American University. She was the recipient of the Patricia Roberts-Harris Fellowship at the American University and the American University’s Arthur S. Flemming Award for Exemplary Public Service. She is also a 2006 recipient of the Presidential Rank Award, recognizing her financial management accomplishments at the Department of Justice.

She is the wife of John L. Sullens and mother of three children, Dylan Thomas, Tori Ann and Vincent John Sullens. She currently resides in southern Maryland, and has been a resident of Maryland since 1985.