As a Senior Associate in Cherry Bekaert's Government & Public Sector industry group, Paula is part of the advisory team for grant administration and compliance engagements which provides clients with grant lifecycle management solutions. Her career in accounting and grants management spans over 25 years in the not-for-profit, public, and private sectors. She is a Certified Grants Management Specialist. Her specialties include full cycle grant management and accounting, cost allocation plans, indirect cost rate proposals, grant management software implementation, risk assessment, subrecipient monitoring, 2 CFR 200 Uniform Guidance compliance, internal controls, grant reconciliations, workflow analysis, and policy and procedure development.

Paula has worked in various capacities in the grant sector. She began her grants career in the Veteran’s Medical Center and Emory University working on NIH research grants with a focus on bone growth factors and blood-born cancers. Paula then shifted her career to founding a not-for-profit private school, where she wrote proposals and managed a robust grant portfolio. During this time, she also navigated the FEMA Public Assistance process for the school after Hurricane’s Irma and Maria. Most recently, she served as the manager of an institution of higher education’s post-award grant program in the Department of Financial Services, which included project management for the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund. While at Cherry Bekaert, Paula has collaborated with the AmpliFund team to implement digital solutions for grants management to clients as the Subject Matter Expert for compliance and as a monitor for process efficiencies. Her broad experience has provided her with a versatile skill set that readily adapts to meet the needs of the clients she now serves.