Janis Coughlin-Piester

Janis Coughlin Piester is the Founder of JAC Meridian Consulting and a former Senior Executive Service leader with nearly three decades of experience advancing performance, evaluation, and evidence based decision making across the federal government. She served as the Deputy Performance Improvement Officer at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and later as the Chief Financial Officer and Performance Improvement Officer at the National Science Foundation. Across both agencies, Janis led enterprise wide efforts to strengthen performance management, integrate evidence into operational decision making, modernize business processes, and improve program outcomes. She oversaw HHS’s $1 trillion budget portfolio, guided department wide performance and risk management policy, and partnered with OMB and Congress on complex legislative and reporting issues. At NSF, she led modernization initiatives that improved accountability, data governance, and award oversight, while advancing pilots that enhanced merit review, proposal submission, and program operations. Through JAC Meridian Consulting, Janis advises mission driven organizations on performance management, organizational effectiveness, and operational strategy. She is a certified facilitator in adult learning and MBTI, and a long time coach and mentor to emerging and senior leaders.