Ms. Ashley Evans is the Director of Data and Digital Transformation within the Department of Navy, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Financial Management and Comptroller), Financial Management Systems (FMS). In this capacity, she is responsible for digital transformation solutions for the Department of Navy financial management workforce, including data, analytics, and systems modernization projects that meet the needs of the warfighter.

Prior to her appointment, Ms. Evans served as a Highly Qualified Expert (HQE) in the role of Chief Product Officer for Business Analytics and later for Algorithmic Warfare at the Department of Defense Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office (DoD CDAO). There, she was responsible for the overall product strategy for all CDAO platforms and capabilities offered as a service to the DoD enterprise. Ms. Evans conducted a large -scale user research and re-architecture effort of the enterprise data, analytics, and artificial intelligence (AI) platform known as Advana to best support user needs at scale. She also launched Advana University and countless other data, analytics, and artificial intelligence user support services, all while overseeing a nearly $200M budget.

Before that role, as an HQE, she was the Strategy and Operations Director for the DoD Office of the Undersecretary of Defense, Comptroller (OUSD(C)); she authored and launched the first-ever 2022-2026 DoD-wide Financial Management (FM) Strategy on behalf of OUSD(C) with a five-year outlook and a transformation program focused on delivering unified campaigns and initiatives. Additionally, as a co-founder of the Advana platform that was grown from within OUSD(C), she was responsible for authoring the first Advana Strategy, developing a strategic planning framework to align priorities across 500+ analytics application development teams to common outcomes, and launching countless user support services which directly led to 1,000% exponential growth of Advana’s user base during her tenure. She also co-founded Executive Analytics on Advana to bring DoD-wide performance metrics for review to the Deputy Secretary of Defense (DEPSECDEF) via the Deputy’s Management Action Group (DMAG).

Prior to her tenure in the public sector, Ms. Evans held several financial management positions in the private sector where she led large financial management transformation projects in the automotive, utilities, technology, professional services, consumer products, and pharmaceutical industries.

Ms. Evans holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Seton Hall University with concentrations in Finance, Management, and a minor in Asian Studies.