Areas of Expertise: Grant Compliance and Regulations, Compliance Monitoring, Procurement, Fraud Prevention and Mitigation, Disaster Recovery and Mitigation, Utilities Sector Grants

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Liz Mackay serves as the Vander Weele Group's Director of New Initiatives, leading the firm’s growth and service development efforts in emerging industries. Since 2023, she has focused on developing training programs and educational content for state agencies and utilities participating in new Department of Energy grid resiliency programs. She also serves as a project manager for several of the firm’s fiscal oversight engagements, including with the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency. Liz is a regulatory and compliance expert with more than 10 years of experience in state and Federal procurement; internal audits; waste, fraud, and abuse prevention and mitigation; and disaster recovery programs. She has been invited to speak at national conferences in both the government and private sectors, including by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the National Hurricane Conference.

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In her previous role as the Chief Legal Officer at the New Jersey Division for Disaster Recovery and Mitigation, Liz managed compliance for more than $10 billion dollars in Federal disaster recovery funds, including relief aid for Hurricanes Sandy and Ida and American Rescue Plan Act funds. Prior to that, she served as the Deputy Director for New Jersey’s Department of Consumer Affairs, a policy advisory to the Lt. Governor and Secretary of State, and a federal prosecutor for the Eastern District of New York. A chartered financial analyst, Liz is a former Wall Street analyst, portfolio manager, and Chief Investment Strategist for several major investment firms, for which she was profiled in the New York Times. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Pace University and a juris doctorate from the Columbia School of Law.