Name Mary Matiella | Education University of Arizona | |
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Mary Sally Matiella was a United States Assistant Secretary of the Army (Financial Management and Comptroller), holding office from February 16, 2010 until February 27, 2014, when she resigned. She was succeeded by Robert M. Speer.
Biography
Mary Sally Matiella was educated at the University of Arizona, receiving a B.A. in 1973 and an M.B.A. in 1976. After college, she spent 1977-78 as a management analyst for the University of Texas at Austin and then spent 1978-80 working as an auditor for the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation.
In 1980, Matiella began a long career as a civilian employee of the United States Armed Forces. She served as a budget analyst at Ramstein Air Base from 1980 to 1983; as a systems accountant for the United States Air Force Accounting Service, based in Denver from 1983 to 1986; and as a senior systems accountant at Fort Clayton from 1986 to 1989. She then returned to Denver, working at the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) as a systems accountant 1989-92; a staff accountant 1992-94; and then as Director of the CFO Implementation Office 1994-95. From 1995 to 1998, she was Director of Accounting at the DFAS office in San Bernardino, California. She then moved to Washington, D.C. to become a staff accountant in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller), a position she held until 2001.
Matiella became a member of the Senior Executive Service in December 2001, becoming Chief Financial Officer of the United States Forest Service. There, she oversaw a $4 billion annual budget. She later served as Assistant Chief Financial Officer for Accounting for the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.
On November 23, 2009, President of the United States Barack Obama nominated Matiella to be Assistant Secretary of the Army (Financial Management and Comptroller). After Senate confirmation, she was sworn into office by United States Under Secretary of the Army Joseph W. Westphal on February 16, 2010. She retired in 2014.
In 2017, Matiella announced she would challenge Republican Congresswoman Martha McSally for her seat in the United States House of Representatives representing Arizona's 2nd congressional district. She is running as a Democrat.