Connie Matthews Harshaw began her career in public service with the U S. Navy at the Newport News Shipyard as a student employee in 1972. She retired from the Federal government as a member of the Senior Executive Service (SES) in 2004 after a 30-year career. Her last appointment, while a career civil servant, was with the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) as the Chief Operating Officer. During her tour with NCPC, she became the agency’s first female African-American SES. While at the Commission, she worked with the planners and architects to EXTEND THE LEGACY in the nation’s capital and received commendation from President Clinton. In addition to serving as the agency’s Chief Executive Officer, she lists as her most important work, the assignment to negotiate the site parameters for the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in 1999. She attended Hampton University and transferred to the University of Maryland where she received her BS degree in business Management and an MBA. She served as a Senior Executive Fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in 1992. After retirement she formed her own management consultant business in Williamsburg, VA and currently serves as a senior advisor to several Presidential Appointees in the Washington, DC metropolitan area.
Her community service includes two terms as the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) Potomac Valley Section’s first elected President (1998-2002), she has held offices and worked with: Colonial Court Appointed Support Advocates (CASA) for abused and neglected children; Hannah House for victims of domestic abuse; THIS – an organization serving diplomats and their families, and was an early Female Executive Sponsor for the Office of Personnel Management Women’s Executive Leadership (WEL) Program Candidates. She is currently the President of the Let Freedom Ring Foundation and serves as a Trustee on the board of the Williamsburg Symphony Orchestra in Williamsburg. She is married to James Michael Harshaw and has one adult son, Robert.
