PSC Association

Andrew Hall

Andrew Hall has worked for USAID for more than ten years both in D.C. and in the field. He was first elected to the PSC Association committee in October 2011, initially serving as Vice President. Andrew became President of the Association a year later. He currently serves as a Senior Transition Advisor in the Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI), providing intermittent support to OTI’s political transition programs around the world.

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Bill Stafford

Bill Stafford has been a PSC at USAID for more than 12 years. He previously served as President and Vice President of the PSC Association and looks forward to continuing his service to PSCs around the world both inside and outside of the committee. Starting with USAID as an Administrative Specialist in OTI, Bill is now a Security Specialist within the USAID Office of Security, directly supporting OTI and FFP.

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Laura Shevchik

Laura Shevchik is the Employee Relations Team Lead in the Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI) overseeing PSC support for performance evaluations, awards, and orientation. Prior to this, she worked in the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) as a PSC Recruiter and a Senior Program Operations Specialist managing a large PSC portfolio. Following this, she worked directly on entitlements, allowances, and benefits for both domestic and overseas PSCs, managing a team in the Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA) that coordinates directly with Executive Officers on procurement, operations, and administrative issues, including policy and regulatory issues. She's been a USAID PSC since 2014 and on the PSC Association Executive Committee since 2015.

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Vika Planson

In short three years with USAID, Vika has been hired as an intern (with the Office of Transition Initiatives), institutional contractor (with Food for Peace), and signed two USPSC contracts (with the Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance). This speaks to both the labyrinth of employment options at USAID and to her tenacity. Along the way, she's learned a thing or two about the often opaque, and at times inequitable PSC hiring process and mechanism. She hopes to bring enthusiasm for reform to the Executive Committee and channel frustration into meaningful change on various priorities including: leave transfers; FMLA coverage; Overseas Comparability Pay; 401(k) matching; and paid parental leave. She believes advocacy for equal and fair employment of USPSCs is a struggle that takes grit, ingenuity, determination, and the help from champions across the Agency. 

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Ben Long

I have worked as a PSC with OTI since 2010, and it hasn’t always been easy. I have had health insurance vouchers denied while working in war zones and been provided second class services at CPC posts. However, I have also seen that OTIers have it relatively better than other PSCs because our office has the infrastructure and desire to help us navigate the system. I  think we should extend that level of support to other PSCs across USAID while we also work to expand the current slate of benefits available to us. I am happy that I can take parental leave, but would like health insurance to cover a birth. I come from an activist background and will bring that passion to advocating for the needs of PSCs. Finally, and full disclosure, I am married to a Foreign Service Officer which motivates me to work hard to address the hypocrisy between these hiring types. Thanks for your consideration.

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Hilary Dittemore

I have been a PSC at USAID for nearly 14 years, most of which were with OTI.  My latter years at OTI were in a variety of roles managing and supporting PSC staffing and its multitude of complexities for the Office. Then last summer I switched over to a new role in BHA as a member of the Deputy Manager of Operations Cadre, and am now seeing the same issues in a new light.  I’d like to be able to use this cross-bureau perspective to support the broader efforts of the PSC Association and continue the work that so many have contributed to over the years. 

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Chelsea Prough

I’ve been a PSC with USAID/BHA since 2017, and in that amount of time I see that we’ve reached a breaking point. Years of continued inequities have contributed to PSC staff feeling like working for USAID is no longer sustainable, despite a love for the work. In a continued staffing crisis, we should be doing all we can to retain our Agency’s talented PSC workforce. In my day job, I work for BHA’s Field Platform Operations Team, directly interpreting policy on entitlements and allowances for domestic and overseas PSCs. In my disaster response work, I have seen firsthand how PSCs are treated as lesser than other hiring mechanisms at the most critical times, and this is infuriating. We have to channel our frustrations into action. This highly complicated hiring mechanism isn’t going to change entirely overnight, but we must continue to creatively problem-solve to support and retain both current and future PSCs. If elected, I pledge to advocate for you–for policy change, better rights, and fairness across hiring mechanisms.