Emily Uselton

Emily joined Raftelis in 2023 after more than seven years of direct service to the City of Norfolk, Virginia. Emily has over 15 years of finance experience in both the private and public sector. As Norfolk’s Budget Director and Assistant Director, Emily was responsible for overseeing the City’s strategic financial and policy planning, including managing the development and administration of a $1 billion operating budget. Her leadership helped provide effective resource recommendations, leading to better performance outcomes and the ability to solve challenging policy issues. Emily led several citywide initiatives, including public workforce recruiting and retention strategies, the development of a program budget, as well as budget development public engagement efforts. Emily’s direct service experience and breadth of exposure to relevant local government and utility policy issues make her skillful at asking thought-provoking questions, inspiring innovation and creativity in the problem-solving process, and yielding results that are as pragmatic as they are valuable. During her time in local government, she presented to a variety of stakeholders, including the City Council, executive leadership teams, community groups, and a cross-section of department-level staff. Since joining Raftelis, Emily has continued to assist utility and local government clients across an array of focus areas, encompassing strategic planning, facilitation, and organizational assessments. Emily’s areas of expertise are in budgeting and finance, workforce planning, operations analysis, internal service functions, project management, and performance measurement. She is a quick study of organizational context, providing relevant and achievable recommendations that appreciate the unique considerations of each organization. Previously, Emily worked in private-sector finance and accounting. She began her career as an auditor for mid-size financial institutions before transitioning to a commercial healthcare real estate company, where she built a team of accountants responsible for overseeing multiple mergers and acquisitions between the company and seniors housing operators across the U.S. and abroad.