Nelsie L. Birch was appointed Chief Financial Officer for Albemarle County on May 6, 2020. Ms. Birch brings over 20 years of public and private sector experience in finance, budgeting, and administration, with experience working in the District of Columbia, Alexandria, Virginia, Baltimore, Maryland, Greensboro, North Carolina, and Highland Park, Illinois. She began her career as a credit analyst for Fitch Ratings, serving as the lead analyst for local credits in the Mid-Atlantic region. Prior to joining Albemarle County, Ms. Birch served as the Founder and President of BIRCHbark Strategic Consulting, a consultancy providing leadership, strategic planning and budgeting, financial and performance management, process improvement and operational excellence expertise and services to local governments across the United States. In this capacity, one of the projects she led was the financial turnaround for the City of Petersburg, Virginia, serving as part of an emergency management team in the capacity as Interim CFO/Deputy City Manager. 

Ms. Birch has a Master of Public Administration from Northern Illinois University and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Knox College. She is a graduate of the Senior Executive Institute at the University of Virginia, Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service, and the Leadership ICMA program of the International City/County Management Association. Ms. Birch is a member of GFOA, VGFOA, ICMA and VLGMA.