Our Team
Kimberly Rau
Kimberly Rau is the Managing Partner of Sterling Associates, LLP. She brings over 20 years experience consulting with public and private sector organizations on a broad array of management, organizational and technical issues.Kimberly has worked with executive and line managers to identify program risks and controls, to identify mitigation strategies and to offer recommendations for improvements. She has managed and participated in organizational and service reviews, and conducted Quality Assurance services for large systems development and implementation efforts, business process reengineering projects, and program implementations.
Barry Rau
Barry Rau is the Founder and Senior Partner of Counsel, of Sterling Associates. For the past three decades, Barry has distinguished himself as a leading management advisor to Washington’s past six Governors. He started his career in the U.S. Senate as an intern to former U.S. Senator Warren G. Magnuson. Prior to forming Sterling Associates in 1988, he was Price Waterhouse’s Western U.S. Regional Director for State and Local Government Services. In this capacity he supported Price Waterhouse's state and local government consulting practice for 13 western states. Before joining Price Waterhouse in 1982, Barry was an Assistant Director of the state of Washington's Office of Financial Management (OFM). In this capacity, he was responsible for OFM's Management Services Division, which was responsible for conducting management audits and reviews of state agencies. Prior to OFM, Barry was a management performance auditor with the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) where he earned the coveted Comptroller General's "Outstanding Performance Award".
Julie Boyer
Julie Boyer is a Senior Associate with over 10 years as a consultant to state government. Prior to joining Sterling Associates, Julie spent 30 years managing various programs and agencies. She directed the programs and resources of the Washington Department of Natural Resources. Julie does not shy away from tough assignments or roles. She brings a wealth of executive management experience to any engagement. Her knowledge and expertise in human resources, information technology, organizational development, and business systems in general will provide an immediate reliable source of counsel and consultation.
Julie has shown a personal commitment to providing the best public service possible in several state agencies. She is known for finding logical solutions to problems facing managers everyday. She has worked successfully in high visibility projects and in politically charged environments requiring extraordinary communication skills.
Melanie Roberts
Melanie Roberts is a Senior Associate with Sterling Associate. She is an experienced executive professional with 31 years of increasingly responsible employment in Washington State government. Her experience has ranged from Deputy Secretary for Administrative Services for the Department of Corrections to an upper level professional budget staff to the Governor. She has thorough knowledge of state government legislative, budget, accounting, performance management, information technology and personnel processes, with extensive background in human service issues. The last 11 years she has been in a senior leadership role and a member of the executive management team within the Department of Social and Health Services, Department of Labor and Industries and the Department of Corrections. She has outstanding organizational, communication and analytical skills that have been key ingredients to her success in managing and directing programs that ranged from multi-billion dollar agency budget development to a $50 million information technology project. She is very skilled at working with various program managers and executives to help them achieve results in the most efficient and effective way possible.
Monica Davis
Monica Davis is a Consulting Assistant at Sterling Associates with over 15 years of financial experience in both public and private agencies. Monica possesses excellent financial management, audit and analytical skills. Before joining Sterling Associates, Monica served as a local government auditor for the Washington State Auditor’s Office. Monica manages the day-to-day workings of the Sterling office and demonstrates excellent interpersonal skills that contribute to the success of Sterling Associates’ projects.