Speaker

Victoria Porto serves as the Executive Chief, Verification Division.  She leads a team of ~500 employees at five geographically disbursed locations in the managing and operations of two DHS national level programs:  E-Verify and Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE), with a budget of over $172M.

Prior to this role, Porto was the deputy chief of the Office of Performance & Quality (OPQ), a position she assumed in September 2016.  In this role, she led OPQ’s staff of statisticians, adjudicators, and management program analysts in providing data and operational analyses to internal and external stakeholders.

During her tenure, she enhanced delivery of key enterprise services by developing Staffing Allocation Models (SAMs) in support of the agency’s Annual Operating Plan (AOP); eliminated the backlog of reports despite an increase of more than 20%; and co-chaired the Processing Times Technical Workgroup meetings that developed new calculation methods for measuring processing times using system of record information. The new approach pulls data directly from agency systems, is automated and more accurate, and allows for posting within 2 weeks instead of 6.  The USCIS Processing Times Working Group leveraged innovative technology and design to maximize resources, and save millions in monetary expenses.

Porto began her federal career with the former Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) in 2001 at the San Diego District Office and later worked at the California Service Center in Laguna Niguel, CA.  She held various positions in the field, including supervisory adjudications officer before she joined the DHS Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman’s Office in 2008.

In 2010, Porto served as a founding member of the USCIS Office of Public Engagement at Headquarters, and went on to serve as the first senior community relations officer. In this role, she spearheaded efforts to launch USCIS’ nationwide Enlace Público, a Spanish-language public engagement series; developed and implemented multiphase strategic plans that enhanced service, transparency; and strengthened relationships with federal partners. 

Additionally, Porto led the Field Operations Directorate’s (FOD) Transformation Division which included a geographically disperse team of subject matter experts as well as a leadership team in Washington, D.C. As FOD’s principal representative, she served as a consultant to the Office of Transformation and Coordination (OTC), and collaborated with USCIS colleagues to develop the USCIS Electronic Immigration System (USCIS ELIS).

In 2014, Porto served as a founding member of the USCIS Investor Program Office (IPO). Her work included workforce planning, designing and implementing operational processes, overseeing the development of standard operating procedures, and evaluating and assessing quality. 

Porto holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, a master’s degree in Public Administration from American University, and a Certificate in International Migration Studies from Georgetown University.