As a FUSE Executive Fellow, Martin Challinor (2024—25) worked with the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to establish a Project Management Office (PMO) aimed at enhancing operational efficiency and responsiveness. He introduced a structured, gateway-based project governance framework to align initiatives with strategic objectives. He also led the development and execution of a comprehensive database and process solution to support DEP’s multi-billion dollar 10 year capital budget planning, while laying the foundation for the creation of the agency-wide Office of Performance and Program Management (OPPM)—securing resources, tools, and devising processes.
After his fellowship, Martin joined DEP as the senior director of the newly formed OPPM. In this role, he is tasked with building and growing the office, establishing core processes, and fostering collaboration across the agency and externally. His work focuses on driving strategic improvements in project governance, business analysis, and performance management across DEP’s complex operations.
What was the impact of the FUSE Fellowship on you (professionally and personally)?
The biggest impact was learning how government really works. Coming from the private sector, you can have lots of preconceived assumptions, like thinking everything in government takes a long time. But once you’re on the inside, you understand how incredibly complex the environment is and there’s a reason why things happen the way they do —there are multiple stakeholders, layers of checks and balances, and more. Gaining that insight was invaluable.
Another big impact came from working within DEP. I developed a deep appreciation for the department’s role in environmental protection—from environmental justice to climate resilience. It was eye-opening to see how a massive hub like New York City is preparing for climate change and navigating its effects across different communities and infrastructure systems.
On a personal level, having the chance to identify opportunities for improvement across such a multifaceted agency was incredibly impactful. I got an understanding of what DEP does, from supplying and treating water to managing noise mitigation and environmental permitting. Being able to help shape how all of that can function more effectively, and then actually creating a new office to drive those improvements was fantastic.
To sum it up: the FUSE Fellowship helped me better understand how government works and the role of environmental protection in New York City. Ultimately, it provided the opportunity to create—and now lead—a new office within one of the City’s largest agencies.
What are the big challenges on which you are working now, what are you hoping to achieve in the next 6-12 months, and how has your FUSE experience prepared you to approach them?
The biggest challenge right now is continuing the work I started during the fellowship. The fellowship was about designing an office. Now, I’m implementing it and that’s proving to be super interesting in terms of how we do that. We also have two new FUSE Executive Fellows who started just after I wrapped up. Their projects are central to OPPM, so supporting them is a big priority.
There is such a huge opportunity here. We’re identifying projects and running them through the strategic governance model I developed during my fellowship to select and then implement them within time and budget, which will demonstrate how the frameworks developed can benefit the agency.
The FUSE experience prepared and gave me the opportunity to work within a public sector organization for a year, learning how city government functions and all the moving parts of my agency, DEP. I had a unique role where I wasn’t a consultant, but I wasn’t staff either. I was a FUSE Executive Fellow, which allowed me to use the FUSE model and be curious, listen deeply, understand the context, formulate strategies, and then put them into action.
Also, the networking aspect is really important, knowing that once you’re part of FUSE, you’re always part of FUSE. It’s super exciting to be able to support fellows myself while still benefiting from the broader FUSE network.
This interview contain the views of Martin Challinor and not NYC DEP.
