Monica Aquino-Thieman

Monica Aquino-Thieman is the Director of the NASA Acquisition Integrity Program (Fraud Remedies) and the Agency Counsel for Acquisition Integrity. She serves as the primary Agency authority in the substantive law of acquisition integrity, including procurement fraud, grant fraud, anti-corruption, suspension/debarment, counterfeit parts, and related litigation. She oversees the Acquisition Integrity Program, which supports NASA’s mission by improving the effectiveness of Agency operations by combating fraud and advancing NASA’s core values of safety, integrity, teamwork, and excellence by promoting integrity and accountability in the acquisition process. In her capacity as Director, she serves as the Coordination of Remedies Official for investigations of fraud and public corruption. She also is Counsel to the NASA Suspending and Debarring Official.

For over seven years, Monica has served as the Vice-Chair of the Interagency Suspension and Debarment Committee, a federal interagency body established by executive order. She also previously chaired the NASA Counterfeit Parts Working Group for over a decade and co-chaired the Department of Defense Procurement Fraud Working Group for several years. Currently, she is a suspension and debarment instructor for the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center.

Most recently, Monica served on an interagency detail as the Acting Deputy General Counsel at the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and provided legal guidance to the Board and senior management, litigation management and strategy, and managed legal staff supporting significant accident investigations concerning transportation modes (commercial aviation, highway, marine, railroad, pipeline, and hazardous materials).

Prior to joining NASA, Monica specialized in both litigation and government contracts at Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw LLP, one of the ten largest law firms world-wide during that period. She also was a trial and appellate litigation attorney at McKenna & Cuneo LLP, a national law firm based in Washington, DC.

Monica, a Dual Admissions Honors Program in Law graduate, earned her Juris Doctor degree at the University of Miami School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Miami where she served as the Undergraduate Student Government President. She also was the Lake Wales Senior High School Valedictorian.