Vern McHargue is Controller for The Heritage Foundation, responsible for organizational accounting, financial reporting, budgeting, financial planning and audit of the think tank. 

Though he spent a short time in development, banking and sales, the majority of McHargue's career has been focused on serving in financial roles within nonprofit organizations. Before joining Heritage in 2004, he worked as controller for United Way of America in Alexandria, Va. There he participated in initiatives and on teams that helped shape organizational strategy, which included improving and automating financial functions.

Prior to his work at United Way of America, McHargue served as corporate chief accountant for Experience Works!, a national nonprofit organization in Arlington, Va. Before that, he was divisional controller for the Salvation Army's National Capital and Virginia Division. He has also served in various financial positions at the Salvation Army's divisional office in Tampa, Fla., and citywide operations in Tulsa, Okla.

McHargue holds an MBA degree from Marymount University and a bachelor's degree in business administration with a minor in finance from Oklahoma State University and a leadership certificate from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business. He earned the Greater Washington Society of Certified Public Accountants President's Award for Outstanding Achievement. He is a member of the Greater Washington Society of Certified Public Accountants, Financial Executives International and Delta Epsilon Sigma, the national scholastic honor society.

He is committed to volunteering and is a board member of the Greater Washington Society of Certified Public Accountants and the Washington, D.C., chapter of Financial Executives International. He also serves as treasurer for the George Washington Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution and is vice president the St. Andrew's Society of Washington 

McHargue lives in his native state of Virginia with his wife and two sons.