A dozen corporate leadership moves to start 2025

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Find opportunities — and win them.

Our first roundup of executive movement in this New Year covers growth, technology, operations and sales

Amentum

Jennifer Walsmith has joined the now publicly traded government services company as president of its intelligence and cybersecurity business, effective immediately.

The three-decade public sector veteran most recently worked as vice president and general manager for Northrop Grumman’s cyber and intelligence business. Before joining industry, Walsmith served at the National Security Agency for 15 years and completed her time there as its top acquisition executive.

In November, Amentum’s chief operating officer Steve Arnette joined our WT 360 podcast to go over the company’s strategy and vision following its merger with Jacobs’ federal-facing services businesses.

Bixal

Jon Carr has joined the technology consulting firm as senior vice president of strategic growth, a role that involves opportunity qualification and capture management.

Carr will also lead Bixal’s proposal function in support of its strategy that focuses on human-centered, data-driven design efforts across government.

He most recently worked as VP of growth at MetaPhase Consulting. His career also includes leadership roles at Ad Hoc, CGI Federal, The Ambit Group, E3 Federal Solutions and Grant Thornton.

Boeing

Dana Deasy has joined the airplane manufacturing giant in the dual roles of chief information digital officer, plus senior vice president of IT and data analytics.

He served as the Defense Department’s CIO from December 2019 until the end of the first Trump administration, a tenure most notable for DOD’s push to adopt commercial cloud and zero trust technologies.

Deasy joins Boeing in the midst of a turbulent period for the company, which is laying off 10% of its workforce and undertaking a turnaround effort on the engineering and financial fronts.

Constellis

Noah Teates has joined the security and mission support services provider as chief strategy officer to oversee its business development, proposal and marketing functions.

The three-decade market veteran most recently worked as chief customer officer at Wolf Den Associates.

His career also includes operational and growth leadership roles at both Computer Sciences Corp. and SRA International.

Epirus

Dr. Matt Markel has joined the maker of microwave-powered and electronic warfare systems as chief technology officer.

Markel most recently worked as chief executive at Spartan Radar, a manufacturer of those technologies for the automotive and commercial markets. His career also includes roles at Ghost Autonomy and Waymo.

Prior to entering the tech sector, Markel worked as a principal engineering fellow at Raytheon’s space and airborne systems technical team.

Harmonia

Dr. Anthony Cristillo has joined the data solutions provider as senior vice president and leader for its federal health portfolio.

Harmonia touts a client base that includes the Health Resources and Services Administration National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute and Food and Drug Administration.

Cristillo most recently worked as a partner at Guidehouse’s digital health practice and brings a background in clinical research to his new employer, Harmonia said.

Hitachi Vantara Federal

Joe Corcoran is now chief operating officer at this subsidiary of Hitachi Vantara, which is itself a subsidiary of the Japan-headquartered technology conglomerate.

Corcoran moves up to that position from his prior role as senior director of professional services and delivery. The two-decade veteran’s career also includes senior roles at Govplace and IntelliDyne.

Hitachi Vantara Federal concentrates its offerings on hybrid cloud computing and data fabric tools used by agencies.

Lumen Technologies

Allen Ashbey has joined the telecommunications company’s public sector organization as vice president of federal civilian sales.

The three-decade government and telecom veteran most recently worked as VP of accounts for citizen services and natural resources at Science Applications International Corp. which he joined in 2020 via SAIC’s acquisition of Unisys’ then-federal segment.

At Unisys Federal, Ashbey led the civilian health and administrative agencies accounts. His career also includes leadership roles at OnPoint Consulting, Level 3 Communications, XO Communications and MCI.

Northrop Grumman

Melanie Heitkamp will move up to chief human resources officer on Feb. 3 following her election to that role by the board of directors.

Heitkamp will report to CEO Kathy Warden and succeed Ann Addison, who will retire from Northrop on March 28 after six years as its HR chief.

Heitkamp is currently vice president of HR in Northrop’s space systems sector and before that worked as the company’s VP of talent. Her career prior to Northrop includes roles such as CHRO at L3 Technologies, plus other senior positions at Leidos and Lockheed Martin.

System High

Sarah Lord is now president at the secure IT services provider, where she has worked for 15 years including the past five as chief operating officer.

Lord’s career at System High also includes six years as its chief human capital officer prior to the COO appointment. Her tenure as COO included System High’s acquisition in 2022 of identity management software provider ManageYourID.

She assumes the president role from Rob Howe, who has led the company as chief executive since 2018 and will continue in that capacity.

The Aerospace Corp.

Kathleen Naeher will join this nonprofit organization as chief operating officer on Feb. 5.

Aerospace operates a federally-funded research-and-development center for U.S. government agencies, their international partners and certain commercial entities involved in space missions.

Naeher most recently was an executive at Leidos and succeeds Ed Swallow, who formerly held the dual roles of COO and chief financial officer. Swallow will focus solely on his CFO duties following a transition period.

True Anomaly

Stephen Kitay has joined the three-year-old startup as senior vice president of space defense, a role that involves responsibility for scaling the overall product portfolio and business strategy.

A two-decade space sector veteran, Kitay’s government service career includes stints as deputy assistant defense secretary for space policy and as professional staff member for the House Armed Services Committee.

Kitay was part of the Defense Department leadership team that oversaw the establishment of Space Force in 2019. He left DOD in 2020 for a senior director position at Microsoft’s Azure Space business, where he most recently worked.

True Anomaly opened for business in 2022 and completed a $100 million Series B funding round in late 2023. The company develops small satellites and other spacecraft with a particular emphasis on sustainability.