Health, operations and talent leadership moves across the market
Gettyimages.com / Mesh Cube
By
Ross Wilkers
Three former GovCon CEOs also take up seats at boards of directors, including a founder who sold her company to one of the market's blue bloods.
Alpha Omega
Scott Barnhart has moved up to leader of the technology solutions provider’s national security unit, which includes its portfolios with the Homeland Security and State departments.
Alpha Omega credits Barnhart with tripling the size of its DHS portfolio since he joined the company in 2021.
The three-decade industry veteran worked for 13 years at General Dynamics’ IT services unit prior to Alpha Omega.
DMI
Felicia Nchinda has elevated to vice president of federal health at the digital transformation specialist, whose clients include the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Food and Drug Administration.
DMI’s 200-person health business also includes work with the Health Resources and Services Administration.
Nchinda is a 14-year veteran of DMI and before that spent 14 years at Accenture.
Edgewater Federal Solutions
Andrea Snader has joined the provider of enterprise IT and cybersecurity services as president of a newly-created sector for health and Defense Department agencies.
Snader will lead work to identify, qualify and capture new business opportunities. She also oversees customer service delivery functions in her new role.
Prior to Edgewater, she spent 14 years at ICF and most recently worked as a business development leader within that company’s digital modernization division.
HawkEye 360
Chris Herndon, chief information officer at the space technology company since 2019, has added the title of chief operating officer amid several other executive promotions there.
Herndon is a 25-year government technology veteran whose career includes service as director of IT at the White House.
HawkEye 360 also promoted Craig Searle from the vice president ranks to chief business officer. Janine Sweeny has moved up to chief human resources officer, Stephanie Widzinski elevated to chief accounting officer.
Alex Fox, HawkEye 360’s chief growth officer, now also leads its international business unit as president.
Mitre Corp.
April Castañeda has joined the nonprofit research-and-development firm as chief human resources officer, a role involving leadership for the company’s overall talent acquisition and development function.
Castañeda will lead all functional areas of MITRE’s People, Learning, and Growth sector that include its leadership and education centers.
She most recently worked as chief HR officer at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and brings to MITRE two decades of experience in human resources roles.
SOS International
Scott Spellmon has joined the defense technology and professional services provider as a senior account executive following 38 years in the Army and retiring with the lieutenant general rank.
Spellmon most recently served as the branch’s chief of engineers and commanding general of the Army Corps of Engineers, where he spent nine years altogether.
At SOSi, he will lead the work to create new business opportunities and relationships across the defense and national security sector.
Sumaria Systems
Bryan Bearden has moved up to chief operating officer approximately two years after he first joined the provider of IT, engineering and professional services.
He previously worked as senior vice president of program operations with an emphasis on C5ISR work for defense and other government agencies.
Before entering industry, Bearden served in the Air Force for 25 years in a career that also included a stint on the Joint Staff at the Pentagon.
Teracore
Tim Zeller has moved up to chief operating officer at this provider of management and enterprise IT consulting services to federal agencies.
He joined the service-disabled/veteran-owned small business in 2023 as chief of staff following 11 years at Broadsword Solutions Corp., a company focused on software performance improvement.
Zeller is also an attorney whose background also includes work in the healthcare and higher education sectors, in addition to government.
Federal Resources Corp.
Alan Marc Smith, who led DLT Solutions as CEO from 2015 to 2017, has been appointed executive chairman for FRC’s board of directors to help the latter company shape its strategy.
FRC’s historical core has been in cybersecurity, but the IT product reseller is looking to push further into the artificial intelligence and digital transformation areas.
FRC touts its employees as also having expertise in networking, cloud computing, mobile solutions, industrial control systems and managed security services.
Harmonia Holdings
Dawn Halfaker and Sudhakar Kesavan have joined the board of directors at this technology integrator backed by Maidson Dearborn Partners, which purchased the company in the fall.
Halfaker founded and built the company with her namesake which Science Applications International Corp. acquired in 2021 for $250 million. Kesavan led ICF as CEO from the buyout of its then-parent in 1999 until 2019 and is an architect of its current tech-focused strategy.
Harmonia is pushing to hit $1 billion in annual revenue over the next five-to-seven years from its current $100 million base, CEO Damon Griggs told us after the sale to MDP closed.
KBR
Wendy Masiello, who has been a board of directors member since August 2017, has been elected to the role of lead independent director as of KBR’s annual stockholder meeting to be held in May.
At publicly-traded companies, the lead independent director acts as a liaison between the panel’s other independent members and chairman when the latter is also CEO. The idea is to act as a counter-balance to the CEO and chairman, roles held by Stuart Bradie at KBR.
Masiello is a retired Air Force lieutenant general whose 37-year career culminated with service as director of the Defense Contract Management Agency from 2014 to 2017.