Potomac Officers Club

Mark Connel is the executive director & vice president of the contracts, procurement and subcontracts organization at SRA International.

Prior to joining SRA, Connel was senior vice president for administration and group director of contracts at SAIC, for the intelligence and security group.

He began his career with The Boeing Company and after various procurement and contracting assignments in Seattle, served as a contracts manager / program contracts manager on the RCAS program for about seven years.

He was then promoted to contracting and acquisition division manager, then two years later became the contracts process integration team manager following the merger of Boeing with Rockwell International and McDonnell Douglas Corporation.

In 1998 Connel was promoted to director of contracting, acquisition and pricing for Boeing Information Services. When SAIC purchased Boeing IS, Mark was named corporate VP for administration and group director of contracts.

Connel holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Washington in Seattle, an MBA from Seattle University and a Master of Science in Information Management from Syracuse University.

Cora Carmody serves as senior vice president and chief information officer at Jacobs Engineering, where she provides leadership for Jacobs’ IT systems.

Her responsibilities include enterprise resource systems such as HR, finance, operational support systems such as project control, engineering/design and collaboration, infrastructure systems and services such as networks, servers, desktops and web/social and collaborative systems.

Cora was with Litton/PRC from 1978 – 2001 (and CIO there from 1996-2001), Invensys from 2001-2003 and SAIC from 2003-2008.

Honors she has received include NASA’s Manned Flight Honoree Award for work on Space Station Freedom Software build process and  ComputerWorld’s “Premier 100”, Top IT Leaders of 2002.

Cora has an M.S. degree in Computer Science from Fairleigh Dickinson University (1985) and B.A. and M.A. degrees in Mathematics from the Johns Hopkins University (1978).

Craig Adler serves as executive vice president and chief financial officer of DLT Solutions where he is responsible for all finance, contracts, human resources, information technology and order fulfillment functions.

He joined the company in 2004 as CFO and in 2005 he played a lead role in the management buyout of the company.

Previously, Adler was SVP, CFO and corporate secretary of Data Systems and Solutions, an SAIC and Rolls Royce joint venture, for more than five years. During his tenure, he was responsible for securing $35 million of credit facilities, significantly reducing corporate administrative costs and directing all Defense Contract Audit Agency and compliance issues.

Prior to Data Systems and Solutions, Adler served in various senior finance roles with Computer Sciences Corporation  including VP and controller of CSC Professional Services Group, Inc., a $200M high technology services company, with customers in the public, commercial and international sectors.

He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of Maryland and is a Certified Public Accountant.

Dr. Anthony (Tony) Hess is the vice president and managing partner for the healthcare and natural resources group at Unisys Federal Systems.

In this capacity, he leads the Unisys federal business with civilian agencies such as Departments of Agriculture, Health and Human Services, Energy and many others. In addition, Dr. Hess leads a Unisys multi-business unit healthcare and life sciences effort that spans both commercial and government sectors.

Prior to joining Unisys, Hess was senior vice president and general manager of the health solution business unit (HSBU) of SAIC. That part of the company has operations in 44 states, 11 countries and is composed of approximately 2,100 staff members.

Prior to joining SAIC, Hess was the chief executive officer of HealthCare IT, an information technology company that provides services to the biomedical research, clinical research, and healthcare sectors. Before that, he served as president and chief operating officer of Capital Technology Information Services, a clinical research informatics firm. Hess has also held several executive positions at IBM including responsibility for IBM’s Federal Healthcare and Social Services business.

Before joining IBM, Hess spent 12 years of his career in scientific, management and executive roles at the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory operated by Battelle Memorial Institute’s government sector. As the science & technology director, and as the director of computational and information sciences, Hess led organizations responsible for energy related research and development and the delivery of information analytics, cybersecurity, large scale data integration, human machine interfaces, and critical infrastructure protection.

He received a bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from North Dakota State University and a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Arizona State University. He then performed a year of postdoctoral work in Theoretical Physics followed by an additional one year postdoctoral fellowship in Theoretical Chemistry.

Steven Frenz serves as vice president and general manager of Cubic Cyber Solutions Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cubic Corp.

Frenz is responsible for all facets of the operation with emphasis on the development and growth of Cubic’s cybersecurity capabilities.

Prior to joining Cubic, Frenz was the VP and director of business development for cybersecurity solutions at SAIC where he was responsible for BD and sales strategy with a mandate to drive growth across all markets.

Frenz also served as VP for Mid-Atlantic operations for The North Highland Company where he was responsible for strategic and tactical leadership for complex technology and business initiatives.

He spent 10 years with Hitachi Consulting and served as VP of consulting operations and was an engineer with Lockheed Martin earlier in his career.

Frenz was a Captain in the U.S. Air Force, spending seven years active duty and holds an MBA from the University of Colorado and a BS in Information Systems from the University of Wisconsin.

Yagy Gaur serves as senior director for North American sales in Microsoft’s federal civilian public sector.

In this role, Gaur oversees a sales force managing sales and marketing.

Prior to this position, he was senior sales director for advertising, publishing and entertainment customers in the communications sector.

Gaur brings more than 20 years of experience in sales, technology, marketing, and strategic business development with last 10+ years in Microsoft sales/technology organization.

He has also led application platform and industry solutions business for communications sector preceding his current responsibilities.

Prior to joining Microsoft, Gaur served as a systems architect for SAIC.

Gaur received a M.S. in Information Systems from George Mason University and resides in Virginia (DC
metro area) with his wife and kids.

Gene Colabatistto serves as group president of CAE’s military simulation products, training and services group and was appointed to that position in June 2012.

The more than 25-year global defense industry veteran has held leadership positions in both the military and the private sector during his career.

Before joining CAE, he was a senior vice president in the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance  group at SAIC where he was responsible for the growth of their ISR and cybersecurity businesses.

Prior to joining SAIC, Colabatistto was the president of Olive Group North America, a global, integrated security corporation.

Prior to that he was president of Space Imaging Solutions, a provider of satellite imagery products and services and was President of SPOT Image Corporation, the North American subsidiary of the world’s first commercial provider of satellite imagery.

Previously, Colabatistto spent almost 10 years with Veridian Corporation, responsible for the growth of its engineering products, imagery, and signals intelligence business. He also served in the U.S. Marine Corps and was responsible for intelligence information systems and acted as the service’s representative for satellite and airborne reconnaissance during Desert Storm.

Colabatistto has an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from George Washington University, and a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering and an M.S. in Systems Management from the University of Southern California (USC).

Susan Chodakewitz

Susan Chodakewitz serves as the president of Tetra Tech AMT.

Under Chodakewitz’s leadership, AMT was named as the 2010 Large Business of the Year by the FAA, an agency the company does extensive business with.

Prior to her selection as AMT’s lead executive in November 2006, Chodakewitz held a series of increasingly responsible executive positions at SAIC, including senior vice president, where she managed the strategic and daily operations of an $185 million business unit and directed key consulting areas including business process improvement, financial management, human capital management, and organizational change design for the Defense Department.

She also spent almost ten years at Booz, Allen & Hamilton, supporting a wide range of clients, including the Intelligence Communityand international NGOs.

Most recently, Chodakewitz won the SmartCEO Magazine’s Brava Award (2012), and was named as one of the “2011 Women Who Mean Business” by the Washington Business Journal. She was also nominated for Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2011 and 2012.

Graduating with honors from Lehigh University in International Relations and Russian Studies, Chodakewitz holds a Master of Arts degree in Russian Studies from Columbia University. She also attended the Executive Management Program at the University of Chicago.

Terry Ryan

Terry Ryan is is president and chief operating officer of ManTech International Corporation’s emerging markets group. He joined ManTech from Mercury Federal Systems where he was the president and chairman since March 2007.

Previously, he was senior vice president of strategic development for SAIC, responsible for strategy, and mergers and acquisitions for the intelligence, security and technology group.

Prior to SAIC, Ryan was the VP and director for SRA International’s C4ISR center, where he directed intelligence community-related programs and contracts.

During his SRA tenure, he was appointed to the president’s foreign intelligence advisory board’s transformation advisory group, and to the CIA director’s constellation architecture panel.

Before joining SRA, Ryan was the president, CEO, and director of Adroit Systems, Inc., where he initiated a strategic growth campaign that resulted in the sale of the business to SRA in 2003.

Ryan held senior executive positions in the Defense Department, as the OSD director of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and as the deputy director of the Defense Airborne Reconnaissance Office. He also served as a professional staff member on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

His 10-year military term included a position as senior intelligence analyst for the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence, and infantry commander and intelligence officer for the U.S. Marine Corps.

Sean Sullivan

Sean Sullivan serves as SVP for human resources at Science Applications International Corporation, and has been with the company since 2002.

In this role, Sullivan is responsible for HR strategy, governance and policy, as well as HR capabilities. He also has management responsibility for talent acquisition, workplace relations, workforce analysis and diversity and inclusion.

In addition to his SVP role, Sullivan serves as president of the SAIC Relief Foundation, a charitable organization established to aid SAIC employees affected by large-scale catastrophic events. In prior roles at SAIC, Sullivan helped to launch two operating groups, one with an R&D focus and the other with an IT focus with over $1b in annual revenue and business operations throughout the US, Europe and India.

Before joining SAIC, Sullivan spent over 13 years at TRW (now Northrop Grumman). His HR leadership experience at TRW included labor negotiations in a manufacturing plant, the launch of the field office for a complex management and operating program, compensation support for a software development division and HR expertise to large systems integration programs for state, federal and international government customers.

Sullivan holds an MPA from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University from which he also earned his undergraduate degree in political science and American Studies.

Sullivan is a member of the HR Planning Society and SHRM and has attended executive leadership programs at the University of Michigan, Cornell University, and the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.