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FED SHERPAS
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Ben Stinson

  Ben Stinson served over 27 years in the United States Marine Corps and retired at the rank of Colonel after a diverse career that included: Project Lead for Tactical Command and Control (C2), the Chief Technology Advisor to the Commanding General, I MEF in Iraq, the Program Manager for Unmanned & Air C2 Systems, the Program Manager for Robotic Systems Joint Project Office and the Portfolio Manager for the USMC Enterprise Networks. In industry, Ben gained experience in federal and commercial business development and was called on to use his technical and leadership expertise as the CIO, CISO and CDO for a technology company transitioning from a small to a large business. In 2021 Ben started Fed Sherpas and has provided business development and fractional CxO services to clients ranging from startups to the largest defense contractors.


  • Subject Matter Expertise: C-Suite consultant/Board Advisor, Defense Acquisition/Program Management, Proposal Color Team Reviews, Mock Source Selection Evaluation Boards, Unmanned Systems, Data Strategies, NIST 800-171/CMMC


  • Organizations: MarCorSysCom, PEO Land Systems, Navy PEO Digital & PEO MLB, NAVAIR, NAVWAR (including NIWC LANT), Army PEO GCS, defense contractors

Tracy Barkhimer

  Captain Tracy A. Barkhimer, USN (Ret), a native New Yorker, served 26 years in the Navy, first as an H-46 Helicopter Pilot and then 20 years as a highly accomplished Defense Acquisition Professional. She holds multiple executive and Level III Defense Acquisition University Certifications. Her resume includes successful executive assignments in Naval Aviation Enterprise Program Management; Common Avionics; Air, ASW and Special Missions Acquisition Programs; Unmanned and Weapons Systems; and Foreign Military Sales. After the military, Tracy held positions with large and small defense contractors, helping them win and manage contracts exceeding $6 billion in value, before starting her consulting practice in 2019. 


  • Subject Matter Expertise: Defense Acquisition/Program Management, Business Development, Foreign Military Sales/Direct Commercial Sales, Contract Management, Executive Coaching


  • Organizations: NAVAIR (including all PEOs and NAWC-AD and NAWC-WD), DCMA, Navy International Programs Office, DCMA

Masco Settles

    

Masco R. Settles is retired Civil Servant with over 30-years of Department of Defense service with the Navy and Marine Corps ending his career as a GS-15 with Advance Program Management and Engineering experience. Masco specialized in advance technology system development and integration, human capital performance enhancement, and organization startup or re-branding. 

In his last assignment with Marine Corps Systems Command he served as the Deputy Director of the Marine Corps Rapid Capabilities Office, which centered on partnership assessments of emergent and disruptive technologies with the operators and industry to inform rapid acquisition decision makers.


  • Subject Matter Expertise:  C-Suite Consultant/Board Advisor for Defense Systems Research & Development, Acquisition and Sustainment, Strategic Planning, Organization, and Technology Development. Lean Six Sigma Black Belt  


  • Organizations:  Defense R&D and Acquisition Organizations. US NAVY, US SOCOM, and US ARMY and US Marine Corps. 

Randy Mahr

  Randy Mahr retired from the U.S. Navy as a Rear Admiral after a nearly 34-year career.  Randy’s military experience included Engineering Executive for U.S. Navy and Marine Corps aviation programs, assessing technical risk and acquisition plans to maintain and modernize over 3,700 fixed and rotary wing aircraft. After his retirement in 2016, Randy began his consulting practice, delivering over ten-thousand hours of consulting services to companies ranging in size from start-ups to Fortune 500, as well as to the U.S. Government. Randy has led and supported dozens of color team reviews that contributed to capture and strategic market development ranging from tens-of-millions to multi-billion-dollar contracts and has helped businesses successfully expand into the defense market. He has been a contributing analyst for data-based technical reports to inform Government decision making. Additionally, Randy led and supported strategic studies for offices across the Department of Defense, developing data capture and modeling analytics to assess areas such as investment and sustainment priorities, aircraft availability and digital tool investment strategies.


  • Subject Matter Expertise: Proposal Writing and Color Team Reviews, Strategic Reviews/Assessments, Defense Acquisition/Program Management, Aviation, Opportunity/Market Assessments


  • Organizations: NAVAIR (including all PEOs and NAWC-AD and NAWC-WD)

Carmen Graver

Carmen Graver is a Scaled Agile Framework Practice Consultant (SPC6) who specializes in coaching  organizations to adopt a Lean/Agile mindset, leading to higher quality products and unleashing organizational creativity. She is a founding member of the Software Engineering Institute’s (SEI) Agile Collaboration Group (ACG), a forum for Lean/Agile practices within the Federal Government. Carmen began her Lean/Agile journey more than ten years ago as a United States Marine Corps employee, where she championed the implementation of Agile practices. She discovered her passion for coaching and teaching when she led the effort to develop the first Marine Corps Agile Framework (MC-Agile). Over the years, she has delivered transformation coaching and training to nearly 4,000 participants, including more than 500 DOD Acquisition professionals. 


  • Subject Matter Expertise:  Lean/Agile transformation and coaching, Defense Acquisition  


  • Organizations:  Highly regulated organizations, USMC, US Army 

Paul Tice

   Paul Tice is an accomplished and strategic leader with an extensive background in engineering, technology, and program management. Over his distinguished career, he has held pivotal roles in various organizations, most notably with the Marine Corps Tactical Systems Support Activity and the Marine Corps Systems Command, where he served as Technical Director and Deputy Chief Engineer. Paul's expertise lies in driving innovation and leveraging emerging technologies for tactical applications. He has successfully led multi-organizational teams; participated in many source selection efforts to include two ACAT IC programs; chaired, served as a panel member or produced dozens of System Engineering Technical Reviews up through and including Critical Design Review.  


  • Subject Matter Expertise:  Color Proposal Team Reviews, System Engineering Technical Reviews 


  • Organizations:  MarCorSysCom, PEO Land Systems, MCTSSA, NAVSEA 

Jeff Stower

  

Jeff Stower served 30 years in the United States Marine Corps and retired at the rank of Colonel.  His career was evenly split between assignments as an Infantry Officer and as a Ground Acquisition Professional.  As a Colonel he led two of the Corps’ three major ground equipment portfolios. For his last five years, he was the Portfolio Manager for Ground Combat Element Systems, which managed the development, acquisition, and life cycle sustainment of most the Corps’ ground kinetic weapon systems and related equipment.  Jeff holds PMI’s Project Management Professional Certification as well as DoD’s Program Management "Advanced" Certification (previously known as PM Level III).


  • Subject Matter Expertise:   Defense Acquisition / Program Management, Requirements Analysis, Ground Weapon Systems, Business Development   


  • Organizations:   Marine Corps Systems Command, PEO Land Systems

Michael Griffin

  Michael Griffin served 23 years in the United States Coast Guard and Coast Guard Reserve and retired at the rank of Commander. Michael has extensive experience in maritime security, critical infrastructure protection, crisis management, security planning and training. Michael is a registered lobbyist providing representation to a focused set of clients. Michael has been a founder and owner of multiple, specialized security companies where he managed programs, delivered services, and built maritime safety, security, infrastructure protection and training models in the United States and overseas. In 2018 MJG Global was acquired by Silverseal where Michael became the COO. After four years as a corporate executive and successful diversification of Silverseal’s client base, Michael re-established his consulting services.  


  • Subject Matter Expertise:   Business Continuity, Maritime Security, Emergency Management, International Program Development and Training, Government Relations 


  • Organizations:  DHS, Ports Authority, International Ports, Coast Guard, FEMA, Local/Regional Emergency Management K-12 & Higher Education.
  • International:  UAE (Rabdan Academy, Abu Dhabi Crisis Mgmt Center and Ministry of Education)  Guinea (Ministry of Interior)

Mike Fallon

  A career Marine and disabled veteran with over 33 years’ service, Mike Fallon, Col (ret), served in infantry, reconnaissance, and intelligence billets. He served in five combat tours from Vietnam to Iraq. Colonel Fallon retired from the Marine Corps’ Office of Science and Innovation which oversaw the Marine Corps’ Research and Development budget. He sat as the representative on the TENCAP Program. After the military, Mike led General Dynamics’ capture efforts for nearly two decades that resulted in $1.87 billion in revenue. He has contributed as a capture lead or consultant to CAC2S, COC, OMFV, LRV, NOTM, DDS-M, MEG FoS and other programs. Mike has expert knowledge of the capture process and many Marine Corps and Army tactical vehicle and C5ISR programs.


  • Subject Matter Expertise: Early Stage Capture & Go/No-Go decisions, Black Hat Reviews, Defense Requirements Analysis and Translation, Military Operational Context, Concepts of Operations & Employment 


  • Organizations: MarCorSysCom, PEO Land Systems, NAVWAR, Army PEO GCS

Max Stitzer

   

Brigadier General Max Stitzer, USAF (ret.), is an Ogden, Utah native with four decades of leadership and technical experience in military, federal government, private sector, and non-profit organizations including expertise in enterprise-level supply chain management; aircraft & weapons systems; component and spare parts repair and life-cycle sustainment; facilities, physical security, and infrastructure. Max served in tactical, operational, and strategic environments, including multiple combat deployments. He has seven years of service at The Pentagon on the Air Staff (Headquarters, United States Air Force) and two tours with the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the Directorate for Logistics where he served as a principal advisor on global operations, organic and private sector industrial base policy, and global force employment and campaign planning. The resulting enterprise and global executive perspective informs his mission to bring critical technology to market and operational viability into the hands of warfighters for the defense of the United States and its allies and partners and to enable a prosperous economy and viable industrial base..


  • Subject Matter Expertise:  National Security and Defense Strategy and Planning; Major Weapons System Sustainment; Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO); Defense Industrial Base and Organic Industrial Base Policy; Building and Leading High-Performance Teams; Organizational Performance Optimization; Strategic Alignment, and Executive Coaching 


  • Organizations:  Joint Staff J-4, Air Force Headquarters, A-4, Air Force Aviation Maintenance & Depot organizations, Major programs (C-17, KC-135, F-16, F-22 & E-3 AWACS) 

David Burton

 Brigadier General Dave Burton, USMC ret. served  for 36 years, first as an intelligence officer, then as a ground acquisition professional.   Dave has proven leadership skills in the areas of Program Management, Intelligence and Strategic Planning across numerous DoD acquisition and Science and Technology (S&T) programs. He served in top-level decision-making positions within the Marine Corps involving strategic, cross-service and tactical level acquisitions in support of Marine Corps Force Design and Combined Joint All Domain Command and Control (CJADC2) integration. 


  • Subject Matter Expertise:     Defense Systems Acquisition, Program & Portfolio Management, Cross-Warfare Domain Integration Group (CWDIG) 
  • Organizations: CJADC2/Project OverMatch, USMC Intelligence, MARCORSYSCOM, NAVWAR

Joshua Powell

 Josh Powell is a retired USMC command and control SME and an experienced Business Development and Solutions Architect with over 20 years of proven expertise in developing innovative tactically relevant solutions within the defense and communications sectors. His background includes successfully managing high-value programs for Navy, USMC, and other DoD customers, with a focus on Tactical Data Links, Command and Control systems, and advanced network solutions. He has a strong track record of driving growth through cross-functional collaboration, strategic alignment, and innovative solution development.


  • Subject Matter Expertise:     Integrated Air and Missile Defense, Joint All Domain Command & Control, Tactical Data Link Interoperability, Networked Communications, Radar, Counter UxS. Project Management, Unmanned Ground Vehicles, Unmanned Surface Vehicles, Edge Computing, Rapid Prototyping, Technical Proposal Writing, Systems Integration. 
  • Organizations: PEO-LS PM GBAD, PM Radars, MAGTF C2 and Sensor Networking, HQMC Aviation Expeditionary Enablers Branch / Cunningham Group, MAWTS-1, VMX-1, MCTSSA, MCWL Rapid Capabilities Office, OSD Strategic Capabilities Office, ONR Code 31, DARPA STO, Aberdeen Proving Grounds

Mike Simek

 Mike Simek served over 20 years in both active and reserve components of the Marine Corps as a Marine Infantry Officer, holding key leadership roles across infantry, logistics, and engineering support. In addition, Mike brings over 20 years of experience in defense acquisitions, with a strong focus on sustainment strategy and execution. His career includes senior executive positions at Rolls-Royce Defense, where he led initiatives in customer support, business development, and operations, as well as a govt civ role at Marine Corps Systems Command.  Mike has extensive international experience, having led multinational program teams and forged strategic partnerships across Europe, Japan, and India. He was fully accountable for all service support functions and P&L for thousands of engines across 50 operators globally.


  • Subject Matter Expertise:     defense acquisition, program management, sustainment strategy and execution, business development, and IT data center and application virtualization.
  • Organizations: NAVAIR, Air Force Materiel Command, F-35 JPO, Marine Corps Systems Command, PEO Land Systems, Army Tank & Automotive Command, FEMA, defense contractors

Ty Schieber

  Ty Schieber is a Senior Executive Leader with over three decades of sustained engagement and impact in the national security domain.  In the USMC, he served in Operation Desert Shield/Storm as air command and control officer before transitioning to an acquisition assignments at MARCORSYSCOM.  He transitioned to industry in 1998 and has led business operations for a range of large, mid-tier, small, and start-up companies providing training, cyber, engineering and technology services for Federal, State, Local government and commercial clients. He has led two companies to acquisition, successfully integrated multiple business elements and operations of acquired companies into cohesive and high performing teams.  He founded his consultancy in 2013 focusing on tailored strategies and processes to enable organizational growth.   His contributions in the non-profit space includes the National Medal of Honor Institute, as well as recent service as the founding Board Chairman for the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification Accreditation Body (CMMC-AB). 


  • Subject Matter Expertise:  Strategy Development & Execution/Business Development/Capture /  Proposal/Marketing & Communications/M&A/ Organizational Leadership & Staff Development/ Facilitation  


  • Organizations:   Commander, Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition (ASN, RD&A), PEO Strategic Submarines, Direct Reporting Program Manager, Maritime Industrial Base, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army (Procurement), Undersecretary of Defense (Comptroller), Defense Counterintelligence & Security Agency, Defense Contract Management Agency, Marine Corps Systems Command, PEO Training Systems, PEO Land Systems, DoD CIO, Deputy Director, Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office (CDAO), Program Executive Officer for Air, Anti-submarine Warfare, Assault, and Special Mission Programs, Naval Reactors, Naval Sea Systems Command, Department of Homeland Security, Customs & Border Protection, Transportation Security Administration 

Strategic Sherpas

  If your company needs strategic DoD consultants--retired generals, admirals, SESs and former appointees please contact us.  


  • Subject Matter Expertise:  Strategic DHS & DoD engagement.   


  • Organizations:  DHS, USMC, Army & Navy

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