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Deb Rocket Dexter
Advisor
Deb Rocket Dexter is currently the Vice President and Chief Innovation officer of METATQ INC Her primary role is to provide (through the use of commercial /defense gaming technologies), artificial intelligence and virtual reality/visualization tools which are used by military services as well as government and commercial agencies’ to help solve hard training and concept of operations problems and provide out of the box innovative paradigm shift solutions. She is the focal point for strategic management, continuity of operations, quality control, brand management, and congressional and legislative affairs.
Deb also served the Sr. Executive Technical Director for the Defense Innovation Unit Experimental (DIUx) Transition Directorate at the Pentagon for the Secretary of Defense. She was primarily responsible for identifying and transitioning new fast track, innovative commercial technologies to the war fighter. She also served as Senior Executive Director for Business Development, National Security Division (NSD) and VP, Mission Assurance & Cyber Security Directorate for Modern Technology and Solutions Inc. (MTSI), which provided leading edge engineering, technical, and acquisition support services to government and industry customers.
Earlier in her career, Deb served in the United States Air Force for 26 years and retired as a Colonel. The last 5 years in the Air Force She was a Division Chief for the Airborne Reconnaissance & Networks Division, the Information Dominance Directorate and finally served as Chief of Programs, Budget and Congressional Division for all Global Reach Programs on the Air Staff at the Pentagon. She holds several certifications from NDU to include Level 3 in Program Management, Test and Evaluation, Level 2 in Systems Engineering and has several SANS Cyber Security courses to her credit. She is also a graduate of the National Defense University Executive Program Managers Course.
Of special note, Deb authored a technical white paper that was used by the President of the United States in negotiations with the Prime Minister of England. Deb also authored a paper entitled “JSF/F35 the Last Manned Platform” which was published and used as part of the Naval War College’s National Security and decision-making curriculum. She is the recipient of the 1995 Women in Space Award, 1992 General Forest McCartney AFA Space Award and 1988 Air Force Space Command Inspector General Award.
In Deb’s spare time, she mentors’ grade and high school students as well as college students. She also serves as a mentor for active duty and retired military. She is a life member of the Air Force Association, Naval War College Foundation, The American Legion, Military Officers Association of America, and The Disabled American Veterans. Deb is also on the Board of Directors for Wings for Val Foundation that gives scholarships to young women entering college in support of Women in aviation. Deb is also an Associate for Dayton Aerospace Corp.
Mike Atassi
Advisor
Mike Atassi is a senior health information technology and management leader with more than 30 years of experience supporting Federal agencies and Fortune 500 companies, delivering enterprise systems and deploying strategic client solutions. His multi-disciplinary expertise covers Federal shared services systems, Federal grants management systems, biomedical data repositories and bioinformatics, Big Data, data analytics, and artificial intelligence (AI). Mr. Atassi is currently a Principal at Deep Water Point, LLC providing small, medium and large enterprises with strategic consulting services.
Mr. Atassi supported the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other civilian Federal agencies. His positions included Specialist Leader, Cognitive Insights and Mission Analytics at Deloitte Consulting; Vice President of Government Solutions at Dovel Technologies; Director of Biomedical Sciences and Analytics at Cognosante; Senior Program Manager at Northrop Grumman, and Principal Consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
Gregory Redick
Advisor
Gregory Redick founded Potomac Redan Associates LLC in 2008 specializing in DoD matters related to supply chain management, technology transition, acquisition and contracting. He was previously the Director, Government Relations for V-STAX/Enginetics LLCs and responsible for crafting and executing a strategy for transitioning revolutionary technology out of research and development and into production. His background enables him to provide expert advice and insight on matters related to acquisition management, contracting, intellectual property, technology transition, item unique identification (IUID), process management engineering, and other related issues. He’s worked for Keane Federal Systems as a Senior Principal Consultant and Program Manager providing direct support to the UID Program Office in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Before coming to Keane, he served on active duty with the United States Air Force for 21 years. His last duty assignment was as the Commander, Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) Teterboro, NJ office responsible for contract administration and quality assurance of production under government contracts valued at $3B with Honeywell Inc., L3 Communications Inc., ITT, BAE Systems and Kearfott Inc. His command responsibilities also included half a year in Afghanistan supporting Operation Enduring Freedom where he managed all theater activities of Halliburton Inc. from Uzbekistan to the Horn of Africa valued at $750M.
Prior to taking command, Lt Col Redick served as technical advisor to the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology & Logistics (AT&L) as a Military Staff Analyst in the Office of Defense Procurement & Acquisition Policy. In that capacity he was the principal architect of DoD’s Unique IDentification (UID) policy affecting nearly every new and legacy asset in the DoD inventory. He served as a key advisor to senior DoD leadership on issues leading to new or improved business processes or practices and was responsible for developing new policies used by 148,000 DoD personnel executing a $82B defense acquisition budget. Lt Col Redick’s portfolio of responsibilities included leading the DoD effort to change the department’s culturally held beliefs on intellectual property rights as well as facilitating the improved transition of R&D technology advances into future weapon systems. Lt Col Redick worked a variety of other issues including the development of DoD acquisition matters related to interoperability, other information technology and eBusiness concerns as well as fostering a better integration of acquisition and logistics initiatives.
Lt Col Redick joined the Air Force in 1985 working as a Squadron Section Commander prior to joining the Acquisition Corps as an acquisition contracting officer following an Education with Industry assignment at Hercules Aerospace Inc. in Salt Lake City. He’s served in a variety of logistics, operational and systems level acquisition positions. Before arriving at the Pentagon in June 2000, he served as Deputy Chief of Contracts for the Space Based Infrared Systems (SBIRS) Program Office. Lt Col Redick holds a 1983 Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Science from St Bonaventure University and a 1996 Master’s in Business Administration from National University. His professional military education includes completion of Squadron Officer’s School, Air Command & Staff College and Air War College.
ShaShrina Thomas
Advisor
ShaShrina Thomas is Senior Advisor to the Versa Board of Advisors. Thomas provides a strategic overview of the geopolitical, economic and commercial issues that could impact the organization in question, helping give context to strategic decisions. Connecting to the world outside the organization, especially at the top of government and industry, enabling the organization to engage with the most senior influencers and stakeholders. A sounding board for senior leadership, to advise and reflect on priorities/concerns and challenge assumptions. Her background as a former senior advisor for Members of the House of Representatives, provided the platform needed to differentiate her in a competitive marketplace. ShaShrina’s achievements at the national and state level are unparalleled.
Ms. Thomas has been elected to the Board of Directors for the Tougaloo College Research and Development Foundation, serves as a member of the Corporate Advisory Council to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, and former member of the Corporate Advisory Council to the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, Inc. Ms. Thomas had the honor of representing the US Congress in Germany on behalf of the Congressional Bundestag Energy Exchange, in China on behalf of US-China Military Affairs, and in France before the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development. She also spent a year studying economics, international policy in Okayama, Japan.
Mr. M. Glenn Giles
Advisor
Mr. M. Glenn Giles is a business executive with over 30 years’ experience in management consulting, information technology, business process outsourcing, global resourcing/execution strategies, and private equity investments in technology. He has held numerous technical, management, and executive positions, serving a variety of vertical industries, including government, financial services, insurance, retail, consumer products, manufacturing, telecommunications and healthcare in both domestic and international markets.
Mr. Giles is an advisor for a diverse set of opportunities, such as the US Dept. of Energy, Office of Indian Energy grants for Energy Infrastructure Deployment on Tribal Lands; driving additional sources of income from under-utilized real estate held by Historically Black College/University(ies); leveraging the Opportunity Zones provision in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 for the development/production of green energy/clean water technology in urban and rural settings; advising/assisting startups which foster hyper-local economic development, and performing due diligence and feasibility for international economic and urban development projects in Africa and in Eastern Europe. For many of these initiatives, he developed Investment Memoranda to attract prospective funding.
Mr. Giles was a Founding Partner of Fusion AI Partners LLP, a London-based, private equity investment, professional services and advisory group started in 2007 which focuses on technology and business services companies. Mr. Giles served on the Board of Directors and had responsibility for a number of the LLP’s subordinate holdings: He was the President of Anomaly42 US, a data analytics firm; he served on the board of Business Optix, a business process transformation firm, and was on the board of LinkUp Software Holdings and Linkup Software Technologies, both involved in data analytics. He served as the Managing Member of Fusion Government Services LLC, a Washington D.C. based consulting firm, and is on the Board of Fusion Experience, Ltd., a technology product and services company of the LLP. He formerly was a Senior Advisor for Predictive Science Analytics, an econometric modeling and data analytics company. He cofounded Third Millennium, a health insurance cooperative under the Affordable Care Act. In addition, he consulted for Clarity Partners, a west coast based private equity firm, to identify and assess investment potential in information technology companies.
Prior, Mr. Giles was a Senior Vice President of Keane (now part of NTT Data), formerly a publicly traded, $1.1B global IT services firm specializing in information technology and business process outsourcing. He was responsible for commercial and public sector sales and P&L in Keane’s North American operations of 50 branch offices employing over 3,000 staff and generating $850M of Revenue. In addition, he served as a member of the Senior Executive Committee which governed all strategic and tactical direction for Keane.
Mr. Giles served as the Vice President and General Manager of Keane’s Public Sector organization, and he was the Vice President of Keane Federal Systems, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Keane, Inc. He was responsible for all of Keane’s public sector programs, including all state and local government entities, and was charged with developing Keane’s government sector business into the Company’s first formal vertical practice.
Mr. Giles started his career with the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and held a variety of positions concerning matters of national security.
He graduated from Virginia Tech with a BA in Geography and performed master’s work at American University.