A baker's dozen corporate leadership moves to note as spring arrives
Gettyimages.com / Yuichiro Chino
By
Ross Wilkers
This new listing of key hires and promotions across the government market also coincides with the ending of 2025's first quarter.
Advanced IT
Kevin Thompkins has joined the provider of IT, cybersecurity and training services as senior vice president of corporate strategy.
Advanced IT cited his 25-year career as covering functions such as business development, partnerships, operations and innovation.
His career also includes roles at H4 Enterprises, Booz Allen Hamilton, AcquiForce, Engineering Systems Consultants and General Dynamics IT.
Akima
Michael Dallara has joined the federal services provider as general manager for two of its subsidiaries: Qiviliq Federal Group and Akima Global Technology.
The two-decade market veteran most recently worked as chief operating officer for Evoke Consulting, a professional and business support services company.
His career also includes roles such as executive vice president at Cyber Defense Technologies, chief operating officer at Sevatec and a senior VP post at Engility Corp.
Aleut Federal
Sean O’Connor has joined the technology and infrastructure services provider as senior vice president of finance and contracts.
The 25-year market veteran will oversee Aleut Federal’s functions in financial reporting, budgeting, forecasting and accounting. His new role also involves the company’s contracts area.
O’Connor most recently worked as chief financial officer at Take2 Consulting. His career also includes financial leadership roles at Metrea and Constellis.
Cherokee Federal
Joe Boeckx has joined as chief growth officer following two decades across functions such as business operations, corporate development and intelligence operations.
He most recently worked as CGO for QinetiQ’s subsidiary in the U.S. and oversaw the development of strategies for growing its portfolio in robotics, artificial intelligence and systems engineering.
Boeckx’s industry career also includes senior business development roles at Tenax Aerospace, Akima and Leidos. He served as an Army officer before joining the private sector.
Govplace
Josh Weiner has joined the public sector IT distributor and integrator as executive vice president of sales, making him the first key hire under new ownership.
His appointment follows Govplace’s early February announcement of its sale to Digital Capital Partners, the private equity firm led by DMI’s founder Jay Sunny Bajaj.
Weiner is a 25-year market veteran who most recently worked as a sales director at CDW-Government, which he joined through its acquisition of Sirius Federal in 2022. He spent 21 years at Sirius altogether.
Intact Technology
Kellie Bock has joined this ServiceNow-focused integrator and consultant as chief people officer, a role that involves responsibilities for strategic talent initiatives.
The two-decade market veteran most recently worked as an organizational change leader at Salesforce. Bock joined Salesforce through its 2021 acquisition of Acumen Solutions, where she spent a decade in HR leadership roles.
Her career also includes positions at Booz Allen Hamilton, Innovative Concepts, Gulf Power and TRW.
ITA International
Barry DuVal, former president and CEO for the Virginia Chamber of Commerce, has joined this technology and professional services provider to lead its arm for investing in veteran-owned businesses.
ITA Growth Partners is a family office that look across all sectors, not just GovCon, for opportunities to invest in businesses with veteran entrepreneurs at the helm.
DuVal led the Virginia Chamber of Commerce for 15 years and is also a former secretary of commerce and trade for the state.
ITC Federal
Keri Gentilcore has joined the digital services company as vice president of its national security account, which includes contract work with Homeland Security Department agencies and components.
ITC cited her two-decade career as including programs in border and transportation security, IT transformation, and exercise development and delivery.
Gentilcore’s career in industry includes roles at NTT Data, Acuity, Guidehouse and Eagle Hill Consulting.
Leidos in the U.S.
Daryle Lademan has joined as senior vice president of corporate strategy in a role that also involves partnerships, investments and special projects.
She will report to Chief Growth Officer Jason Albanese and work with other executive leadership team members on rolling out Leidos’ emerging NorthStar 2030 strategy and vision.
Lademan is a three-decade veteran who most recently spent 15 years at BAE Systems’ U.S. subsidiary, where she led enterprise strategy and planning functions. Her career also includes roles at Avascent and CSP Associates.
Leidos “Across the Pond”
Adam Clarke started his new role as chief executive for the company’s U.K. and Europe subsidiary on Monday following two decades at Leonardo.
Clark succeeds Eric Freeman, who has led the business for one year and will return to the U.S. following transition activities. Leidos U.K. & Europe works on logistics modernization and mission software programs for customers on that side of the pond.
Revenue from commercial and non-U.S. government customers totaled $2.1 billion in 2024 to account for roughly 12.6% of overall sales, according to Leidos’ annual 10-K report.
Peraton
Todd Borkey has joined as chief technology officer to lead the overall tech strategy, research-and-development portfolio and strategic innovation group.
Included within that group is Peraton Labs, the company’s applied research arm that can claim lineage to the famed Bell Labs.
Borkey most recently worked as the first-ever corporate CTO at HII, where he founded the shipbuilding and government tech company’s artificial intelligence campaign. He joined HII via its 2021 acquisition of Alion Science and Technology, where he was CTO.
Peraton 2x
Christy Wilder has joined as chief strategy officer to oversee the development and execution of strategies for managing risks, incident responses and safety protocols.
Wilder’s 22-year career in industry and government includes roles such as CSO at Maxar Technologies, vice president at Leidos, a deputy director of the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency, deputy director and chief of staff for the National Background Investigations Bureau, and principal adviser to the Director of National Intelligence.
Before Peraton, she founded Wilder and Associates to advise executives working in the security field.
Redwire
Mike Gold has moved over to president of the civil and international space business following roughly two years as chief growth officer at the space and defense technology company.
Redwire makes this appointment amid its push for expansion in Europe, where space budgets are seen as growing.
Gold joined Redwire in the spring of 2021 as executive vice president for civil space and external affairs, following a one-year stint at NASA as associate administrator for space policy and partnerships. His nearly three-decade career also includes roles at Maxar and Bigelow Aerospace.
Spire Global
Alison “Ali” Engel will join the publicly-traded space-based data and analytics provider on Tuesday following two decades in CFO roles across other industries.
She most recently worked as CFO for the software-as-a-service company LeaseAccelerator for one year. Her career also includes five years as CFO for Gannett, the owner of USA Today, and six years in that same position for the media holding company DallasNews Corporation.
Spire’s hire of Engel follows the late 2024 promotion of Theresa Condor to chief executive.
Tsymmetry
Joanna Pepper has moved up to chief growth officer roughly one year after she first joined the technology and business support services provider as vice president of capture excellence.
Pepper’s 25-year career includes leadership roles in functions such as business development, capture, proposal strategy and operations.
Before Tsymmetry, Pepper worked as VP of business development and capture at TechFlow. She is also a 12-year veteran of Leidos.
Unissant
Laila Salguero has joined the midsized provider of analytics, digital transformation and cybersecurity services as chief people officer.
The two-decade market veteran most recently worked at Peraton as vice president of human resources and VP of corporate responsibility before that. Her career also includes HR leadership roles at CGI and Booz Allen Hamilton
Unissant started a new phase of its strategy in the summer when Array’s founder Sumeet Shrivastava joined as chief executive.