Virginia Tech. Pamplin Executive MBA Program - Meet the Students

WASHINGTONIAN COHORT

February 2006 – June 2007

	JEFFREY BLACK Jeff Black is an IT security architect for the Intelligence and Security Engineering business unit of Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) located in McLean. Jeff provides security engineering and policy guidance for a wide range of technologies from Voice Over IP, Police and Fire safety systems, data centers, and custom application development efforts for the Securities and Exchange Commission, Treasury Department, Department of Defense, and the New York City Police and Fire Departments. Jeff spends the majority of his time on marketing and proposal efforts in order to gain increasing market share for SAIC, which plans to file for an IPO during the summer of 2006.
	MICHELLE CAMARGO Michelle Camargo is an internal audit project manager at the AES Corporation (AES) headquartered in Arlington. AES is one of the world's largest power companies, with operations in 26 countries and electricity generation capacity of 44,000 megawatts. Michelle has been with AES for eight years and has held various management positions before moving to the United States. She worked as controller in Panama, chief financial officer in El Salvador and financial manager for the AES Latin–American businesses. Currently she works as corporate liaison for five international-based internal audit teams and coordinates the company's wide risk assessment. Michelle received her bachelor's in business administration and accounting from the University of Panama.
	JAMES CLARK After growing up in the "Silicon Valley" area of northern Calif., the son of (IBM, Oracle, Informix) database engineers, James Clark graduated Bellarmine Prep in San Jose and majored in political science at the University of California, Davis. In 1996, James took a job as a Web production contractor at America Online (AOL). Shortly thereafter, James signed on full–time, having fallen in love with the Internet and its promise to reshape communication and entertainment, and has been with AOL since. He eventually moved into software engineering, engineering management, then product management, and for the last two and half years has been helping lead AOL's transition into a free Web–based portal company. James serves as director of product strategy for AOL.com, driving the development of its free Web-based product suite. Having been at AOL almost 10 years, and building Web–based applications since it became first possible, the political scientist in him remains a huge believer in the future potential of the Internet to change the world.
	GREGORY COOKE Greg Cooke is a United States naval aviator currently serving with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service as the senior indications and warnings officer. In that capacity, he is responsible for analyzing and disseminating timely sensitive material to Navy and Marine Corp Units worldwide. Before this assignment, Greg was attached to Fleet Squadron 30 (VRC–30) out of San Diego flying the C–2 Greyhound aircraft. While serving aboard VRC–30, Greg flew more than 1,000 hours and made over 120 carrier–arrested landings aboard seven different Air Craft Carriers. Greg flew in the first six months of Operation Iraqi Freedom, as well as flying over 100 humanitarian missions into tsunami–devastated regions of Indonesia and Thailand a year later. He received a bachelor's in economics from Mississippi State University.
	TIZITA EPHREM Zita Ephrem is the vice president of accounting and administration for Magna Hospitality Group. Magna Hospitality Group is a hotel management, ownership and development company, founded in 1998. Zita is responsible for overseeing all hotel properties, the management company's accounting and financial functions, and she leads the company's administrative departments, including human resources, risk management and IT systems. She is also responsible for due diligence associated with new property development, acquisition and take over activities for acquired properties. She received her bachelor's in computer information systems from Cumberland College.
	CHAD FREDRICK Chad Fredrick has been with ePlus since 1992 serving in various sales and marketing positions. Currently Chad operates the Commercial Leasing Division of ePlus Inc. as the vice president of sales. He leads of team of professionals that sell to Fortune companies including Gannett, Home Depot, Shell Oil and Alcoa Corporation. Chad was responsible for the productization of our life cycle services offerings that have been implemented to over 400 commercial companies today. Over the many years of service, Chad has earned the Top Overall Producer Award three times, and has been in the top five percent of performers each year.
	JESSICA GULICK Jessica Gulick currently works as a project manager for Science Application International Corporation's (SAIC) Integrated Security and System Solutions (IS3) Business Unit. She leads a team of senior security engineers in providing federal clients various security services within cost and schedule. Previously, as a ManTech International employee, Jessica developed her expertise in IT security federal compliance, security integration, and security program planning and reporting. Before that, Jessica worked in Germany for SAIC serving the United States Air Force European Headquarters for Intelligence as an information specialist and a database developer. In addition to her work for the DoD, Jessica has supported clients such as the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Department of State (DoS), Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Department of Treasury. During her time in Germany, she also volunteered for the American Red Cross assisting the European director of the Combined Federal Campaign and providing database assistance for the USAF Headquarters of Civil Engineering. Jessica earned her bachelors of science from the University of Maryland University College's European Division in Management Studies. She is a member of the Project Management Institute (PMI) and is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP). As an active member of the Women in Technology (WIT) Association, Jessica has published an article in its annual IT Journal (Dec. 2005) titled, "FISMA: An Information Security Management Program Vision."
	CHARLES HAMILTON Charles Hamilton is an associate at Booz Allen Hamilton. Charles is currently providing system integration services within the Intelligence community. Charles has also served as an IT project manager and process engineer. Previous to Booz Allen, Charles worked as a project manager for IT research and development projects as well as product development processes projects utilizing computer aided design systems. Charles has implemented processes and systems for Xerox, GE Aircraft Engines, Maytag, Seagate Technologies and Lockheed Martin. Charles is certified Project Management Professional (PMP) and received his bachelor's in aerospace engineering from the University of Cincinnati.
	RICHARD KRANIAS Since 1984 Rick Kranias has been involved with marketing and business development in the printing industry. Rick began his career with a large multinational book printer as a sales representative where he was a frequent President’s Award recipient for outstanding sales performance. Exceeding his third FYE Sales Budget by 270%, Rick was acknowledged as the national new sales leader. In 1993 he pursued a business development position with an Atlanta based digital/variable input/optical publisher. There he closed the company’s largest accounts, United Parcel Service and SAAB Cars, USA. Then in 1998, Rick joined a Boston based folding carton and specialty packaging printer to manage an 11 state Mid-Atlantic/Southeast sales territory. Increasing his sales volume over 135% per year and closing the company’s largest account, Reynolds Metals. Rick developed a sales portfolio of over US$1.7 million dollars. Since 2003, Rick is self-employed as a printing consultant focusing on consumer, food, software folding carton and specialty packaging. A native of Gettysburg, PA Rick is a 1984 graduate of LaRoche College, Pittsburgh, PA with a BS degree in Print Technology Management and was named to the Graphic Arts Technical Foundation Fellows and Scholars Association. Rick resides in Kensington, MD with his wife Sue and daughter Sophia. In addition to raising their toddler, Sophia, Rick and Sue’s interests are outdoor activities, adventure travel, swim, bike, run, road races and multisport races.
	MAUREEN MCALLISTER Maureen McAllister is a director at Visa U.S.A. Inc. Visa is the leading payments brand with over 60 percent market share, representing over $1.8 trillion dollars in annual sales volume worldwide. Maureen serves as a member of a team responsible for the relationship with one of Visa's largest member institutions, Chase Bank USA, N.A. in Wilmington, Del. Her primary responsibilities are in the areas of risk, bankruptcy, fraud, technology, customer care and back office operations for Chase's card issuing business. Maureen has been in financial services for eighteen years, most of them with Visa where her focus has been primarily managing the relationships of key financial institutions in the delivery of credit card and retail banking services. Throughout her career, she has managed project and account managers in addition to key vendors responsible for mission critical systems. Maureen received her bachelor's in management from National Lewis University.
	ROBERT MOSKAL Bob Moskal is the managing partner at Tecumseh Capital Company, a private equity fund specializing in early stage financing for businesses. Bob's responsibilities with Tecumseh Capital Company include locating prospective partners, evaluating projected financial returns, raising capital and managing the investments throughout their terms. Previously, Bob has worked in the aerospace industry on the development and delivery of communication satellites and also served in the U.S. Marine Corps. He is currently a member of the U.S. Naval Academy Alumni Association and serves as treasurer of the Dulles, Virginia Chapter. Bob received a bachelor's in aerospace engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy.
	PRASAD RAMAKRISHNA Prasad Ramakrishna is the Manager of instrumentation and data systems group at Baker Hughes. He is currently involved in architecture, design and development of fiber optic sensor systems for oil field applications. Previously, he was the Principal Software Architect at Mobilecore Systems, a startup focused on 3G–network infrastructure. Previously, he held various technical and managerial positions at Lucent Technologies, in its Consumer, Optical Networking and Network Systems divisions. Prior to Lucent, he worked at Acterna in its Telepath Instruments division, developing hand–held telecom test equipment. He currently resides in Blacksburg with his wife and two kids. He enjoys golf and table tennis between his persuits of innovative business ventures. Prasad holds a master's in electrical engineering from Virginia Tech and B.E. in electronics and communication from KREC (now: NITK) Suratkal, India.
	KUNAL SHAH Kunal earned his Bachelor’s in Architecture from India in 2001. He then pursued his interest in Construction by enrolling into Virginia Tech’s Construction management program in 2002. He earned his Graduate degree in Construction management in 2004 from Virginia Tech. Upon graduation he accepted a job as Builder Trainee with Drees Homes, a semi custom home builder in the Northern Virginia area. He started working as an Estimator and Purchasing agent. His responsibilities were to negotiate rebates and contracts for all assigned products and trades. He then moved to the production department and was involved in working with a team that build over 100 homes between 2005-2007. Kunal currently heads the Business developement and Estimating Department for Ellis Denning Construction. Ellis Denning Construction is a General Contractor whose portfolio varies from multifamily, renovation to commercial buildings. He is working on several pre-construction projects. His work involves from creating conceptual budgets to generating guaranteed maximum price for all projects. He is also responsible for increasing a subcontractor pool and build relationships with all customers.
	AJOY SINGH Ajoy Singh is a senior software engineer/technical architect at Online Resources Corporation. Online Resources (ORCC) provides Internet financial services to 700 firms nationwide, serving over 3 million consumers and processing over $10 billion in payments annually. At ORCC, Ajoy is responsible for providing technical leadership in designing and architecting solutions for complex financial applications. Earlier, Ajoy designed, developed and integrated, intricate software products for clients like New York Life Investment Management, GE, Lockheed Martin, Freddie Mac, Aetna, etc. He has a master's in computer science from George Mason University and a bachelors of engineering in computer technology from India. Ajoy currently serves as a member of the IT Advisory Committee to the Northern Virginia Community College.
	KRAIG STONEMAN Kraig is the ministry administrator for Prince of Peace Lutheran Church and School (POP) a local 1,800–member church and 300–student school. His responsibilities include development and execution of strategic, tactical and operational plans to accomplish the desired outcomes of the Board of Directors and senior pastor. Previously, Kraig was an employee founder and senior analyst at Summerville Healthcare Group Inc., a major national developer and provider of assisted living communities and senior services. He created valuation models for acquisitions and divestitures and managed the $100MM company's cash flow and institutional and private investor relations. Kraig also serves as director and treasurer for Fellowship Square Foundation, a local nonprofit and the Washington Metro area's largest provider of affordable senior housing. He earned his bachelor's degree in industrial psychology from George Mason University.
	PATRICIA TIDWELL–SHELTON Patricia Tidwell–Shelton has worked for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for 23 years. For 23 years, Patricia served the American public well as an agent for change in environmental and public health protections. She co–authored a major Agency initiative called the Land Revitalization Agenda (LRA), which included over 60 action items and created a vision for EPA to focus its efforts to cleanup and reuse properties previously contaminated with toxic wastes. She established Regional Reuse Teams in each of the 10 EPA regional offices to implement the LRA and co–authored National guidelines for development of Regional Reuse Work Plans. During her tenure as the senior policy advisor for the assistant administrator for the Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response (OSWER), she provided key leadership on major political action agendas (e.g. Superfund Administrative Reforms, Integrated Federal Interagency Action Agenda on Environmental Justice, National Partnership on Brownfields Redevelopment, etc.) that have yielded unprecedented environmental cleanup and human health protections. She has served as the senior budget officer for OSWER, managing over $1.5 billion and more than 2,700 full time equivalents. She was an emergency response manager for oil spills and responses to hazardous waste releases. Patricia is an outstanding leader who has spent her career re–engineering programs and developing national precedent–setting policy and guidance. She received her bachelor's in biology from Morris Brown College.
	RICHARD WHITCOMB As an associate at Booz Allen Hamilton, Richard Whitcomb is responsible for managing teams and providing systems architectural guidance for the U.S. Intelligence community. Richard has nearly twenty years of professional experience and has served in program, project and senior management roles while leveraging his expertise with enterprise and applications architectures. Before Booz Allen, Richard's employers have included Microsoft, General Dynamics and Kimberly-Clark Corporation. Richard received a bachelor's in management and information systems from the University of Texas at Arlington and completed graduate studies in computer science at Georgia State University.
	RAYMOND WILLIAMS Raymond Williams leads Multimax’s Civilian and Special Programs Line of Business. His duties include P/L, driving new business opportunities, and achieving growth and operating margin goals within the Civilian and special programs market. The unit provides enterprise IT and communication services and solutions to the FAA, Department of Justice, State Department, Department of Energy, State of Maryland, National Reconnaissance Office, Montgomery County, VA, FDA and others. He offers the company more than a decade of sales and management expertise in a variety of industry and technology areas including a specialization in the IT/Network Services field. During his sales career, Williams developed new business revenue with more than 200 Federal and Commercial Enterprises. Prior to joining Netco, Williams worked for Cable & Wireless' Major Accounts Team, where he led six dedicated enterprise account teams and was consistently among the company sales leaders in both new customers and revenue. Before his time with Cable & Wireless, he was the founder and president of Trainingbid, Inc., an online marketplace for IT training services. While there, he closed new business with both the Department of Defense and Systems Integrator communities. In addition, Williams was a co-founder and had federal territory sales responsibility for Kajax Engineering's (KEI) ATC Division, which developed into a 46 person organization with annual revenue of more than $5 million in less than two years. At Kajax, Williams closed the first federal enterprise account (Dept of Navy) for his division and was responsible for new Federal sales, business base, revenue and increasing market share opportunities. Williams is actively involved in the Washington D.C. IT community and participates as an advisor to multiple technology companies within the industry. In addition, he is the Associate Director and a member of the Board of Directors for The Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association (AFCEA) and serves on the Board of Directors for the Government Electronics Industry Association (GEIA). Williams attended Virginia Tech and Catholic University, and graduated with a B.A. in Politics from Catholic University.
	CHRISTIAN WOODWARD Christian is a strategic account executive with Apple Computer and is responsible for a select group of higher education accounts including the University of Virginia, Georgetown University, The George Washington University and George Mason University. In this role, Christian manages all aspects of Apple's relationship with the students, faculty, staff, administration and research communities on these campuses. He has chief responsibility for revenue growth in the territory, which has grown from $5.3M in 2003 to $21.6M in 2005, and was ranked in the top five percent of sales people nationwide in his first year with Apple. Before coming to Apple, Christian was a business development manager with Blackboard, a $100M Washington, D.C. based provider software and professional services to the education industry. In that capacity, he managed strategic partnerships with Microsoft, Oracle, Dell, Sun and HP. Earlier, Christian held various sales and sales management positions with Exodus Communications/Global Center and Teleglobe and awarded with President's Club and MVP honors on multiple occasions. Christian received his bachelor's in finance and marketing form the University of Dayton in Dayton Ohio.