Technology, growth and operations leadership moves across the market

Accenture Federal Services

Garrett Berntsen, formerly the Defense Department’s chief digital and artificial intelligence officer, has joined Accenture’s U.S. government subsidiary to oversee its data and AI work for defense and intelligence agencies.

Berntsen held that position at DOD for one year and served in the same role at the State Department for the five months prior to his stint at the Pentagon. He is also a former deputy chief data officer for State, a post he served in for two years.

In between his DOD and State stints, he served as director for technology and national security for the White House’s National Security Council.

Acuity

Adam D’Angelo has joined the technology and professional services firm as vice president of its group focused on technical capabilities and solutions.

As head of Acuity’s technology solutions group, D’Angelo will oversee the use of certain industry frameworks and partnerships with other companies to aid in solution development.

Prior to Acuity, the two-decade tech veteran worked as director of technology enablement at Slalom.

Astrion

Steve Hamric has joined the technology integration and professional services company as chief financial officer following two decades in other financial leadership roles.

He most recently worked as CFO of Cognosante, where he worked with founder and CEO Michele Kang on that company’s strategy and sale to Accenture Federal Services in May 2024.

Hamric is also a former CFO for 1901 Group and his career also includes senior roles at TeraThink, MA Federal and Athena Technologies.

Astrion is owned by Brightstar Capital Partners and acquired fellow engineering provider Axient in July.

Guidehouse

Karen Odegaard has joined the advisory and professional services firm to lead its artificial intelligence portfolio that encompasses both commercial and public sector markets.

A two-decade tech veteran, Odegaard will lead Guidehouse’s work on shaping its approach to automation as a whole. Her new role will involve collaborations with senior Guidehouse leaders, tech partners and clients.

Her career includes tech leadership positions at ServiceNow and Accenture.

IPTA

Adam Morton has joined the cybersecurity- and digital transformation-focused company as chief growth officer amid its reorganization into a two-business unit structure.

Morton will focus on IPTA’s growth strategy for Defense Department priorities, including those with current customers in the Air Force and Army. The 25-year defense veteran most recently worked as an executive director at Odyssey Systems.

IPTA’s two business units are enterprise technology solutions and services, and secure data solutions and services. Jamie Combs leads ETSS and Jeff Perry oversees SDSS.

Mitre

Brian Abrahamson has joined the nonprofit organization as chief operating officer following three decades in the public sector and private industry.

Abrahamson will lead functional areas including corporate strategy, enterprise technology, global security, corporate real estate and enterprise communications. He will also work with CEO Mark Peters on fostering collaboration across Mitre in its role as an operator of federally-funded research-development sectors.

Prior to Mitre, Abrahamson served as chief digital officer at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. He also worked in tech leadership roles at Pacific Gas and Electric Company and Accenture.

Nava

Samantha Kwok and Marvin McLain have joined the vice president ranks at this technology integrator and public benefit corporation, which several members of the Healthcare.gov fix team founded in 2015.

As vice president of engineering, Kwok will be responsible for shaping Nava’s technology strategy and culture of innovation. Her two-decade career includes roles at DocuSign, Brex, Salesforce Tableau Software and Microsoft.

McLain is now VP of program delivery for Nava’s federal health portfolio that includes clients such as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, plus Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. His two-decade career includes roles at Deloitte, Noblis, Booz Allen Hamilton and TISTA.

Navteca

Hector Collazo has joined this technology services provider as president to lead its corporate strategy, operational and partnership functions.

The two-decade federal IT veteran will also oversee Navteca’s work to further iterate its offerings around artificial intelligence, cloud-native application development, data science and visualization.

Collazo most recently worked as chief technology officer at IPTA. His career also includes stints as CTO for Sev1Tech and director of technology at Agile Defense.

Ridgeline International

Shawn Nighbert has joined the security solutions provider as chief growth officer in the wake of its combination with fellow Enlightenment Capital-backed System High.

The two-decade business development veteran will oversee Ridgeline’s work to identify and pursue expansion opportunities, plus the development of marketing strategies.

Nighbert most recently led CACI International’s cyber operation research and engineering operations unit as general manager, while also working as vice president of the technology and innovation labs group. His career also includes roles at Alion Science and Technology, Ericsson’s federal subsidiary and Harris Corp.

RTI International

Jamie Pina has moved to vice president of data strategy, a newly-created role that also focuses on governance and infrastructure in support of the nonprofit organization’s mission.

Pina joined RTI in the fall of 2023 and will now lead the creation of an enterprise-wide data strategy for the provider of research and technical services. He also is responsible for establishing a new office of data strategy to centralize those efforts.

This is Pina’s second stint at RTI, where he first worked from 2011 to 2021. He founded and led RTI’s population and public health informatics program.