Janet Clement – Chief Executive Officer
As CEO of Jefferson, Janet Clement epitomizes leadership with her dynamic approach, exemplifying over 30 years of expertise in spearheading growth, change, and innovation. Her tenure is marked by an unwavering commitment to customer-focused solutions. Under her stewardship, Jefferson has flourished, both in market reputation and internal strategy cohesion. Janet’s belief in the transformative power of a people-centric culture has been pivotal in creating an innovative workplace. Her hands-on leadership style fosters collaboration across executive and senior management teams, driving solutions that address government challenges with client-centricity and high-impact results.
Before her current role, Janet oversaw a small business’s growth from $20M to $50M as the Chief Operating Officer. Her strategic vision and execution led to the establishment of a Shared Services Business Unit and the significant win of the Department of Commerce HR Shared Services contract. Her previous positions include Senior Director at ASI Government and a nine-year tenure at Unisys Federal, where she developed a Human Capital Practice and managed strategic accounts across various federal agencies. Janet’s roots in the public sector include significant roles at the U.S. Mint and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research.
Her active involvement in industry organizations further strengthens her leadership. She is a member of the Executive Committee for Professional Services Council and for the Industry Advisory Council for ACT-IAC.
Martin Mackes – Chief Delivery Officer
Marty Mackes, the Chief Delivery Officer at Jefferson, stands as a testament to over three decades of distinguished service in delivering solutions to Federal Government clients. His expertise spans across Homeland Security, Defense, Intel, and Civilian agencies. Marty’s leadership has been instrumental in steering an exceptionally talented team, fostering a culture of extraordinary delivery while aligning with business growth and corporate strategies. He oversees Jefferson’s Mission Support Team, including Enterprise Program Management, HR, Talent Acquisition, Contracts, and IT.
Marty’s previous tenure as Chief Delivery Officer at Avantus Federal saw him transforming program management and delivery models, contributing to the company’s expansion to over 1,000 employees. His rich experience includes senior roles at Unisys, Booz Allen Hamilton, and Standard Technology Incorporated, where he led businesses servicing various federal and defense markets.
His academic background includes a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Old Dominion University. Marty’s commitment to industry excellence is reflected in his chairmanship of the Homeland Defense Business Council (HSDBC).
Jeremy Arensdorf – Chief Growth Officer
Jeremy Arensdorf, serving as the Executive Vice President and Chief Growth Officer at Jefferson, is the driving force behind the company’s new business initiatives and proposal efforts. His tenure at Jefferson is marked by transformative growth, guiding the company into new service areas and agencies. With a portfolio of serving over 20 federal agencies, his expertise in federal acquisition, organizational development, and project management is unparalleled.
Jeremy’s credentials include a PMP certification and being a Fellow of ACT-IAC. His leadership has been acknowledged through his chairmanship of the Acquisition Management Shared Interest Group and his selection for APMP’s 40 Under 40 award. He holds an MBA from Georgetown University and a BA with high distinction from Hastings College.
Before joining Jefferson, Jeremy’s dynamic background includes being the Director of Forensics at Doniphan-Trumbull High School in Nebraska, where he established a premier speaking program.
Dr. Allan Burman – Jefferson Solutions President
Dr. Allan Burman, President of Jefferson Solutions, has been a transformative leader since establishing the government solutions practice in 1996. His leadership has seen Jefferson providing a spectrum of services, including organizational and data analysis, programatic excellence, and acquisition assistance to over 60 government agencies.
Dr. Burman’s distinguished government career includes policy roles in the Office of the Secretary of Defense and the White House’s OMB. As the Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy, he was a pioneer in establishing performance-based contracting and emphasizing outcome-focused federal oversight and execution practices.
His accolades include being a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration, past Chairman of the Procurement Round Table, a Board Advisor at NCMA, and a Senior Advisor to Government Executives at the Partnership for Public Service. His educational background is equally notable, with a PhD from George Washington University, a Master’s degree from Harvard, a Fulbright Scholarship at the University of Bordeaux, France, and a Bachelor’s degree from Wesleyan University.
Jessica Dusewicz – Controller
Jessica Dusewicz, the Controller of Jefferson, is a critical member of the executive team and provides strategic oversight of all accounting activities for the company. Jessica works closely with Jefferson’s leadership to implement accounting best practices across the organization, and to empower Jefferson’s teams to deliver excellent client service to their federal and non-federal clients. Jessica’s expertise comes from her 18 years of experience in government contractor accounting.
Prior to joining Jefferson, Jessica provided controller and accounting services to clients as a Senior Consultant for SDL. She has supported dozens of successful JAMIS Prime implementations, provided her clients with ongoing training, audit support, and guidance on internal accounting best practices.
Prior to SDL, Jessica was the Accounting Manager for Geodesicx, where she managed the finance and accounting operations and assisted with the implementation of JAMIS Prime. Jessica also worked with Kearney & Company for nine years, where she advanced within the internal accounting department from Timekeeping Administrator to Project Accountant. Jessica holds a B.S. in Finance from George Mason University.
Laura Noce – Vice President, Human Resources
As Jefferson’s Vice President of Human Resources, Laura is responsible for all aspects of our human capital strategy and programs. With more than 25 years of experience in human resources and leadership, Laura works to create an employee-oriented, high-performance culture that emphasizes empowerment, quality, productivity, and ongoing development of a superior workforce at Jefferson. Her expertise and tactics align Jefferson’s human resources strategy with the organization’s mission and business objectives.
Before her current role, Laura served as the Human Resources Director & Facility Security Officer of a woman-owned consulting firm that provided services to the federal government. Within that group, Laura led the human resources & security functions and implemented new best practices across the organization.
Laura earned her Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from the University of Maryland Global Campus. She is an active member of the national and local chapters of the Society of Human Resource Management.
MJ Sivulich – Senior Vice President
MJ Sivulich is the Senior Vice President leading Jefferson’s Business Solutions practice. She provides government affairs, federal business development, and public sector marketing support to industry clients. She delivers vital insights into market trends and growth strategies and guides businesses toward market dominance. She has a long track record of helping nonprofits and small, mid, and large businesses meet and exceed their growth objectives through business development strategy, proposal support, capture support, and market research.
As Legislative Director at Teledyne Brown Engineering, MJ was key in securing federal support and business growth through strategic legislative initiatives, demonstrating her knowledge in navigating federal legislation. Her expertise in federal affairs was honed during her tenure with two Members of Congress, focusing on federal appropriation.
MJ is active in the GovCon community and leads the ACT-IAC FIE VA Team and is a co-lead for the PSC VA Task Force and the PSC VA Vision Team.
MJ’s educational background, a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of the South, provides a lasting foundation for her career. Her unique combination of legislative knowledge and business skills makes her an invaluable asset to Jefferson, where she continues to be a leading force in federal business consulting.
Karen O’Brien – Senior Vice President and General Counsel
Karen O’Brien, Senior Vice President, leads Jefferson’s Emerging Accounts portfolio, a grouping of select large and independent agencies where Jefferson is performing and expanding service delivery, as well as serving as Jefferson’s General Counsel. She is a government contracts attorney and recognized expert on procurement law. Leveraging her procurement expertise, Karen provides high-level acquisition assessment reviews, strategic assessments, and acquisition assistance to numerous federal agencies.
Before joining Jefferson, Karen was Of Counsel to a small firm where she practiced government contract law, including contract administration matters, claims, disputes and bid protests. Prior to that, she managed the Government Contracts publications program of the George Washington University Law School.
Karen began her career as a procurement law attorney in the Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps. While in the Army she served as the legal advisor to the Principal Assistant Responsible for Contracting and the Head of Contracting Activity in Southwest Asia. She also served as a staff attorney for the DoD Advisory Panel on Streamlining and Codifying the Acquisition Process (Section 800 Panel).
Karen is an author on key texts in the field of government contracting, including The Government Contracts Reference Book and Competitive Negotiation: The Source Selection Process (CCH Publishing). Karen received a Juris Doctor from the Vermont Law School and a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Niagara University.
Michelle Straughn – Senior Vice President
Michelle Straughn is a Senior Vice President at Jefferson and leads the Infrastructure and Natural Resources (INR) Portfolio. With over 25 years of experience, Michelle is a subject matter expert in transforming organizations and providing acquisition, business process reengineering, organizational assessment and redesign, data and analysis, and strategic planning services, as well as human capital, cost and performance, IT, and operations excellence.
Michelle provides stellar business development, capture, growth management, and strategic leadership and guidance to over 25 programs and projects at Jefferson primarily supporting United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Department of Transportation (DOT), and Department of Interior (DOI). The solutions provided in INR span all of the Jefferson offerings to include organization and evaluation analyses, human capital performance, strategic planning, acquisition and grants lifecycle operations, communications, training and facilitation, and data analytics and automation.
Prior to joining Jefferson, Michelle served in the roles of Chief Operations Officer (COO), Founder and President of a woman-owned small firm, and Senior Manager/Engagement Director at various large government firms.
Michelle holds a BA from the University of Maryland and a Master of Public Management from the Maryland School of Public Affairs. Michelle is an active member of the Project Management Institute (PMI) and the American Association for Budget and Program Analysis (AABPA).
Eric Bolstad – Senior Vice President
As a Senior Vice President, Eric leads Jefferson’s USAID portfolio. With over 30 years of experience supporting USAID programs in 24 countries, including as a USAID direct hire contract specialist, a USAID democracy officer, and as both a contract/grant specialist and a Director of Finance and Administration for USAID implementing partners, Eric provides a unique perspective in solving international development issues and operating international development projects. Eric is an expert in financial, grant, and contract oversight, field operations, policy development, budget development, internal auditing, personnel training and supervision, project start-up and close-out, and project development and implementation.
Prior to joining the team at Jefferson, Eric led the finance and administration of USAID projects for FHI 360, International Relief and Development (IRD), Academy for Educational Development (AED), and the American Center for International Labor Solidarity (Solidarity Center); including long-term assignments in Serbia and Montenegro for IRD and in Indonesia for both IRD and AED.
Eric served 6 years with the Army National Guard (California and Virginia), and as a Platoon Sergeant (E6), he led the training, health, and welfare of personnel of the 2nd Platoon of Bravo Company, 229th Brigade Engineer Battalion, 29th Infantry Division (Light), in Fredericksburg, VA. Eric has a BA in International Relations and a BA in Spanish from California State University – Chico, and holds an MBA with a concentration in Contract Management from Florida Tech.
Kevin Houley – Vice President
Kevin Houley, Jefferson’s Vice President and Defense Portfolio Lead, is a visionary leader and executive with 25 years of experience supporting National Security Initiatives for the Department of Defense, the Intelligence Community, and the Department of Homeland Security.
Over the course of his career, Kevin has had the privilege of leading highly technical, diverse workforces. He takes pride in his ability to adapt to changing priorities while maintaining a holistic perspective for his clients. Kevin has proven his leadership time and again while effectively driving change, achieving objectives, and successfully leading programs in stressful, high-pressure situations. He places great value in developing collaborative relationships with internal and external customer teams.
Prior to joining Jefferson, Kevin was the Senior Director for Teradata’s Public Sector. He was accountable for service sales and P&L on all client engagements, personnel oversight, and providing pre-sales expertise for prospective DoD clients. After 9/11 Kevin joined Northrop Grumman/TASC, and during his tenure, he served as CIO of the State and Local Government Sector overseeing $400M and 250+ FTE in global classified projects. In this role, he led his team to over $750M in new business. Kevin states that his success was based on outstanding relationships with industry partners, outstanding employees, and strong listening skills with the customer.
Kevin’s educational background includes a B.E. in Electrical Engineering from Vanderbilt University, an MBA from George Washington University, and a Graduate Certificate in Intelligence Analysis from the University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy.
Kaelin Kovacik – Director of Operations
Kaelin is the Director of Operations at Jefferson, leading internal efforts to identify, analyze, and implement business process improvements within the company to better serve clients. As a PMI-certified Project Management Professional, Kaelin develops and implements procedures and best practices to ensure Jefferson executes its business operations smoothly, and with precision.
Kaelin also leads Jefferson’s quality initiatives, working closely with delivery and mission support teams to identify opportunities for process improvements that increase efficiency and reduce operating expenses, mitigate risk, and allow Jefferson’s workforce to focus on delivering excellent client service. She additionally leads the implementation of executive-sponsored strategic initiatives, such as the development of the firm’s Annual Operation Plan (AOP) and the implementation of new and streamlined systems, among others.
Kaelin comes to Jefferson from Avantus Federal where she led contract delivery for a joint Department of Transportation (DOT) and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) effort designed to evaluate the federal government’s implementation of the Federal Data Strategy.
Kaelin obtained her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and International Relations from the University of Kentucky and holds a Master’s Degree in International Affairs from American University.
