NCMA's Board of Directors

Timothy M. Applegate, is currently an AF civilian at a Major Command serving as the senior business and technical manager of all services acquisitions for major operations and maintenance programs, command Advisory and Assistance Services, and command strategic sourcing. Mr. Applegate retired as a Colonel in the United States Air Force in June 2013 and has over 37 years of acquisition and contracting expertise. He is a member of the Defense Acquisition Corps and is Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act Level III certified in Contracting. He is currently a member of National Contract Management Association's (NCMA) Board of Directors and a previous member of the Board of Advisors and has served as President of the Dover Delaware Chapter. He earned the prestigious Certified Professional Contract Manager certification in 1995.

Kraig Conrad joined NCMA as Chief Executive Officer in November 2018 to help the Board advance growth in service of members and the mission. He has more than 20 years of association leadership experience. Prior to NCMA, he served as CEO of Professional Risk Managers’ International Association, where he guided the PRMIA Board of Directors and its global network of more than 50,000 risk professionals. Prior to PRMIA, Kraig held many roles at the National Investor Relations Institute including Acting Co-Chief Executive Officer, Vice President for Programs and Development, and Vice President for Professional Development. He also has served as Research Lead for Strategy Practice at Corporate Executive Board, Director of Corporate Finance and Risk Management and Director of Strategic Alliances at the Association for Financial Professionals, Senior Consultant for Braun Consulting, and Financial Analyst for Credit Suisse. 

Kraig earned a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Southern California and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Illinois at Chicago. He is a Certified Association Executive and member of the American Society of Association Executives, and a Certified Treasury Professional and member of the Association for Financial Professionals. 

Wes Bennett is a former member of the Senior Executive Service and is currently the Vice President of Contracts at Booz Allen. He is an expert in acquisition and contract management with over 20 years’ experience in various contracting leadership roles within the government and private industry. He graduated from the United States Air Force Academy with a degree in Legal Studies and a minor in Philosophy and later earned a master's degree from Bellevue University in Acquisition and Contract Management. He has also completed the Federal Executive Institute's Leadership in a Democratic Society program, which prepares leaders for public service.

He has served in various roles in the Department of Defense, including the Senior Procurement Executive at Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), where he received the Distinguished Civilian Award. He has also been awarded the Presidential Rank, Meritorious Executive Award, and several military medals for his contributions to national defense and the global war on terror. In addition to his professional achievements, Wes Bennett is an active member of the National Contract Management Association, where he previously served on the Board of Advisors and is currently serving on the Board of Directors. He is also an advocate for his local community coaching for various youth sports teams, such as wrestling, field hockey, and lacrosse.

Iris serves as the Assistant Secretary for Procurement

After a 30-year Federal Acquisition Career spanning the Department of the Air Force, Departments of Transportation, Veterans Affairs and Treasury, Iris assumed the role of Assistant Secretary for Procurement at the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) and currently still serves as a Senior Advisor to the Department leading the procurement efforts to support Medicaid Transformation. Iris is passionate about acquisition transformation, leveraging the strengths of the entire cross-functional acquisition team and developing a competent acquisition workforce.

Megan Dake began her current role at Lockheed Martin in February 2025 as the Vice President of Corporate Contracts and Estimating. Megan’s experience spans multi-billion dollar budget management, change management, contract execution and policy development.

Prior to her current role, Megan served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Procurement. In this position, she served as the Enterprise Head of Army Contracting leading over 9000 professionals in the execution of the contracting for weapons systems and critical services to support the warfighter. She led all aspects of Army contracting of new capability supporting modernization efforts to the life cycle management and sustainment of weapon systems. Additionally, she served as the Senior Services Manager and was responsible for the oversight of $60B in service acquisitions.

Megan has demonstrated expertise in strategic acquisition planning, program execution, and talent development. She has a proven record of building strong partnerships with internal stakeholders, Government and industry, academia, and non-profit organizations. She previously served as the Senior Contracting Official for the National Guard Bureau as well as the Marine Corps Systems Command. Megan also was in leadership roles at the Missile Defense Agency, Army Contracting Command and the Program Executive Office Soldier.

Megan’s exceptional service to the American people was recognized with the FY24 Meritorious Executive Presidential Rank Award, a testament to her outstanding leadership and dedication. She holds a Master's degree in Contract Management as well as a Bachelor's degree in Business and Management. Megan is an active board member of the National Contract Management Association and has served as a Presidentially Appointed AbilityOne Commissioner.

A strategic GovCon contracts and M&A integration veteran, Heather G. Gerczak brings nearly two decades of experience to the Integral Federal executive team. In her role as Chief Administrator Officer, she is responsible for driving and executing Integral’s growth, transformation and strategic M&A initiatives.

Heather joined Integral at the end of 2022 after previously serving as vice president of corporate contracts at Amentum. Her experience also includes roles at General Dynamics Information Technology where she served as the VP, Contracts for the Defense Division, L-3 Communications (now CACI) and Harris Corporation (now Peraton).

Heather has earned a reputation as a trusted GovCon leader with deep expertise in strategic contract, procurement, pricing, risk management lifecycle and problem-solving services for the defense, intelligence and national security sectors. She was recognized as a Top 12 Contracting Execs to Watch by WashingtonExec in 2020.

A member of the National Contract Management Association (NCMA) since 2005, she joined the Board of Directors in 2017 where she currently serves. Heather has been recognized as one of NCMA’s Advancing Professionals (2014) and is a graduate (2010) of the NCMA Contract Management Leadership Development Program (CMLDP).Heather earned the NCMA Fellow distinction in 2015.

After receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in communications from Virginia Tech in 2002, Heather continued her education and earned a graduate certificate from the University of Virginia in procurement and contracts management in 2010 and a Master of Science in Management and leadership degree from Marymount University in 2015.

Karla Smith Jackson is vice president of Contracts of BAE Systems, Inc. Space & Mission Systems sector. In this role, Jackson is responsible for leading all domestic and international contracts, and business agreements.

Most recently, Jackson was the senior procurement executive, deputy chief acquisition officer and assistant administrator for the Office of Procurement at NASA. In this role, she provided senior executive leadership and oversight of NASA’s procurement functions, policy and initiatives to an acquisition workforce of over 4,300 personnel. While at NASA, she also served on the Federal Acquisition Institute Board of Directors and on the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Council. As a member of the FAR Council, she was one of only three signatory authorities that could execute procurement policies and procedures on behalf of the United States Federal Government.

Prior to NASA, Jackson served as the acting director for acquisition at the Missile Defense Agency. As the senior advisor and authority on all aspects of acquisition, contract planning, and management, she provided guidance and oversight to programs that successfully integrated a single missile defense system into a layered missile defense capability. Jackson serves on the National Contract Management Association (NCMA) Board of Directors, the world’s leading association in the field of contract management, where she shares responsibility for setting the strategic direction of the organization, ensuring its financial stability, and overseeing the development and delivery of member services and educational programs.

Jackson has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the Professional Services Council and the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce’s 2024 Public Sector Partner of the Year Award, 2023 Presidential Rank Award, the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Civilian Service, the Secretary of Defense Medal for Meritorious Civilian Service, and the OSD Medal for Humanitarian Civilian Service. She was also recognized as one of Washington Exec’s Top Contract Execs to Watch in 2023.

Jackson received a B.S. from Hampton University and an M.S. in contract and acquisition management from the Florida Institute of Technology. She also holds an M.S. in national resource strategy with a concentration in acquisition from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces (Defense Acquisition University).

As Integral Federal's Chief Financial Officer, Manuel Mendez leads business operations, supporting strategic direction and growth. He manages financial planning, reporting, compliance, mergers, acquisitions, auditing, program finance, contracts, IT, quality, and pricing. Previously, he served as VP of Financial Planning and Analysis at PAE, facilitating its divestiture, IPO, acquisitions, and sale to private equity. With senior financial roles at Engility and Harris Corporation, Mendez brings extensive experience. He holds a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Universidad de Los Andes and an M.B.A. from Georgetown University.

Kameke Mitchell, Chief Strategy Officer at MetroStar, is a strategic executive with more than 20 years of experience leading complex, multi-billion-dollar defense and federal programs at the intersection of acquisition, innovation, and national security. At MetroStar, she shapes enterprise strategy and market positioning to drive growth, strengthen mission impact, and align the company’s human-centered, technology-driven solutions with evolving defense and intelligence priorities. Before joining MetroStar, Mitchell held senior leadership roles across NASA, the U.S. Space Force, and the U.S. Air Force. As NASA’s Director of Procurement Strategic Operations and Head of Contracting Activity, she managed a $23 billion procurement portfolio and guided enterprise acquisition modernization. At the U.S. Space Force, she established the Commercial Space Office and built rapid acquisition frameworks that enhanced national space resilience. Earlier in her career, Mitchell served within the Office of the Secretary of Defense’s Defense Pricing and Contracting directorate, as a U.S. Senate fellow, and as a contracting leader for the Air Force’s F-16 Program Office, managing international portfolios exceeding $15 billion. Mitchell holds an MBA in Marketing from Troy University, dual Bachelor’s degrees from Auburn University, and a Master’s Certificate in Legislative Affairs from Georgetown University.

John Roman is the Vice President of Contracts, Procurement and Pricing at ECS Federal, LLC, where he is responsible for leadership of each of these teams for the company. Mr. Roman has 33 years of experience working in both the government and commercial contract sectors.

Previously, Mr. Roman was the Senior Director of Contracts, Procurement & Pricing for Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) Defense and Federal Solutions (HII-DFS) Group. In this role he was responsible for the contracts, subcontracts, procurement, pricing, security, facilities, and quality assurance functions of HII-MDIS. Mr. Roman also spent time as a Vice President of Contracts at the Logistics Management Institute (LMI), The Cadmus Group and SAIC where he led a combination of contracts, procurement and pricing departments. Mr. Roman also served as part of the contracts team at both DynCorp EENSP and the Marasco Newton Group.

Mr. Roman has presented “The Contractor View of the Acquisition Process” for the Defense Acquisition University on multiple occasions and has been a presenter at several National Contract Management Association (NCMA) World Congress events. Mr. Roman has participated at several Reverse Industry Day events with the Professional Services Council (PSC) and was awarded the PSC Leadership Award in 2017. Mr. Roman also published an article in CIOReview Magazine on The Decision for Enterprise Contract Management in a GovCon World.

Mr. Roman is a member of the National Contract Management Association, serves on its national Board of Advisors, is the past President of the NCMA NOVA Chapter and maintains both the Certified Federal Contracts Manager (CFCM) and Certified Professional Contracts Manager (CPCM) certifications. Mr. Roman is an active participant with the Professional Services Council on both their Annual Conference Planning Committee and their Contracting Working Group. He completed a B.A. in Financial Management from The Catholic University of America.

Eugene Scott has more than 30 years of contracting experience leading commercial and government organizations through the complexities of contracting and investment decision-making. Over the last ten years Eugene has led government acquisition policy and oversight organizations. Eugene has been an active member of the acquisition and contracting community having served as a member of the Board of Contract Appeals Bar Association’s (BCABA) Case Digest editorial board, the NCMA Governance and Ethics National Committee and instructing various contracting courses for NCMA. Eugene has also served as an NCMA local Chapter President, is an NCMA fellow, Certified Professional Contracts Manager (CPCM) and member of the Maryland Bar.

Shanna Webbers is the Chief Procurement Officer (CPO) for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). She is an influencer and a strong proponent of innovation, seeking new and better ways to meet the changing requirements in federal acquisition. She provides executive leadership and direction on all matters relating to the planning, direction, coordination, and control of procurement programs at FDIC. Prior to joining FDIC, Shanna served in this same position at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Shanna’s role as a leader on the cutting edge of acquisition innovation has nationwide visibility and recognition. Under her leadership, procurement organizations have received numerous awards for advancements and achievements in the acquisition arena. That’s primarily because she believes in looking at what’s possible instead of what’s typical. She supports the risk takers and pioneering thinkers. She has authored and published several articles and is a frequent speaker at industry engagements and professional associations. Shanna also served as the Internal Revenue Service CPO, acting Senior Procurement Executive for the Department of the Treasury and spent 25 years working in various organizations throughout the Department of Defense. Shanna is a 2014 graduate of the Senior Executive Service Candidate Development Program. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree from East Carolina University, a Master of Science degree from Central Michigan University and a Master of Science degree in National Resource Strategy from the National Defense University. Shanna is a member of both the Defense and Federal Acquisition Corps and is certified in Contracting, Program Management and Life Cycle Logistics.

Steve Woo currently overseas a buying group at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) located in Pasadena, CA. The group manages $1.2B in subcontracts supporting the Deep Space Network (DSN) facilities in Barstow, CA; Madrid, Spain; and Canberra, Australia. In addition, the group also supports JPL’s Information and Technology Solutions Directorate (ITSD) by issuing and managing subcontracts ranging from computer/cell phone replenishment, help desk support, application migration, and system administration.  

Prior to his current position, he managed the Non-Flight Research & Develop group whose team established contracts with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, and other Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDC).    

A member of the National Contract Management Association (NCMA) since 2011, Steve is a past president and an active leader in the San Gabriel Valley (SGV) Chapter of NCMA. Steve earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Southern California in addition to CPCM, CFCM and Fellow with NCMA.