About Us

Gargi Lakamraju

President; Chairperson, JSL Board

Gargi Lakamraju brings over 16 years of experience in operations and management of information technology services. As the President, she provides strategic direction with a focus on developing human capital and growing the firm's core competencies.

Gargi's desire to create a culture of workplace integrity to strengthen corporate compliance helped to transform a small services company to the fast-growing Government contracting company.

Gargi received a Bachelor's degree in computer sciences from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (JNTU), Hyderabad, India and resides in Ashburn, VA.

Kristen Larson

Chief Executive Officer

Kristen serves as the Chief Executive Officer at JSL. She blends her two decades of large-scale profit and loss leadership, technical program management, and commitment to building strong business partnerships to develop an organization that delivers meaningful results. Prior to joining JSL, Kristen served as CEO of LarK Federal, a Woman-Owned Small Business. She built a talented, motivated team known for complex problem solving and embracing challenges to deliver solutions that exceed customer expectations.

Kristen has been responsible for providing leadership in both consulting and executive roles for industry leading system integrators, last serving as sector Vice President. She led P&L for an organization with $100M+ annual revenue ($1B contract valuation) and 1200 employees. She developed a Shared Services Organization leveraged across the company resulting in lower operational costs and provided executive leadership on a Government award-winning mobile application.

Kristen is a graduate of the Ohio State University with a degree in Management Information Systems and holds PMP, ITIL Foundations and Certified Scrum Master certifications.

Raju Kakarlapudi

Executive Director

Raju brings over 19 years of IT Management experience in establishing and growing small businesses with the focus on delivering IT solutions in the commercial and Federal markets.

In his prior role, Raju served as a technical subject matter expert implementing large-scale systems development projects for a verity of commercial clients. Having passion with the software engineering and its process and with excellent service record, Raju worked with Rational Software, BCBS, Hilton Worldwide, Bombardier, Wabtec, IRS and the Dept. of Education.

Raju received his Master's Degree in Computer Applications from the University of Madras, India.

Scott Gray

Senior Director - Technology

Scott brings over 30 years of experience across all aspects of Information Technology to his current role as Sr. Director of Technology. In this role, Scott provides expertise solving business problems through the application of technology and disciplined system architecture and design principals.

In his prior role, he served 16 years as the President of Atazi Systems, serving customers in the Federal and commercial spaces. He was responsible for all aspects of business development, client relationship management as well as technical roles including integration architecture and application modernization. Scott graduated from The State University of New York at Buffalo and holds a Bachelor's of Science degree in International Economics. He currently holds an active 6C clearance.

Jeff Goldhirsch

Chief Technology Officer

Jeff brings 20 years of IT experience delivering solutions to commercial and Federal clients to his role as Chief Technology Officer. His specializations include application development, integration, security, identity and access management, legacy modernization, automation and DevSecOps. He is always working to embrace new technologies for our customers, while filtering out technologies that are not yet operationally mature enough for adoption.

Jeff is a graduate of the University of Virginia with a Bachelor's of Arts in Economics and Minor in Computer Science.

Dustin Hoover

Chief Growth Officer

Dustin brings 20 years of diverse experience in Business Development, Capture Management, Profit and Loss, and Market Research to Jazz Solutions and currently serves as Chief Growth Officer. This experience is being applied to hone our team's ability to build relationships and propose innovative solutions that focus on achieving our client goals and mission objectives.

Previously, he was responsible for the alignment of business operations, customer satisfaction, and financial performance of a $100M portfolio for a leading systems integrator. He has managed proposal and capture operations for an $800M dollar organization, provided market research and consulting for Fortune 100 companies, and was responsible for leading a contract management team for a $2B organization.

Dustin is a graduate of the University of Iowa where he earned a Bachelor's degree in Corporate Communications. He currently holds an Active 6C Clearance, along with PMP and ITIL certifications.

Melanie German

Senior Director - Client Services

Melanie German is a member of the Jazz Solutions executive management team as the Sr. Director of Operations and PMO. In her role, Melanie oversees the operations and delivery of multiple contracts and ensures compliance with organization-wide operational processes.

She brings over 27 years of technical and management experience from the Federal, State, and Private Sectors to the organization. Her focus has been in developing, implementing, and managing operations for solutions, integrating web applications and backend applications, and services including but not limited to mainframe and AWS. Melanie attended Central College in Iowa where she earned a Bachelor's of Arts, in Mathematics and Computer Science. She has held the Project Management Professional certification since 2016 and is a proud member of the Project Management Institute's, Washington D.C. chapter.

MaulikKumar Shah

Senior Director - Client Services

Maulikkumar Shah is responsible for delivery of IT services for Jazz Solutions as Sr. Director. Mr. Shah has over 13 years of IT experience. Mr. Shah has strong technical background and leadership experience in Change and Configuration Management, Access and Identity Management, Data Center Operations and Maintenance, Middleware Infrastructure Support, and System Implementation and Migration to Cloud.

Mr. Shah has strong knowledge and experience in understanding, planning, budgeting, management, and supervision. Mr. Shah is driven to achieve operational efficiency and delivery excellence while maintaining the high-quality outcome. Mr. Shah has a Bachelor's in Engineering and Master's in Management of Technology and has experience with ITIL implementation and CMMI processes.

Dan Butler

Senior Director - Technology

Dan brings over 35 years of progressive leadership experience and currently serves as Sr. Director of Technology. He brings practical, hands-on expertise in applying technical strategy to system architecture and design for both strategic capture opportunities and critical program delivery.

In his prior role he served as Senior System Architect and was responsible for the architecture and deployment of significant processing systems in AWS Cloud, where he designed and implemented large-scale, high-volume transaction processing systems. Dan also led the first native mobile application deployment for the U.S. Department of Education, Federal Student Aid to support creation and submissions of applications for aid. Under his leadership he also managed a team of over 25 technical staff in support of major systems for the U.S Department of Labor. Dan currently holds an active 6C Clearance as well as the following certifications: CISSP, AWS – SAA and SOA Solution Designer.

Avery Moore

Senior Director - Security

Avery brings years of experience in information security, security operations, vulnerability management, FedRAMP, and NIST/FISMA to Jazz Solutions and is currently serving as our Security Director. Avery enjoys teaching security concepts to just about anyone who will listen and believes that security ultimately works for us rather than us working for it.

Prior to joining Jazz Solutions, Avery was a Sr. Security Manager supporting the Federal Student Aid (FSA) Next Generation Data Center (NGDC), leading the security and compliance, vulnerability assessment, access management, and endpoint threat management capabilities. Avery has supported information security efforts for other Federal agencies including the National Security Agency, Department of Labor, Department of Homeland Security, and the Office of Personnel Management. Avery also has experience in the private sector from his work at a regional bank in the Topeka/Kansas City area.

Brynne Smith

Senior Director - Client Services

Brynne Smith is a member of the Jazz Solutions team as a Director of Client Services. In her role, Brynne oversees the delivery of mission critical contracts for Federal Student Aid.

She brings over 17 years of management experience from the Federal sector to the organization. Her focus has been in developing, implementing, and delivering solutions focusing on integrating web applications and backend applications and services including but not limited to mainframe and AWS. Brynne attended the University of Iowa where she earned a Bachelor's of Science. She has held the Project Management Professional certification since 2020.

Tammy Martin

Senior Business SME

Tammy is a Senior Business Subject Matter Expert (SME) with over 30+ years of experience working in the Federal Student Aid industry. Ms. Martin brings the knowledge, skills and abilities she has cultivated over decades of practice in program management, project management, systems development and testing, and business analysis. She possesses extensive experience delivering results and is adept at identifying and mitigating risk. Analytical and detail-oriented, she is able to identify and implement process improvements that increase accuracy, consistency, and efficiency. Her proven ability to analyze, identify, and solve problems coupled with her abilities as an effective communicator with internal and external stakeholders at all organizational levels enable her to effect change. She is a team player with an excellent attitude towards work and new challenges.

Ms. Martin is a graduate of Truman State University where she earned a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration. She currently holds an Active 6C Clearance, along with certification as a Certified Scrum Product Owner™ (CSPO™).

Satish Uppalapati

Vice President - Corporate Development

Satish Uppalapati is the Sr. Director for Corporate Development responsible for internal company initiatives, HR Policies, Process Improvements, Quality Assurance Standards, and Security Compliance & Certifications.

Satish has worked as Senior Business Analyst and Contractor with Local and Federal agencies, including HHS, NIH, and Baltimore City School System, and was responsible for Enterprise Content Management (ECM) implementations, Platform Administration, Access Management and Solutions Development. He earned his Master's Degree in Applied Information Technology from Towson University.

Krishna Kakarlapudi

Director - Client Services

Krishna serves as a Director of Client Services. She brings with her comprehensive knowledge and experience directing and managing Professional Services teams focused on Business and IT solutions delivery. In her work she likes to focus on developing high level customer satisfaction, effective business solutions, building efficient teams and ROI.

Prior to joining Jazz Solutions, Krishna led various implementations of Enterprise software products and solutions and Customer Relationship Management platforms for Commercial sector client. As a seasoned consultant, Krishna believes in strong well-rounded communication both internal to an organization and with her clients. She is known for effectively coordinating complex initiatives across business and technology teams. She's at her best when leading clients through complex transformations, including strategic planning, organizational development and process improvement initiatives.

She has a Bachelor's and Master's in Computer Sciences and Engineering. She is certified in Pegasystems Business Architecture, trained in Process development, Salesforce, Management Essentials, Project Management and Agile methodology.

Siva Bhattiprolu

Executive Director and Chief Strategy Officer

Siva is Our Executive Director and Chief Strategy Officer. He keeps JSL focused on developing and delivering technology-driven business services and solutions, providing outstanding client service, and driving profitable revenue growth.

He has over 20 years of professional experience having worked as a variety of senior executive roles for multiple companies in the Federal space. His expertise includes General Business Management, Strategic Planning, Marketing Communications, Capture and Sales. Siva joined JSL after 12 years with PPS InfoTech where he served in a number of roles including VP for Business Development, Public Sector President and finally Chief Operating Officer.

Siva has a Bachelor's degree in Engineering from Pune University and an MBA from Arkansas State University.

Mark Cutler

Chief Financial Officer

Mark brings over 30 years of Government finance and contractual experience to his role as Jazz CFO. This broad base of experience facilitates the development of operational strategies based on financial and accounting information, analysis, and the implementation of strategic goals and direction. Mark has a long, successful track record of developing new business and providing solid and proven financial leadership. Prior to Jazz, Mark has held senior positions at MissionSide, General Dynamics Information Technology, Vangent, Lockheed, and Rockwell Collins.

Mark led the market analysis, price strategy, proposal development and implementation approach resulting in over $5B of awards within the last seven years. Mark has also managed the contract and subcontract operations for a department that supported over $700M of Government prime contracts in a challenging operational and political environment. Mark has extensive experience in the development of and tracking of budgets, rates, and annual plans. This includes the development of long-term strategic plans as well as individual contract or departmental efforts and support of all M&A activities.

Moiz Mohammed

Chief Operating Officer, Federal Civilian

Moiz has more than 20 Years of experience in consulting and technology business development and leadership, he has extensive experience in systems engineering, infrastructure modernization, and systems architecture. He has successfully migrated and operated large mission-critical systems and has deep domain expertise in secure cloud architectures and design practices for FedRAMP and FISMA compliant systems requiring system hardening and compliance. As COO, Moiz Oversees all JSL business groups and operations, and play a key role in delivery.

Laura McClintock

Chief People Officer

Laura McClintock brings a mixture of organizational management and policy advocacy to JSL. Over two decades she has managed Federal agencies, non-profit organizations, and successful issue campaigns across the country. As a public affairs consultant, she has worked on a wide palate of issues at the Federal, state and local levels.

Laura spent six years as a senior executive leader at the U.S. Department of Labor working on policies to protect workers' pay, health and safety, apprenticeship opportunities and retirement security. She served as a deputy assistant secretary, overseeing the management functions of the agency and she served on the senior executive policy management team for the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Labor.

Laura earned a B.S. at James Madison University and a Master's in Public Administration at the University of Washington Evans School for Public Affairs. She hopes to bring a mixture of management, policy, and advocacy experience to add to the success of the JSL team. Laura is a passionate Washington Nationals fan and is always a little happier when baseball is played every day.

Robert “Weeds” Wedertz

Chief Operating Officer, Defense/Intel

With more than 35 years of leadership experience, both in uniform as a U.S. Navy Strike-Fighter pilot and in the private sector as an executive at small and large companies, Rob brings expertise in business operations, technical program management, P&L, and operational and strategic planning/implementation to JSL. Prior to joining JSL, Rob served as Chief Strategy Officer of a government consulting firm where he was responsible for crafting and implementing a growth-focused strategic plan. He previously led the Defense/Intelligence-focused growth and strategy efforts for a large, publicly traded AI/ML technology company.

Rob also has extensive experience with Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A), Integration Management, Business Development and Capture, and technology-enabled decision support platform development and implementation.

Rob is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy, earned his MBA from the Naval Postgraduate School, and is PMP certified.

Ben “Hemmy” Kirby

Executive Vice President, Defense/Intel

Ben is a Marine with more than 25 years of leadership experience in the Defense sector as entrepreneur and executive leader at small businesses, and large corporations. His expertise is in business operations, strategy development and planning, and organizational growth. In his prior roles, Ben served as a VP, Product Management, and Sr. Director of DoD Programs. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and is a Certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt and Associate in Enterprise Risk Management.