Markets

Jennifer is a proven leader in the federal professional services industry with over 25 years of experience driving business development, capture operations and corporate development for large international companies, including ICF, Philips Healthcare and Deloitte. She leads business growth activities in partnership with Aptive business leaders, ensures the company continues to create and deliver differentiated solutions and capabilities with an eye toward gaining and retaining competitive advantage and market leadership.

Jennifer is solutions-driven with strong experience adding appropriate growth infrastructure and resources to federal practices as organizations expand. She takes a customer focused approach and is skilled in identifying, establishing and growing strategic partnerships across the industry. Jennifer successfully leads cross-functional teams to support the implementation of strategic initiatives that ultimately increase revenue and market share, achieving key growth targets.

Known for her ability to create and execute impactful account strategies, Jennifer utilizes her background in organizational behavior to tailor responses and solutions to customer needs. Jennifer’s research experience, client delivery skills and extensive understanding of the federal marketplace allow her to accurately and effectively analyze the competitive landscape to shape winning strategies. She has guided small businesses into the mid-size market, coached and led teams on a $1B+ pipeline of sales opportunities, managed portfolios worth hundreds of millions of dollars and assembled multi-functional teams to solve agency-specific challenges.

• MBA, Organizational Behavior, The George Washington University

• BBA, Marketing, Economics, Temple University

Ben Barker is an experienced industry leader with over 16 years of success across the federal government contracting landscape. As Chief Strategy Officer, Ben helps guide Aptive’s corporate strategy and leads Aptive’s Growth Team, providing oversight, guidance and technical direction for Client Development Leads, Capture and Proposal Managers, Solution Architects and Writers. Ben assists Aptive in expanding its footprint in the federal government while focusing on innovative customer solutions.

Ben is an accomplished executive with expertise in technical program management, solutions engineering, leadership and corporate strategy. Within these focus areas, he has led and managed initiatives for companies like GovCIO, Leidos and ManTech. Most recently, Ben was Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and Senior Vice President (SVP) of Growth & Solutions for GovCIO, resulting in private equity sale to Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe (WCAS).

• Certified Scrum Master
• Associate Certificate in Contract Management, The George Washington University
• Certified Project Management Professional (PMP)
• 2024 FORUM IT100 Award Winner
• 2025 ENGAGE Federal Health 150 Honoree

Clive Ballard is responsible for the continued advancement of Aptive’s Veteran health services, providing strategic direction that ensures Aptive’s cutting-edge health care solutions and capabilities remain firmly focused on Veteran-centered outcomes.

With more than 20 years of commercial and federal management consulting experience, Clive brings a wealth of experience in the design, planning and implementation of strategic plans, management system frameworks and other mechanisms focused on continual improvement, mission enhancement and operational efficiency—particularly in the health care and hospital settings. Through his work with numerous federal clients, Clive has led delivery of, and served as a technical advisor for, national strategy, policy and guidance; program evaluation and performance measurement; multi-stakeholder working groups and technical advisory committee facilitation; and enterprise-wide program implementation efforts.

Prior to joining Aptive, he was a Senior Manager in Deloitte’s Operations Transformation practice, leading efforts across federal health accounts and within the Quality, Safety and Improvement Offering.

• M.S., Project Management, The George Washington University
• BSc, Biological Sciences, The University of Edinburgh
• Business Strategy Certificate, McKinsey Academy
• Certified Lean Six Sigma Green Belt

Max Entman is a proven communications and marketing leader with a track record of launching strategic, results-driven campaigns and public awareness programs. He guides project teams as they deliver strategic and innovative solutions to Aptive’s clients. He also leads business development activities, helping Aptive expand its strategic communications and recruitment marketing footprint across the federal government.

He has over 13 years of experience in the communications and marketing field with a focus on delivering digital and creative solutions to accelerate innovation and transform target audience behavior. In addition to experience with numerous federal agencies, Max brings the perspective of leading work with large corporations and leading non-profit organizations to the development of solutions for Aptive’s public sector clients. From enterprise website transformations to targeted digital campaigns with multimillion-dollar budgets, he leads teams to drive business value for Aptive’s clients.

• M.A., Global Communication, The George Washington University
• B.A., Public Policy and International Relations, Duke University

Yessenia “Yessie” Castillo is an accomplished health professional, consulting executive and program leader. She leads the growth and operations for Aptive’s Civilian Health account.

Yessie leads Aptive’s efforts with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and other federal health care projects. She supports business development activities, including strategic planning and solutioning related to program evaluation, implementation, measurement, public health, mental health, suicide prevention and substance use disorder.

A results-driven self-starter with a proven background in the academic and federal health care sectors, Yessie has over 18 years of experience, particularly in public health, evaluation and data analytics. In previous roles, she supported several Veterans Health Administration (VHA) contracts, primarily focused on mental health and suicide prevention, including evaluating the national rollout of the Women’s Health Transition Training, President’s Roadmap to Empower Veterans and End a National Tragedy of Suicide (PREVENTS), VHA’s Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Clinical Decision Framework, Creating Options for Veterans’ Expedited Recovery (COVER) Commission for VHA and supported the VHA Primary Care Services Office for Post Deployment Health Services.

• Candidate, DrPH, Diverse Populations and Health Equity, Mercer University
• MPH, Epidemiology, Rutgers School of Public Health
• B.S., Cognitive Psychology, Duke University
• Prosci Certified Change Management Practitioner (CCMP)
• Certified Project Management Professional (PMP)
• HRSA Building Education and Student Training in Maternal and Child Health Fellowship