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
James Tessier is responsible for leading Aptive’s growing health informatics practice, working with government and commercial entities to apply data science, augmented intelligence and analytics to transform health care operations and improve patient outcomes. James is a trusted advisor who seamlessly uses health informatics principles to support the research and development of innovative customer solutions.
James is an informatics leader with broad health care experience. As a 25-year Veteran of the U.S. Navy, James has provided surgical nursing, informatics and leadership expertise in a variety of settings both inside and outside of the United States and at sea, providing combat medical support and surgical capability to combatant commanders. His last role in the Navy was as the Chief Health Informatics Officer for Navy Medicine. In his post Navy career, he held a variety of roles in support of informatics initiatives within the U.S. State Department, Department of Veterans Affairs and Department of Defense. Most recently, James was the Chief Digital Officer for XVIVO Services, a surgical practice focused on organ recovery for heart and lung transplantation.
- M.S., Medical Informatics, Northwestern University
- B.S., Nursing, University of Portland
- Registered Nurse
- Certified Professional in Healthcare Information and Management Systems
