Careers in Government Contracting

Moderator: Victoria Christoff, Visiting Associate Professor of Law & Government Procurement Law Fellow, GW Law School

Panelists

Thomas Kennedy, Director, Federal Advisory, KPMG LLP

Darnese Wilkerson, Director, Office of Acquisition, National Institutes of Health 

Myrka Mikhail, Supervisory Contracting Officer, Digital Directorate’s Program Executive Office, Foreign Military Sales Division, Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts

Joëlle Faucher, Director, Enterprise Acquisition and Sustainment Division, Washington Headquarters Services, Acquisition Directorate

Joëlle Faucher is the Director of the Enterprise Acquisition and Sustainment Division at Washington Headquarters Services, Acquisition Directorate, where she leads a team of acquisition professionals. Ms. Faucher has experience in procurement and IT contract review and negotiations. Her areas of specialty include evaluation of supplier proposals, purchasing, supply chain management, logistics and distribution, negotiation training and international work experience. Ms. Faucher is a 2019 graduate of the Master of Science in Government Contracts program at the George Washington University. She holds undergraduate degrees from McGill University and an MBA from the Carey Business School of Johns Hopkins University. Ms. Faucher is also an alumna of the Federal Executive Institute, Leadership for a Democratic Society program.

Darnese Wilkerson is the Director of the Office of Acquisition at the National Institutes of Health. Ms. Wilkerson has more than 25 years of federal contracting and management experience, working for large and small private industry firms. She began her career with Booz, Allen and Hamilton, supporting various federal agencies in government contract administration. While working in industry, Ms. Wilkerson served as the Lockheed Martin Contract Management Representative to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)-Goddard Space Flight Center in support of the Consolidated Space Operations Contract (CSOC) multi-Billion-
dollar program, which supported all of NASA’s Space Operation Centers and Satellite
Installations around the world. Ms. Wilkerson holds a Master of Business Administration and a Master of Science in Government Contracts from the George Washington University. She also holds a Bachelor of Science in management, business, marketing, and related support services from the National Louis University.

Thomas Kennedy is a Director in KPMG’s Federal Advisory practice managing and supports large service contracts for the Federal Government. Mr. Kennedy currently sits within KPMG’s Technology Enablement Service Line focused on enabling the government with technology innovation and data services across their back, middle, and front office functions. Previously, Mr. Kennedy worked in KPMG’s Commercial Advisory Aerospace & Defense practice providing Regulatory Compliance services to Federal Agencies and government contractors across DoD and Civilian Agencies. He attended The George Washington University where he received both his B.S. in Economics (2007) and Masters of Government Contracts (M.S.G.C.) (2016).

Myrka Mikhail is a Supervisory Contracting Officer at the Digital Directorate’s, Program Executive Office, Foreign Military Sales Division, Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts. In this position, Ms. Mikhail serves as a business leader providing acquisition policy and contract strategy support. She is responsible for the execution of a $900 million contract portfolio and for managing and developing a team of Contract Specialists. Ms. Mikhail has a decade of acquisition experience, including her time as a Contracting Officer with the Defense Logistics Agency in Philadelphia, a Contract Specialist and Task Management Lead with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory. She has also worked in multiple offices within Hanscom AFB. Those offices include the Aerospace Management Systems Division FMS branch and the Airspace Mission Planning Division FMS branch, were she executed a variety of contracts actions in support of partner nations. Prior to her current position, Ms. Mikhail was a Procurement Analyst, were she provided business and contract strategy advice to the Director of Contracting and Contract Clearance Approval Authority on all contract actions between $10 and $999 million at Hanscom, AFB. Ms. Mikhail is a 2018 graduate of the Master of Science in Government Contracts program at the George Washington University. She also holds a graduate certificate in program management from the George Washington University and a bachelor’s in business administration from the University of Arkansas.