James P. Allen - Director 

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James P. Allen serves as a Director of CMEP company Preferred Systems Solutions, Inc. (PSS).

Mr. Allen has worked for 30 years as a senior financial executive in the aerospace and defense and federal government technology services industry. He currently serves on the boards of both private and public companies and is currently a director and audit committee chairman for NCI, Inc. He also provides financial, general management and M&A advisory services to a number of government contractors. He has served as the Chief Financial Officer of three publicly traded companies in the federal IT services sector, most recently leading the successful IPO of Veridian Corporation in June 2002. His experience covers a broad range of public and private financing activities, extensive work in investor relations and a 20-year history of mergers and acquisitions.

Significant M&A activities include the purchase of Signal Corporation by Veridian in September 2002, the sale of GRC International to AT&T in March 2000, the sale of Veridian Corporation to General Dynamics Corporation in August 2003 and, most recently, the sale of QSS Group to Perot Systems in 2007.

Mr. Allen received his BS and MBA from the University of Maryland and has been a certified public accountant since 1974.

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James C. Ballard - Director

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As the CEO of CMEP company Preferred Systems Solutions, Inc. ("PSS"), Mr. Ballard oversees and supports all facets of the PSS organization and sets the strategic direction of the company. Mr. Ballard previously served as President, PSS Federal Services Group after his company, Global Services & Solutions, Inc. ("GSS"), was acquired by PSS in 2014. GSS’ specialties included program management, continuity of operations, and acquisition support services for the Federal Government. Mr. Ballard also serves as a Director of CMEP companies Citizant, Inc. and A-TEK, Inc. 

Prior to founding GSS, Mr. Ballard served as President of Perot Systems Government Services ("PSGS") and was responsible for strategy, management, operations, and business development. Under his leadership, PSGS grew from $57M to $650M in annual revenues.

Mr. Ballard also had a successful Naval career as an Engineering Duty Officer, Submarines, managing a diverse workforce of Civilian and Military personnel. He held both leadership and command roles in Naval shipyards, the Naval Sea Systems Command, and the Program Executive Office ("PEO") Submarines. Mr. Ballard earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a Master of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School. He is a graduate of Executive Development Programs at the Kellogg School of Business at Northwestern University and at the Harvard Business School. 

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Mark J. Carmen - Director

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Mr. Carmen is Chairman of the Board of GracoRoberts, a portfolio company of CM Equity Partners.  

Mark J. Carmen is a senior advisor at CM Equity Partners, LP., focused on the aerospace and defense, specialty industrial and business services industries. He was previously a Managing Partner at CM Equity Partners , LP. He was also previously a Board Member at Universal Weather & Aviation, Inc. (2009 to 2015) and a Board Member of Air Culinaire Worldwide, LLC (2011 to 2015). 

Mr. Carmen is a senior-level strategic and operational leader with broad experience as President of a global business aviation services company, Managing Director for private equity and investment banking firms, and as an entrepreneur.  He has a consistent record of driving growth by refocusing strategy, leading acquisitions and building high performing teams; positioning companies for financings and exits; raising equity and debt in private and public markets; and drawing on his diverse industry background in aerospace, defense, industrial, government IT services, homeland security, B2B services/outsourcing and healthcare IT services.

As President of Universal Weather & Aviation Inc. (2009 to 2013) (a global company with 1,750+ employees providing business jet owners and operators international trip support services, ground handling, fuel, and software solutions), Mr. Carmen guided the acquisition and integration of Air Chef (rebranded Air Culinaire Worldwide), a general aviation catering business, identified prospective JV partners in India and negotiated an agreement, rationalized non-core and underperforming businesses, and created a new IT roadmap, all while growing Air Culinaire revenues 13% in a down market.  Mr. Carmen created a pricing group, which developed and implemented a new dynamic fuel pricing strategy that increased gross profit 13% in the first six months.  He made additional contributions by driving operational consistency, mitigating risks and building a stronger corporate culture.

In his previous position as Managing Director, Private Equity at Macquarie Capital Funds, Inc., the private equity arm of the Macquarie Group (ASX:MQG), Mr. Carmen led the private equity investment in Sentient Flight Group, a leader in private jet membership card programs, on-demand charters and fuel management.  In this role he sourced and executed the Sentient complex carve-out acquisition, executed add-on acquisitions and worked on several Macquarie portfolio assets, including several restructurings.

Prior to Macquarie, Mr. Carmen had a 13-year career with Jefferies & Company, Inc. in New York City, a global investment bank and subsidiary of Leucadia National Corporation (NYSE: LUK), where he held positions as Managing Director Investment Banking, Jefferies Quarterdeck; Co-head of Aerospace, Defense & IT Services Group. In these roles he led numerous investment banking transactions across aerospace, defense, homeland security and IT services sectors; sourced and executed IPOs, follow-on equity offerings, high yield debt offerings, private placements, mergers and acquisitions and other financial advisory services; and structured and closed numerous complex and precedent setting transactions.

Earlier in his career Mr. Carmen was an Associate Director - Investment Banking at Mabon Securities Corp; Manager, Collegiate Marketing Division at The Advertising Checking Bureau, Inc. and Founder of Collegiate Marketing Concepts, Inc.

Mark received his MBA at Columbia University Graduate School of Business and his BA from Brandeis University.

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Richard F. Conway - Director

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Richard F. Conway serves as a Director of CMEP company Preferred Systems Solutions, Inc. (PSS).

Mr. Conway has been a Managing Member of Lampe, Conway & Co. LLC, an investment firm specializing in the securities of distressed companies and special situations, since its founding in October 1999. From January 1998 until October 1999, Mr. Conway was a Senior Research Analyst at Lone Star Securities Fund, a fund that invested primarily in the securities of troubled real estate companies. From July 1994 until January 1998, Mr. Conway was a Vice President of Smith Management Company, a private investment firm that focused on distressed securities.

Mr. Conway has previously served as a Director of two public companies: Inland Resources, Inc. from 1995 until 1998 and Hawaiian Airlines, Inc. from 1996 until 1998.

Mr. Conway received a BA degree from Harvard College and a MBA degree from Yale University.

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Michael Cromwell - Director 

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Michael Cromwell serves as a Director of CMEP company Preferred Systems Solutions, Inc. (PSS).

Mr. Cromwell co-founded WWC Capital Group in 1998. He focuses his efforts on companies in the information technology and business services markets, where he has been responsible for both investing in growth stage companies as well as providing merger and acquisition advisory services. Mr. Cromwell represents WWC Capital on the Boards of BrightDoor Systems, Social Solutions, Catalyst IT Services, and Preferred Systems and Solutions. He was previously on the Boards of Perficient and Lighthammer which was sold to SAP, as well as other firms in the information technology market.

Prior to founding WWC, Mr. Cromwell’s experience combined substantial operating and financial management responsibility with significant visible success in executing an acquisition program of over 20 transactions and raising the capital to fund such transactions. He has been a senior executive with a major systems integrator, an entrepreneur with a small software firm and also an attorney in a large regional law firm.In his successful tenure as a senior operating and financial manager in the IT market, Mr. Cromwell had worked extensively with both services and enterprise software companies in the government and commercial sectors. He has invested in IT companies as well as helped them to achieve their merger and acquisition goals, has advised on over $1 billion of such transactions, and has worked extensively in those segments of the IT markets that place a premium on strategic insight, including the following: network security, healthcare information, transaction processing and industrial data collection and control.

Mr. Cromwell received his BA degree from Yale University and his JD from Georgetown University. He serves on the Advisory Board of the Smithsonian Institution Libraries. Mike is married with two children and lives in Potomac, Maryland.

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Glenn Davidson - Director

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Glenn Davidson serves as a Director of CMEP company GracoRoberts.

Mr. Davidson is from Fort Worth, Texas and is CEO of Pinpoint Investments + Advisors, which provides consulting services to industrial distribution companies.  Prior to founding Pinpoint, Mr. Davidson served as President & CEO of A.E. Petsche Company Inc., widely recognized as the world’s leading supplier of interconnect products to the military & commercial aviation markets.  In 2009 Mr. Davidson led the sale of A.E. Petsche Co. to Arrow Electronics (NYSE “ARW”) and continued to lead the company inside Arrow as an independent business unit until 2013.  In addition to being on the board of GracoRoberts, Mr. Davidson serves on several corporate and non-profit boards today including Bridge 2 Rwanda, Amon Carter Museum of American Art and currently leads an advocacy board for ACH Child and Family Services of Fort Worth.  Glenn has a BS degree from Southern Methodist University’s Cox School of Business and is a graduate of Stanford University’s Sr. Executive Leadership Program.

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Ann John - Director

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Ann John serves as a Director of CMEP company Citizant, Inc. Ms. John is President and cofounder or RAI LLC, a 70-person small business supporting the Intelligence Community.  She has more than 25 years of experience supporting the U.S. government, 17 years of which have been in direct support of the Intelligence Community.

Prior to joining RAI, Ms. John was President and a partner at SpecTal from 2002 - 2011.  She joined SpecTal as the vice president of Operations in 2002 and was promoted to president in 2006.  Her responsibilities at the $160M firm included client relations, business development, contract negotiations, and strategic planning.  In addition, Ms. John made all of SpecTal’s major financial decisions and approvals.  During her tenure, SpecTal grew from less than 20 employees in 2002 to 650 in 2011.

Prior to joining SpecTal in October 2002, Ms. John was a director for the Intelligence and Information Systems Group at EDS Federal. In this role, Ms. John had direct P&L and business development responsibility for the group, as well as for various subcontractors working on eight programs in support of the Intelligence Community. Ms. John’s group consistently surpassed its yearly revenue and profit targets under her direction.  Ann previously served as an Audit Manager for the Central Intelligence Agency and as a consultant at KPMG Peat Marwick.

Ann holds a B.S and a M.B.A from West Virginia University and is a licensed Certified Public Accountant.

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George Northup - Director

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George Northup serves as a Director of CMEP company of The Level Playing Field Corporation. Mr. Northup has been an entrepreneur, CEO and investor in tech for over 25 yrs with an excellent track record of building market leading technology companies in the software and internet spaces.  He has a passion for creating markets, delivering high growth results, and developing teams and businesses that endure. 

Mr. Northup has been involved in the building of four successful venture backed companies. During his career, he has raised more than $500 million of capital and he has built companies with more than $2 billion of cumulative revenues.  He recently served as President & CEO of AuctionDrop, Inc.  Previously, he was CFO of LiveCapital, a financial software analytics company that was sold to D & B.  Prior to that, Mr. Northup was CFO of Online Resources, an online banking company (NASDAQ: ORCC, Russell 2000) which he took public in 1999.

Mr. Northup started his career at Deloitte & Touche.  He graduated Cum Laude from Duke University, where he also played varsity Lacrosse.

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