AHMED R. ALI
PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER
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Board Of Directors
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JOSEPH RHODES
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
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NATHAN SETH
CHIEF GROWTH OFFICER
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MICHAEL ROBERTS
CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER
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JAG GANGAHANUMAIAH
CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER
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RAJESH GORE
CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER
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MUKUL GUPTA
CHIEF SOLUTIONS ARCHITECT
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HEMA JAGADEESWARAN
VICE PRESIDENT, OPERATIONS & STRATEGY
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SEAN WARNER
VICE PRESIDENT, OPERATIONS
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ULRIKE NASSHAN
VICE PRESIDENT, OPERATIONS (DEPUTY)
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LAUREN R. LAWRENCE
VICE PRESIDENT
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LESLIE TORBETT
VICE PRESIDENT, TALENT ACQUISITION
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ROBERT WILSON
VICE PRESIDENT, DELIVERY ASSURANCE
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AHMED R. ALI
PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER
Ahmed R. Ali is the President and Founder of TISTA Science and Technology Corporation.
Experience
Ahmed is a U.S. Navy Veteran, with over 30 years of military, federal government, and civilian experience in engineering, information technology, cybersecurity, and project/program management. While serving, Ahmed worked on various aspects of engineering, fire control radar, weapons systems, electronic warfare, and communications. Ahmed served onboard an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer and completed multiple deployments throughout the world in support of various military operations. Duty stations included Recruit Training Command (IL), Naval Surface Warfare Center (VA), Pearl Harbor (HI), Bolling Air Force Base (DC), and the Pentagon (DC).
Education
Ahmed received his B.S. in Information Systems Management from the University of Maryland, an M.S. in Cybersecurity from Capitol Technology University, and holds an MBA with a concentration in International Business. Ahmed has also completed further executive level education programs at Harvard University, Georgetown University, and Dartmouth College.
Interests
Ahmed enjoys spending time with his family, playing sports, supporting various charitable organizations, different cuisines, traveling, and exploring the world.
Board Of Directors
JOSEPH RHODES
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Joseph Rhodes leads TISTA Science and Technology Corporation's (TISTA) strategic course as the CEO.
ExperienceJoe previously served as TISTA’s Chief Operating Officer (COO). Prior to joining TISTA, he served in senior executive leadership roles with Kforce Government Solutions (KGS) and General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT). Joe has a proven history of providing highly rated solutions to multiple healthcare, intelligence, and homeland security agencies. He also has a wealth of experience in results-driven agile management and innovation approaches, with a focus on high-performance computing and analytics.
EducationJoe holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Mary Washington, as well as a Bachelor of Science degree from Virginia Tech.
InterestsJoe enjoys spending time with his family, reading, and staying physically active outdoors whenever possible. He has a passion for continual learning, particularly around future technologies and concepts.
NATHAN SETH
CHIEF GROWTH OFFICER
Nathan Seth is TISTA's Chief Growth Officer, responsible for leading business development strategy, driving long term strategic partnerships, and identifying new markets and clients.
ExperienceNathan joined TISTA in 2017, having had 22 years of experience in architecting and implementing leading-edge technology solutions in health-IT domain, media and entertainment, API lead revenue generations, web hosting, telecommunications, e-commerce, m-commerce, online advertising, and financial industries. Prior to joining TISTA, he served as CTO in KGS (Kforce Government Solution), held several technical leadership roles in AOL and Wells Fargo, and served as technical consultant to AT&T and IBM.
EducationNathan holds a Master of Technology Management degree from George Mason University, an MBA from Strayer University, Postgraduate Diploma in Plastics Engineering from CIPET, and a Bachelor of Engineering from Karnatak University, India. He is a certified Federal CIO from the Federal CIO Council.
InterestsNathan enjoys spending time with his family, exploring new technologies, volunteering and spiritual enrichment.
OtherHe is a Certified Product Manager (CPM) and Certified Product Marketing Manager (CPMM) from the Association of Product Management and Product Marketing (AIPMM), tackling the challenges of Big Data Certification from MIT, a Certified Enterprise Architect (CEA), and an Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF) certified Enterprise Architect.
MICHAEL ROBERTS
CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER
Michael Roberts heads TISTA's IT, information security, and innovation initiatives, ensuring that TISTA employees can provide the high delivery quality TISTA is known for.
ExperienceMichael Roberts has over 20 years of experience managing and implementing complex IT, development and security projects, with emphases in big data/analytics, application development, and agile methodologies across a diverse array of federal government, technology, banking, and insurance entities.
EducationMichael holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from Ashland University in Ashland, Ohio.
InterestsMichael enjoys spending time with his family, exploring new technologies, and volunteering.
JAG GANGAHANUMAIAH
CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER
Jag Gangahanumaiah, as TISTA's Chief Operating Officer (COO), oversees the market, talent and strategy execution that ensures delivery excellence and the people-first focus in the quality offerings that TISTA associates are known for providing its customers.
Experience
Jag is a seasoned IT professional experienced in successfully implementing solutions across multiple federal and commercial agencies for the past 25 years at UHG/Optum, IBM, PwC & TCS. He was most recently the Sr. VP at UHG/Optum (OptumServe Technology Solutions, formerly QSSI) where he led a portfolio of Federal IT programs serving CMS, Education, and HUD customers.
Education
Jag holds a Bachelors in Electronics Engineering from Bangalore University, India and a Healthcare MBA from OPUS College of Business, St. Thomas University, MN.
Interests
Wellness workshops, Helping non-profits, Self exploration, Being Human
RAJESH GORE
CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER
Rajesh Gore is TISTA's Chief Technology Officer (CTO). He is currently focused on developing technical strategy and establishing a digital transformation journey focusing on cloud transformation, artificial intelligence, workflow streamline tools, big data engineering and big data analytics in Health-IT Domain.
ExperienceRajesh Gore is an accomplished technology and business executive, and has more than 29 years of experience architecting, and implementing leading-edge technology and innovative solutions in Health-IT domain. He has long history of supporting customers in defining their technical strategy, providing value and results, and supporting their business needs.
EducationRajesh holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering from Pune University, India.
InterestsRajesh enjoys spending time with his family, exploring new technologies, and staying physically active outdoors whenever possible.
MUKUL GUPTA
CHIEF SOLUTIONS ARCHITECT
Mukul Gupta as Chief Solutions Architect in involved with conceptualizing, developing and supporting robust and innovative solutions across the portfolio of TISTA’s projects.
Experience
Mukul is a hands on, experienced problem solver who has been involved with large scale and highly performant enterprise software solutions for the past 20 years. He was most recently the Chief Technical Architect of an ERP product built for public sector entities (CGI Advantage ERP). Mukul’s expertise and technical interests include programming languages, distributed computing, data engineering and machine learning applicability, techniques and use cases for line of business applications.
Education
Mukul graduated with a Bachelor of Technology degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, India and then earned a Ph.D. degree in Engineering from Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA.
Interests
A history buff who loves to cook and experiment with different cuisines.
HEMA JAGADEESWARAN
VICE PRESIDENT, OPERATIONS & STRATEGY
As the VP of Operations & Strategy, Hema Jagadeeswaran leads a portfolio that spans the Health & FedCiv markets. She plays a leading role in defining and implementing strategies across TISTA's portfolio of programs to drive operational excellence for the organization, support growth capture opportunities, and manage the integration of customer needs with solutions across different domains working with corporate departments and programs.
Experience
Hema Jagadeeswaran has over 24 years of experience in leading and managing within several operational lines of business and a portfolio of Technical Operations, Software Engineering, Quality Assurance, Large System Design and Development, and Strategic Planning. For the past 19 years, her work focused on Federal IT, and managing multiple programs for Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and US Dept. of Agriculture (USDA). She possesses extensive knowledge of the healthcare industry and is experienced in overseeing the functional and technical aspects of multiple projects with multiple stakeholders and managing healthcare programs and healthcare quality improvement initiatives. She is focused on delivering innovative solutions to streamline client business processes, which include strategic roadmaps, transformation plans, white papers, and presentations.
Education
Hema completed her Master of Computer Science Degree from Madurai Kamaraj University, India, and holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Madras, India.
Interests
Hema enjoys cooking and spending time with her family and has a passion for drawing and painting.
SEAN WARNER
VICE PRESIDENT, OPERATIONS
Sean Warner is an action-oriented leader managing the operations of a portfolio of programs and projects across the CMS, VA and, FedCiv business units. He is instrumental in organizing people and process initiatives working with corporate departments to preserve TISTA’s Associate First, Customer Obsession, and Data-Driven culture.
Experience
Sean has over 25 years of experience working with the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services performing a variety of technical tasks from data analytics, quality control, lean management of IT technologies, application development, project management, and customer engagement. He is experienced in managing portfolio-level financials, human resources, assessing talent, and converting customer needs into business solutions.
Education
Sean completed his MBA in Marketing and Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from York College of Pennsylvania.
Interests
Sean enjoys spending time with his family, coaching youth soccer, and being a positive role model for kids. He holds a 2nd degree black belt in Taekwondo and enjoys the leadership which comes from the discipline. He enjoys his gardens and the peace of the outdoors.
ULRIKE NASSHAN
VICE PRESIDENT, OPERATIONS (DEPUTY)
Ulrike Nasshan provides support to all operational programs and projects through advisory and leadership with focus on people, processes and tools, which also includes the interoperability between TISTA’s corporate departments and projects.
Experience
Ms. Nasshan brings more than 20 years of strategic leadership, advisory and management of modernization efforts at federal government agencies such as the Department of Veterans Affairs (Health IT), Department of Health and Human Services (NIH/AHRQ/ONC) and Department of Education. She has extensive experience leading diverse, high-performing teams in the design and delivery of cost-effective solutions at the project, program and portfolio level following agile and SAFe development processes, including DevOps and cloud migration. Building trusted relationships with senior management and serving as the liaison between business and technical teams promotes the delivery of solutions meeting customer expectations, business value and agencies mission.
Education
Ms. Nasshan completed her MBA in IT Management and holds a Diploma in Adult Education from St. Francis Xavier University in Toronto/Canada.
Interests
Ms. Nasshan enjoys spending time with her family, yoga, traveling, and volunteering.
LAUREN R. LAWRENCE
VICE PRESIDENT
Lauren heads TISTA’s Associate Advocacy programs which support talent in a variety of ways including empowerment and engagement.
Experience
Lauren has over 20 years of talent experience primarily in government contracting and technical professional services. Her strengths include leading HR and talent teams to produce effective programs and strategies that support our talent experience while driving business results. Lauren has extensive experience in developing and implementing creative programs to attract, retain, and engage highly sought-after skillsets in competitive environments. She truly enjoys understanding talent, markets, and business to engage in TISTA’s employee-centric and community-minded culture.
Education
Lauren earned her bachelor's degree in Business Administration from the University of Maryland.
Interests
Lauren enjoys spending time with her family, travel,ing and being outdoors. Lauren and her family also spend time volunteering in their local community.
LESLIE TORBETT
VICE PRESIDENT, TALENT ACQUISITION
Leslie Torbett is TISTA's Vice President of Talent Acquisition. Leslie is responsible for delivering innovative perspectives and providing hands-on guidance in the strategy, development, and execution of high-impact talent acquisition solutions.
Experience
Leslie brings more than 20 years of Talent Acquisition experience to TISTA. Before joining TISTA, Leslie was the Senior Director of Talent Acquisition for Cobham Advanced Electronic Solutions (CAES), a 3600 person, nationwide company. Under her leadership, CAES was able to drive efficiencies, expand capabilities, and increase delivery of critical resources. Prior to working at CAES, Leslie was Director of Recruiting for Acentia, where she helped to lead the company through five corporate acquisitions in three years, effectively merging people, process, and technology. Before being acquired by Acentia, Leslie served as Director of Recruiting for 2020 Company, where she successfully brought the company from 80 resources to 750 resources in five years. Leslie also worked at AMS/CGI for many years as a Strategic Workforce Manager serving several of the company's business units.Education
Leslie majored in Business Administration at Mary Washington University and is pursuing her MBA from Western Governors University. Leslie is a certified AIRS (an ADP company) recruiter to include Professional Recruiter Certification (PRC), Certified Diversity Recruiter (CDR), Advanced Certified Internet Recruiter (CIR) (ACIR), Certified Social Media Recruiter (CSMR), Certified Social Sourcing Recruiter (CSSR) and Elite Certified Recruiting Expert (ECRE)Interests
When she isn't working, Leslie enjoys hosting gourmet dinners for close friends and family, going fishing, live music, and reading. Leslie is passionate about making this world a better place and frequently volunteers to support animal welfare and homeless initiatives.Other
Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) member, The Staffing Alliance of Virginia Employers (Project SAVE) member, RecruitDC member, Former Board member of Byte Back. 
ROBERT WILSON
VICE PRESIDENT, DELIVERY ASSURANCE
Robert Wilson leads TISTA’s delivery assurance team responsible for ensuring TISTA is optimizing delivery performance and customer satisfaction across all of its programs and projects. Robert also leads all of TISTA’s CMMI and ISO certification activities.
Experience
Robert Wilson has over 30 years of administrative management, IT project and quality management, and business process engineering experience in the public and private sectors.Education
Robert holds a Masters of Business Administration Degree from the University of Western Ontario and a Diploma of Technology in Operations Management from the British Columbia Institute of Technology.
Interests
Robert enjoys boating and water skiing, family and friends, volunteering, and keeping up with local, national, and international news.