Doreen Harwood
DEHarwood LLC

Doreen E. Harwood is the President of DEHarwood LLC Consulting. She began her business in December 2018 after serving as the Leidos Senior Vice President responsible for Leidos’ Cyber & SIGINT Portfolio forward-facing into the National Security Agency, USCYBERCOM, and the Cyber Service Component Commands.

Doreen also serves as the Past President of the Fort Meade Alliance (FMA) and is current Chairperson of the Education & Workforce Committee. The FMA is dedicated to supporting the missions and people living and working on the Garrison and driving economic growth across the fort Meade Region. Alliance programs generate real impact for the region centered on education and workforce development, military family initiatives, transportation solutions, and the growth of small business.

Ms. Harwood retired from the National Security Agency in May 2015 following more than 35 years of government service where she last served as the Program Executive Office (PEO) the largest Program Executive Office (PEO) within the National Security Agency (NSA) supporting the Operations, Capabilities and Research Directorates.

Previous NSA assignments include key leadership positions within Operations in direct support to the GWOT and CT missions; assignment to the Office of the Secretary of Defense, facilitating Defense-wide Acquisition Reform, and an overseas tour at NSA/CSS Pacific implementing initial expansion of the now distributed cryptologic enterprise. Ms. Harwood also gained experience in a cross-section of Agency missions through organizational tours as part of the Director’s Senior Leadership Development Program.

Doreen holds a Master of Science in Resource Management from the Eisenhower School, a Bachelor of Science in Management from the College of Notre Dame University, and an associate degree in computer science from the University of Hawaii. She is a recipient of numerous prestigious awards, including the Presidential Rank award, the Intelligence Community Acquisition Team award, and multiple Joint Meritorious Unit awards for NSA and OSD assignments. In addition to serving as an FMA Board Member, Doreen is on the board of the Anne Arundel Workforce Development Corporation, multiple company boards, and active in local, county, and state initiatives furthering STEM & Cyber education.

Nathan Castellano
Freshfields

Nathan Castellano focuses his practice on U.S. government contracts and grants, advising clients on litigation, investigations, compliance counseling, negotiation, and complex transactions. He brings deep experience navigating the intersection of public procurement and private enterprise, and is widely recognized for his thought leadership in the field.

Before joining the firm, Nathan held senior roles at two leading international law firms, where he built and led teams handling high-stakes disputes, internal investigations, transactions, and strategic regulatory matters for federal contractors and grantees.

Nathan clerked for the Hon. Jimmie V. Reyna of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and previously served in an advisory role at the World Bank.

He is a co-author of the leading treatise, Formation of Government Contracts (5th Edition), and he is a contributing author to The Nash & Cibinic Report. His accolades include recognition by Chambers USA as “Up and Coming” in Government Contracts (2025, 2026), Law360 Rising Stars (2023), and Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch (2021–2025).

Sandeep Kathuria
Saul Ewing LLP

Sandeep Kathuria advises clients on complex government contracts issues, cybersecurity, and technology law. Drawing on two decades of work as a senior in-house lawyer for major defense contractors, IT and telecom companies, and a defense tech startup, Sandeep has built his career on work in and around government contracting. This broad experience helps him understand the needs of GCs and other corporate counsel to advise them on both legal and operational risks. Sandeep is a trusted business partner to his clients.

In addition to being a government contracts generalist with extensive experience in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS), Sandeep provides counsel on cybersecurity matters including incident response; foreign ownership, control, and influence and other industrial security issues; and the False Claims Act (FCA) and fraud investigations. When a government contract claim or bid protest issue arises, he also manages or handles administrative litigation.

Clients rely on Sandeep to negotiate a wide range of transactions and support mergers and acquisitions. The corporate aspects of his practice also include advice on corporate compliance, artificial intelligence (AI), and intellectual property. In addition to representing well-established defense contractors, Sandeep serves as outside general counsel for defense tech startups, supporting a wide range of issues critical to their formation and growth. He also provides government contracts support to companies that do not focus on this area as their primary line of business.

Andrew Price
Akina, Inc.

Andrew Price is a senior operations leader with over 20 years of experience in technical and business operations, including more than 15 years supporting business development, capture, and program execution within the DoD and Intelligence Community.

In his current role, he oversees company operations, business development, and program delivery, balancing strategic priorities with day-to-day execution. Andrew has extensive experience in government contracting, particularly in support of MPO missions, and works closely with both small and large businesses to build partnerships, navigate acquisition challenges, and address issues affecting the broader contracting community.

Marie Jarabak
EOP Consulting

Marie Jarabak is a growth and pricing executive with more than 20 years of experience leading business development, capture, proposal, operations, and pricing functions across the federal government contracting market. Her experience spans the full business lifecycle, from strategic planning and pursuit decisions through capture execution, proposal development, pricing strategy, and operational delivery. Having led both growth and business operations organizations supporting DoD and Federal Civilian customers, Marie brings a unique perspective on how competitive strategy, economics, and execution intersect. She has extensive experience developing winning and profitable solutions across all major federal contract types and is known for helping organizations align capture strategy, pricing, and operational realities to improve win rates and business outcomes.

Derek Shaw
BDO

Derek Shaw is a Managing Director in the Industry Specialty Services Group at BDO with a focus on Government Contracts. This group of over 200 professionals provides unique business solutions to organizations across a wide array of industries including government contracting, life sciences, not-for-profit, manufacturing, technology, and construction among others.

He brings to BDO over 3 decades of Finance experience with focus on Government Finance & Compliance in the Aerospace & Defense sectors. This includes a broad range of Government contracting & compliance matters, including Federal Acquisition Regulations, Cost Accounting Standards, TINA, Government Business Systems controls, and Restructuring. Derek has held senior management positions with large corporations, and also has extensive hands-on experience with small and mid-sized contractors, including SDB/8a firms.
Derek has extensive experience in mergers & acquisitions focusing on government contracting aspects, including due diligence, integration support, and restructuring proposal development.

He has also been a frequent speaker at training conferences and has developed and delivered training programs covering various government contracting topics.

Amy Steinberg
Vibrint

Amy Steinberg is an Intelligence Community Growth and Operations professional with more than two decades of experience leading program and portfolio operations, as well as business development and customer/partner relationship management. Amy’s approach is rooted in a strong understanding of the intelligence community mission, paired with a disciplined, results-driven focus on strategic growth, capture management, competitive analysis, solution development, and executive customer engagement. Amy has successfully led complex pursuits from opportunity identification through contract award, developing multimillion-dollar pipelines, strengthened customer relationships and contributed to successful contract wins. Amy takes pride in building trusted relationships with customers, aligning capabilities to their priorities, and coordinating cross-functional teams to deliver compelling, differentiated proposals.

Melissa Connelly
MPO

CURRENT POSITION: Melissa Connelly currently serves as the Head of the Contracting Activity and Chief of Contracting for NSA. She oversees the acquisition of supplies and services required to achieve NSA’s mission. This includes planning, executing, and administering contracts and agreements with industry, academia, and other organizations around the globe.

PRIOR POSITIONS: Previously, Melissa served as a deputy site commander on an overseas assignment. She twice served as the deputy Head of the Contracting Activity, and also served as the deputy chief of the Program Executive Office/Business and Contract Management Group (PEO/BCMG) for Chief of Staff, Workforce Support Activities, and Business Management and Acquisition.

PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND: Melissa is an Unlimited Warrant Authority Contracting Officer, holds Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act (DAWIA) Level III Contracting certification, and is an Acquisition Corps member. She also holds DAWIA Level II Program Management certification, DAWIA Level I Facilities Engineering certification, and is a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt.