Meet The Experts

Tom Erickson

Tom Erickson’s career spans over 45 years of program and technical management in fields as diverse as software development, communications, business development, test engineering, airfield lighting design, digital control systems and construction management. He holds a B.S. in Electronic Engineering (Circuit Design) from the University of Minnesota and an M.S. in Engineering Management (AI & HF) from George Washington University. He started his professional career as an Air Force Acquisition, Engineering and Program Management officer and Reservist. From 1985 to 2011 he worked for Lockheed Martin in a variety of program and technical management roles including the development of advanced enterprise risk management practices for its corporate risk management committee. From 1985 to 2001 he was also a reservist with the Air Force Office of Scientific Research supporting their information systems strategic planning.

He was one of the first 31 individuals world-wide awarded the Project Management Institute’s Program Management Professional (PgMP) credential from the Pilot Credential Program. In addition, he is a Registered Professional Engineer (EE, Vermont) and has been a certified Program Leader for Kepner-Tregoe Problem Solving & Decision-Making techniques. His research interests include enterprise agility and projects as knowledge transformation. He has been a speaker at the Washington, D.C. PMI chapter several times on topics that included “An Introduction to the PgMP Credential”, “Risk Management – 1st Principles”, “The Serenity Factor in Risk Management” and “Prediction Markets in Project Management”.

Most recently he has been engaged as a Sr. Principal of NTT Data, Inc. developing and integrating enterprise risk management practices for DHS Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) Office of Acquisition, showcasing his skills as a thought leader, mentor and teacher with regular meetings of functional and program risk management practitioners, an extensive Risk Management Community of Practice SharePoint site, monthly ‘Gatherings’ of risk management practitioners and risk management acquisition workshops numbering over 40 and still counting.

Kenneth C. Fletcher

Mr. Fletcher’s professional career spans more than 40-years, and includes military, private sector, and civilian government service. He is currently the President of Kestrel Hawk Consulting, Inc., a veteran-owned small business risk management consultancy company he founded in 2017 after retiring from federal government service.

Prior to starting his business, Mr. Fletcher served as the Chief Risk Officer (CRO) for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). His responsibilities as CRO included developing and driving the long-range strategic vision and objectives for TSA with respect to risk-based security and risk management activities. He led the development and implementation of TSA’s Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) program. TSA’s ERM program is widely recognized as a model across the federal government, with several ERM program features cited in 2016 by the Government Accountability Office as best federal government practices. He is a principal architect of TSA’s risk-based security approach to transportation security, and the much-heralded TSA PreCheck program.

During his 14-year tenure at TSA, Mr. Fletcher held a variety of field and headquarters positions including Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Office of Risk-Based Security; Senior Advisor to the TSA Administrator; Senior Advisor to the Deputy Administrator; Deputy Federal Security Director at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport; Chief of Staff to the TSA Associate Administrator; Assistant Federal Security Director of Screening at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport; and Chief of Staff for the Office of Training and Quality Performance. Before joining TSA, he worked for five years at Motorola as a senior production supervisor, quality manager and senior program manager for new product introduction. Mr. Fletcher is a U.S. Navy veteran and served in a variety of shipboard and shore-based assignments during his 23-years of service.

Mr. Fletcher received the 2015 Department of Homeland Security’s Silver Medal for Leadership, for his overall contributions towards risk management within the DHS. The Association of Federal Enterprise Risk Management recognized him as the ERM Leader of the Year for 2016. He sits on the advisory boards for the Federal Chief Risk Officer program at George Mason University, and the Neely Center for Ethical Leadership and Decision Making at the University of Southern California. Mr. Fletcher holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Operations and Information Systems Management from Northern Illinois University, and a Master of Arts in Security Studies (Homeland Defense and Security) from the Naval Post Graduate School.

Sean Vineyard

Mr. Vineyard is the Director of 11th Hour Service’s Federal Civilian Practice with nearly ten years of risk management, financial management, and management advisory experience. The focus of Mr. Vineyard’s experience has been in establishing, maturing, and improving Federal risk management programs by leveraging his expertise in federal financial statement audits, and the identification and management of risk through business process engineering/re-engineering. This includes: extensive experience concentrated in Federal ERM program development; financial statement and performance audits; audit readiness; Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-123 assessments for Appendices A, B, C, and D; corrective action planning; policy development; workforce development; business process improvement; and financial management advisory experience with everything from small, narrowly focused to large, complex, and highly decentralized agencies in the Federal government.