AFCEA CENTRAL FLORIDA CHAPTER OFFICERS

President

COL Brian Kadet

DISA Central

Colonel Kadet is currently the Commander, DISA Central Field Command.

He enlisted in the Army in 1986 as an infantryman and served at Ft. Myer, VA, in the 3rd U.S. Infantry. During this period, he conducted numerous full honor funerals and joint ceremonies highlighted by the January 1989 Presidential Inauguration Day Parade for President George H. W. Bush. He received an Army ROTC Scholarship and graduated Distinguished Military Graduate from Kent State University, OH, in 1995.

His previous assignments include Signal Detachment Leader, Platoon Leader, and Aide-de-Camp in the Republic of Korea; Platoon Leader, Company Executive Officer, Battalion S-4, and Assistant Brigade S-2 Fort Gordon, GA; S6, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd U.S. Infantry Division during Operation Iraqi Freedom; S6, Task Force 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment during Operation Enduring Freedom; J6, Special Operations Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve; and J3 Director of Operations and staff advisor to the Commander, White House Communications Agency.

Colonel Kadet holds a Masters in Strategic Studies from the US Army War College and Master of Military Arts and Sciences degree from the Air Command and Staff College. His awards and decorations include the Bronze Star Medal, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal, Afghanistan Campaign Medal, Parachutist Badge, Air Assault Badge, and Presidential Service Badge. He is also a recipient of the Signal Corps Bronze Order of Mercury.

1st Vice President

Joe Haulton

Crystal Clear Technologies

 Joe Haulton is an Air Force veteran who has spent most of his career providing SOF and Joint communications engineering and support, both stateside and in the CENTCOM AOR. He is well known for "outside the box" thinking to design, implement and support complex and critical IT requirements and architectures

Joe is the Director of Strategic Growth at Crystal Clear Technologies, a Woman Owned Small Busines (WOSB) that provides Enterprise Services, Integrated Solutions, and Strategic Product Sourcing. CCT holds multiple government contracts as both prime and as a subcontractor, including GSA and Army CHESS. CCT's three lines of business can work independently or together for multifaceted missions that require product, design, installation, and sustainment to quickly and effectively meet government needs.

Joe has been a member of the AFCEA Central Florida chapter for a number of years, and a member of the Executive Committee since 2016, serving as the Web and Technology Chair and most recently as the 2nd Vice President.

2nd Vice President

Shandi Perkins

Cadence Coalition LLC

Shandi Perkins is a US Army Veteran who worked as an Intelligence Collector (HUMINTOR) and deployed to Kandahar Province, Afghanistan to conduct Military Source Operations (MSO). Upon transitioning to the civilian World, she received her first contracting job bringing her to the Tampa Bay community, where she supported a US Special Operations Command (SOCOM) Research and Development (R&D) program in Tampa, Florida. Since then she has worked in several difference roles supporting the Department of Defense (DoD), from being in uniform, operations, proposal/capture, to business development and has been in the industry for over 13 years. She established a government contracting business, Cadence Coalition LLC, focusing on providing the DoD and VA, information technology (IT) and military intelligence support services. She and her team are extremely passionate about providing the best support to our military members and veteran community. Shandi volunteers her time to the AFCEA Central Florida chapter and AFCEA International. For International she is the Women in AFCEA Mentorship Lead and coordinates speaking engagements and local events to give veterans, military, government, and industry experts a venue to network and partner with one another. She also leads that program supporting and offering mentorship as mentees navigate DoD and their personal development.

Secretary

Magdalena LoGrande

Sigma Defense Systems

Magdalena LoGrande has served on the Central Florida Chapter Executive Committee since January 2017. She has been an AFCEA member since 2012 when she first joined through the Stuttgart Chapter. She is an avid advocate and practitioner of volunteerism (has served in school advisory boards, swim team boards, and as a neighborhood “block captain”) and believes amazing things happen when people develop purposeful relationships in open Community-of-Interest forums. After a previous career as an independent contractor and as a professor in the Washington, D.C. area, she has been working as a cybersecurity professional since 2012, supporting DoD customers as a government contractor in various roles and across the full spectrum of system security engineering and Risk Management Framework activities. She is currently the Cybersecurity Practice Lead at Sigma Defense Systems, LLC. She holds a Ph.D. in American Studies from the University of Seville (Spain), and a Master of Science in Information Management from Syracuse University.

Treasurer

Gerry Slevin

CAPT USN (Ret)

A native of Spalding, Nebraska, Captain Slevin joined the United States Navy in 1975 as a Radioman. He served at several overseas duty stations and attained the rank of Chief Petty Officer on 16 Oct 1983.

Captain Slevin was selected as a Limited Duty Officer specializing in Communications and commissioned an Ensign in 1985. His officer duty stations included two command tours, various ships, afloat and ashore staffs and two Joint Combatant Commands.

Captain Slevin joined the Order of the Silver Eagle and Horseshoe as the Senior Limited Duty Officer in the Navy on 24 September 2012 onboard the USS Carl Vinson.

Captain Slevin retired on 30 Sep 2013 with over 38 years total active duty service.

Following his military retirement, Captain Slevin served as a Liaison Officer for Commander 5th Fleet/Commander Naval Forces Central Command on the Staff of US Central Command as a subject matter expert for US Navy/Middle East C4I. Additionally, he was a member of various company Board of Advisors as a subject matter expert for Defense Information Systems Agency matters.

Captain Slevin is an AFCEA Life Member, a past two-time chapter president and now the treasurer of the AFCEA, Central Florida Chapter. He received the AFCEA Leadership Award in 2015. He is also a member of the Army Signal Corps - Bronze Order of Mercury, Military Officers Association of America, American Legion, and the Fleet Reserve Association.

  AFCEA INTERNATIONAL REGIONAL VICE PRESIDENT - FLORIDA

Regional Vice President

Mark Christensen

Crystal Clear Technologies

Mark has served on the Central Florida Chapter’s Executive Committee since 2008 in various roles, including Program Committee Chair, Membership Chair and 1st Vice President.  In his role as AFCEA Regional VP for Florida, Mark is the liaison between AFCEA International and the Florida based chapters.  This role includes supporting operational objectives, promoting collaboration with and among the chapters and providing necessary oversight.

Professionally he serves as Vice President of Enterprise Services for Crystal Clear Technologies. With twenty-seven years of IT Services delivery leadership, his experience includes supporting federal government customers in the Intelligence, Veterans, and DoD communities.

Joining CCT in 2012, Mark helped establish the Enterprise Services line of business and is responsible for the successful delivery of IT Infrastructure Support, Information Assurance Services, Audio/Visual Solutions, Enterprise Network Management Services, and Cyber Security Programs.

He is a veteran of the United States Army, where he served as a Military Policeman.

Ways and Means

Rob Hile

GC&E Systems Group LLC

Rob Hile serves as Sr. Sales Manager, GC&E Systems Group, LLC (GC&E), an Alaskan Native Corporation and wholly owned subsidiary of Bristol Bay Native Corporation (AN8A). Hile operates the Tampa, Florida Branch, and manages sales for the entire organization. GC&E provides consulting, design and implementation of Information and communication technologies, cybersecurity, IP-based electronic security and access control systems to State, Local and Federal Government organizations.

Recognized as a leading voice in the Telecommunications and Security markets, Hile has more than 35 years of industry experience, encompassing sales and business leadership, as well as driving strategic market opportunities and further positioning companies as leaders in their respective target markets.

He is a frequent speaker at industry events and currently serves on the Security Industry Association educational advisory board as well as the AFCEA Central Florida Chapter Executive Committee.

Awards

Will Ceglar

NexTech Solutions

Membership

Katheryn Fredlund

Skybridge Tactical

Katherine Fredlund currently serves as the Membership Chair for the Central Florida Chapter. Katherine has been a Financial and Accounting professional in the industry for 6 years. She currently serves as the Director of Finance for SkyBridge Tactical. Katherine is an experienced Financial & Business Management professional, supporting both the Government and Commercial industry. She is an expert in FAR Regulations, Contract Management, Cost Accounting Standards, and Government Contract Accounting. Katherine has focused her career on financial process implementation, and assisting small business meet their business growth goals through establishing business practices and operational procedures.

Katherine received her certification in Government Contract Accounting in 2021, as well as a certification in Executive Leadership from the University of Notre Dame.

Prior to entering the Finance and Business profession, Katherine Served in The US Army in Logistics Operations, and was a certified Law Enforcement Officer for the Lee County Sherriff Office.

Programs

Cheyenne Hasse

TEKsystems

Cheyenne Hasse is a Business Development and Program Management professional with TEKsystems, the leading IT staffing and services provider. She has worked with TEKsystems for 3 years where she supports many of the largest government integrators in the country. She leads a team of specialized IT recruiters, who have been trained to attract and retain top IT talent in the cleared space throughout the United States.  

Cheyenne was born and raised in the Chicago suburbs and attended Illinois State University where she got her bachelor’s degree in Recreation Management. After college she decided to move to Tampa where she lives with her two cats, Tequila and Kahlua.  

Emerging Leaders

Steve Narad

NTG

Steve has been volunteering his time at AFCEA Central Florida Chapter for the last 5 years. Roughly 2 years ago, Steve took on the Emerging Leaders chair where he is tasked to gather young executives in the area interested in networking with DoD industry, government employees, and military members.

Professionally, he serves as Capture & Talent Acquisition Manager for NTG- a 8(a) Women-Owned Small Business. With 9 years of cleared staffing under his belt; Steve decided to also try his social skills in the federal business development arena.

Lastly, Steve is an Air Force veteran where he served as a Meteorologist for many avionic missions to include many of Air Force One’s movement.

Sponsors

Dan Quintana

Catch Talent

Daniel has been a Member of AFCEA Central Florida since 2021.  In 2022 he took over as Corporate Sponsorship Chair where his responsibilities are to recruit corporate partners from the local DoD community.

Daniel manages the state of Florida for a Woman Owned National Recruitment firm based out of Charleston, SC called CATCH Talent.  Daniel has over 15 years of experience in the staffing industry with a majority of those years supporting the Federal/DoD space.

Daniel attended Cal Poly Pomona and Cal State Monterey Bay where he studied Organizational Communications and played Collegiate Baseball.

Cyber Outreach

Dan Holland

Arete Solutions

Dan has served as Cyber Outreach Chair for the Central Florida AFCEA Chapter Board since January 2019, where he is responsible for engagements with and between academia, government, and industry supporting cyber workforce and education development. Dan has overseen the growth of our Chapter’s outreach efforts to include direct support of over 20 high schools and nearly 1,000 students per year, and has established diverse partnerships with stakeholder organizations including the Florida Center for Cybersecurity, U.S. Secret Service, Raymond James, White House, U.S. Department of Defense, NICE, Tampa General Hospital, and many more.

Dan is a Coast Guard Veteran who also serves as an Advisor through the SDVOSB cybersecurity consulting firm he founded in 2017, Arete Solutions; Advisor and Regional Ambassador through CyberFlorida; and through several regional boards and advisory councils, including the West Florida Area Maritime Security Advisory Committee, Pinellas County Technical College, and Countryside High School.

Space Coast Liaison

Tony Brown

TM3 Solutions

Tony has been the Small Business chair for the Central Florida chapter since 2021, and also serves as on several Small Business Committees for AFCEA International, SBC Center of Excellence, SBC Business Development, and SBC Innovation. He also serves as a D-Code mentor, and is involved with STEMWERX. Tony is an experienced leader with a demonstrated history of working in the information technology and services industry. His strong business development skills in consulting, emerging markets, and experience in using Small Business acquisition models to facilitate Federal requirements enhances his ability to assist the chapter’s small business members.

Tony is currently the Director of Products and Services Division for TM3 Solutions, Inc. (TM3), which is an SDVOSB 8(A) Small Business Information Technology and Information Assurance solutions provider. As a trusted partner and advisor, TM3 understands customer mission objectives, as well as the information technology requirements to accomplish those goals. Using a risk-based approach, TM3 employs industry best practices to implement secure IT solutions which meet federal standards for classified and unclassified systems and networks. The services encompass a comprehensive set of solutions that include almost every facet of today’s environments. TM3 is widely acknowledged in the industry for their expertise in recognizing the full spectrum of threats and vulnerabilities and for their ability to protect information from risks and intrusions.  

Scholarships

Eddie Pena

Linchpin Solutions Inc.

Small Business & Orlando Liaison

Courtney Powell

AceApplications LLC

Courtney R. Powell founded AceApplications, LLC as a provider of top tier technology solutions including software, web and mobile application development and IT consulting and staffing services to businesses, schools, public and government agencies. 

In 2010, Powell was selected as one of “Orlando’s Top 40 Business Executives Under the Age of 40,” by the Orlando Business Journal. He also played an integral role in AceApplications earning the “Emerging Business of the Year Eagle Award” from the African American Chamber of Commerce of Central Florida in 2009. And in 2019, Mr. Powell was recognized by the US. Small Business Administration (SBA), as the “North Florida District and State of Florida Minority-Owned Small Business Person of the Year”. In 2022, AceApplications was recognized as one of the top 50 Florida Companies to Watch by GrowFL.

Powell earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Florida, a Master of Science degree in Computer Science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and an M.B.A. from the Crummer Graduate School of Business at Rollins College. In addition to his professional career, Powell serves in several industry and community organizations, including AFCEA executive committee member, Tech Sassy Girls board member, and as chair of marketing for the City of Orlando Mayor’s MLK Commission.

Military Outreach

CPT Markeith Johnson

505th Signal Bde

Publicity

Web and Technology