Oakgrove Technologies
MANAGEMENT TEAM
Mark Gross - President / CEO
Mark is the founder and CEO of Oak Grove Technologies (formerly Oak Grove Software). A former U.S. Army enlisted soldier and a graduate of Catholic University in Washington, DC, Mark continued his public service under the DOJ Honors Program in 1991 with the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division. Assigned to the Communications and Finance Sections Bank Merger Unit, Mark assumed sole responsibility of a six member team within six months. During this time, Mark improved relations with other regulatory agencies to facilitate the sharing of vital information collected by different governmental agencies. For this, Mark was presented the Assistant AG (Ann Bingaman) Award in 1993, 1994 and the AG (Janet Reno) Award in 1995. During his DOJ career, he was assigned to many high profile Government investigations to include Microsoft, AT&T, and NASDAQ.
Upon leaving public service, Mark held numerous Business Development positions with Fortune 500 Companies, achieving Presidents club status five consecutive years. Mark was legal editor of the 1st publication - Veterans Benefits Manual - An Advocates Guide To Veterans Benefits and is active within the NDIA and AFCEA. He is also a Founding Member of the American Legion, National Economic Committees Small Business Task Force. In March of 2006, Mark was selected to serve on the SBA's Veterans Advisory Committee, a committee that advises both the White House and the Congress on Veterans Business and issues.
Oak Grove is the first SDVO small business to be accepted into the DOD Mentor Protégé Program, and is the 2007 DOD Nunn Perry Award Winner.
Mark, his wife and three daughters reside in Raleigh, NC.
General Philip Kensinger, Jr. (Ret) - Chief Operating Officer
Gen. Kensinger, served in the Army for over 35 years. His assignments included tours with the 3rd Armor Division, 3rd, 5th and 7th Special Forces Groups (Airborne) and the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault).
His general officer assignments included: Commanding General, Special Operations Command Central; Deputy Commanding General and Chief of Staff, U.S. Army Special Operations Command; Coammanding General, U.S. Army South; Deputy G3 Army Staff; and he retired in 2006 as the Commanding General of the U.S. Army Special Operations Command, Fort Bragg, NC.
Gen. Kensinger resides in North Carolina with his wife Greta.
SMA Jack L. Tilley (Ret.) - Senior Vice President, Military Affairs
Jack Tilley was sworn in as the 12th Sergeant Major of the Army on June 23, 2000 and served until January 15, 2004. In this position, he was the senior enlisted person in the Army and served as the Army Chief of Staff's personal advisor on all enlisted matters, particularly in areas affecting soldier training and quality of life. Traveling extensively throughout the world, he also sat on a wide variety of councils and boards that made decisions affecting enlisted soldiers and their families, and he was routinely invited to testify before Congress.
SMA Tilley previously served as the Command Sergeant Major of 1st Battalion, 10th Cavalry, 194th Separate Armor Brigade, 1st Armored Division, United States Army Space and Missile Defense Command, and United States Central Command.
Throughout his 35+ year career, SMA Tilley held every key leadership position including tank commander, section leader, drill sergeant, platoon sergeant, senior instructor, operations sergeant and first sergeant. His military education includes the First Sergeants Course and the Sergeants Major Academy. He also was a graduate of the basic airborne course, drill sergeant school and master gunner's course.
His awards and decorations include the Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit with two oak leaf clusters, Bronze Star with V Device, Meritorious Service Medal with one oak leaf cluster, Vietnam Service Medal and Campaign Medal, Presidential Unit Citation, Overseas Service Ribbon (2), NCO Professional Development Ribbon (4), Drill Sergeant's Badge, Parachutist's Badge and the Army Staff Identification Badge.
In retirement, SMA Tilley continues his advocacy of the men and women in uniform. A sought-after speaker, his talks are designed to both educate the general public and stimulate support for our military. He also co-chairs American Freedom Foundation, Inc. a non-profit organization dedicated to raise the national awareness of the sacrifices our Troops and their families endure. Proceeds from the foundation are used to enhance educational opportunities and the general welfare of families and service members who have served during Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom.
SMA Tilley resides in Fort Lauderdale, Florida with his wife, two children and one grandchild.
Col. Frank E. Beaty (Ret.) - Senior Vice President, Business Development
Col. Beaty is a retired USAF colonel and career intelligence officer. He finished his active duty career at MacDill AFB Base's HQ US Special Operations Command as Director of Intelligence; as such he is intimately familiar with ongoing Intelligence, Counter Terrorism and Counter Intelligence issues and people working those issues within DoD. Prior to HQUSSOCOM, he was the senior USAF Intelligence Officer in Japan. Col Beaty was the Director of Intelligence for Operation Northern Watch during OPERATION DESERT FOX and was the Director the USAF Intelligence Operations Center during the Kosovo campaign.
Col. Beaty served two tours at the Pentagon where he was in charge of such programs as Long Range Plans, Force Management, and Joint Intelligence Matters. During his first Pentagon tour, he was on the Air Force's Checkmate Team deeply involved with strategy during DESERT STORM.
He is well versed in the Command and Control (C2) and Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) arenas. While serving in his leadership positions he was involved with or in charge of the complex Intelligence funding issues for those organizations. He is on the Advisory Board of the National Conference on Homeland Security, in Tampa, Florida. He has a master's degree in National Security Studies and is a graduate of the Air War College. He is a former RAND Corporation Research Fellow.
Col. Beaty resides in Tampa, Florida.
Denise Lawson - Senior Vice President, Strategy
Denise Lawson is a PMI Certified Project Manager with over 15 years of professional experience in planning, developing, and implementing solutions for a wide range of clients in both the government and commercial sectors, including the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Defense, and the Department of Homeland Security. Over the course of her career, Denise has led key IT strategy and implementation efforts and provided guidance to project teams and clients on how changes in technology can impact the organization. Prior to joining Oak Grove, Denise was a program manager at Booz Allen Hamilton where she received the Woman of Distinction award in 2004 for her accomplishments. She was also a product manager for PRC, Inc. where she led the development of software applications for the real estate industry.
Denise has a BS in Psychology from Georgetown University and an MBA with a concentration in Marketing and Information Technology from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland.
Lt. Colonel Christopher Greene (Ret.) - Vice President, Operations and Contracts
Chris Greene is a recently retired Lieutenant Colonel of the US Army Acquisition Corps with 26 years of military experience. A former enlisted solider and commissioned officer, Chris gained extensive expertise in both Operations and Acquisitions. While on active duty, Chris was Chief of Contracts for the United States Property and Fiscal Office. As a Level III Certified Acquisition Professional, he held numerous contracting warrants which included licensure without monetary restriction.
Chris was presented with the 2006 Individual Outstanding Achievement Award from the Center for Veteran’s Enterprise. He was recognized for his continual support to the Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business community. Chris also earned a senior certificate from the Defense Acquisition University, as well as a BS degree in Management and Organizational Development from Mount Olive College.
Chris resides in Durham, North Carolina with his wife, Amanda, and their two children.
Lynn Martin, Ph.D. - Vice President, Training, Development & E-Learning
Lynn Martin has over 20 years of expertise in comprehensive training, research and management solutions that spans design, development and production. Her hands-on experience as an instructional systems designer (ISD), educator, trainer, DL executive for government, military and corporate clients enables her to effectively consult on processes and procedures to increase productivity, quality, and targeted marketing for specific products and services.
At Oak Grove, Lynn is responsible for the management, research, design and data/database assessment guidance and oversight for the e-Learning business unit including multidisciplinary IMI production and training teams.
Prior to joining Oak Grove, Lynn was the Manager of Enhanced Learning Solutions for Northrop Grumman IT where she managed multi-million dollar projects, established integrated production teams and implemented innovative rapid development solutions based on research and data collection.
Lynn earned a BA in English and Spanish, a Master's in Secondary Education, and her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Arizona.
Christy Salgado - Director of Human Resources
Christy Salgado has over ten years of experience in the field of Human Resources. Christy spent five years as HR Manager at VisionAIR, a solutions provider for public safety software. She helped develop their HR department and played a key role in expanding the growth of the company from 100 to 400 employees. Christy served three years as Divisional HR Manager at Rexel, a global electrical supply distributor, where she led their HR Department for the Mid-Atlantic division. Christy then went on to gain over two years of experience as HR Manager at Smartronix, a medium to large Department of Defense Contracting.
Christy has a Bachelor's of Business in Human Resource Management from Western Illinois University in Macomb, IL, and earned a Master's Degree in Business Administration from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. She also possesses a Senior Professional Human Resource Certification (SPHR).
Christy and her husband Raymond reside in Raleigh, NC.
Susan Stiles, Ph.D. - Vice President, Marketing
Susan Stiles has over fifteen years of experience in strategic communications and IT project management. Her primary areas of interest are in knowledge management and e-Learning. Prior to joining Oak Grove, Susan was an IT consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton.
Susan has a BA in Literature and PhD in Comparative Literature, both from Harvard University.
Susan and her husband Marino reside in Springfield, VA, with their three children.