Experience, Innovation, Integrity
The Emery Group is defined by the experience and wide range of markets served by our diverse team of senior advisors. Empowering organizations to reduce risk through innovation and automation is the mission that unites us.
About Us
Following a series of devastating cybersecurity attacks that impacted both government and the private sector in 2018, The Emery Group was formed to effect fundamental change in our national preparedness. Our proven methodology to help organizations preemptively protect, detect, and respond is core to our mission.
Consistently recognized in the diverse markets that we serve, our people and strategic partnerships continue to drive successful outcomes for our clients.
Pat Schambach
CIO Retired, Federal Government
I have worked alongside a number of great partners of The Emery Group over the last 20+ years; their knowledge and care for the mission of their clients and the creativeness of their solutions are unparalleled.
Margie Graves
Deputy CIO, Retired, Executive Office of the President, DHS
The Emery Group represents the DNA that I value in industry partners. I met Mark Emery and Bob Merriner when I joined the DHS standup after 9/11. We forged a bond based on our experience being "in the trenches" standing up a new Federal agency with a mission to protect and respond to the emerging threats to our homeland. Mark and Bob always operate with integrity while providing thought leadership, innovative solutions, and exceptional service delivery.
Mark Tonnesen
Senior IT Leadership, Multiple Fortune 1000 companies
Business and technology transformations require leadership and the courage to embrace innovation for positive change. Mark and his team lead by example, applying technology advancement to achieve business results.
Our Advisors
Mark Emery (Emeritus-April 3, 2023)
Prior to founding the Emery Group, Mark held senior leadership positions in both Private and Public Service. As a Senior Executive at the Department of Homeland Security, Mark supervised the green field start up and operation of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).
In 2002 as the first Deputy CIO of TSA, Mark’s responsibilities included the rapid design and deployment of its nationwide voice, data, and application infrastructure.
Later as Deputy CIO of DHS, Mark established its $2B/year infrastructure consolidation program. Following his service at DHS, Mark joined CSC to implement and manage its first private cloud portfolio supporting DHS. Prior to these roles, Mark held leadership positions at both Ping Tone and Sprint PCS. Mark was credited as an inventor of 7 patents relating to cellular communications and was a “founding father” of our modern wireless communications network.
Mark served as an advisor on the IT Executive Council for the Kogod School at American University, and served on the Board of TiE-DC, an organization dedicated to facilitating entrepreneurship. Mark was an active member on the AFCEA Cyber and Homeland Security Committees, and an advisor to the Government Technology and Services Coalition (GTSC) where he received the 2020 "Market Maven" award.
Mark was a certified Program Management Professional, and earned a Certificate in Management from the Wharton School of Business in addition to his academic degrees, which included a Bachelor of Science degree from Carnegie-Mellon University and a Master of Science degree from the MIT Sloan Management School of Business.
Outside of work, Mark was involved with Special Olympics golf and softball as a coordinator, benefactor, and player/coach for his son Jeff’s teams. Mark led the Special Olympics golf program in Fairfax, County, Va. He recruited new players, created player tournaments, and accompanied players to state and national level tournaments. He was co-chair at the Down Syndrome Association’s annual fundraising golf tournament each June at the Springfield Golf and Country Club in Virginia.
The Partners and Advisors of the Emery Group will continue to honor Mark’s efforts and passion for advancing the mission and protection of our Homeland through the ongoing work of the Emery Group.
Robert Merriner
A co-founder of the Emery Group, Bob voluntarily retired shortly after 9/11 from a distinguished career as a Law Enforcement Officer and Executive at the Department of Labor to take a Special Appointment to the TSA Office of the CIO.
Tested by the fire of successfully serving on the front lines of the TSA and DHS HQ stand ups, he has continued to bring to bear his skills as a trusted Client Relationship pro in the private sector, by sharing his seasoned experience in the technology, cybersecurity, and government procurement arenas. Bob was recently selected to serve as an industry advisor on the ATARC Zero Trust and Quantum working groups and has successfully guided several innovative and disruptive cybersecurity companies through the federal marketing/acquisition wickets.
Bob's credibility and impact of his efforts are reflected in part by the following words inscribed on his DHS Service commendation, "Your patriotic efforts and seasoned judgement in leading Senior Industry Advisors providing expert advice to DHS were key in paving the way for the development of an IT Integration Roadmap critical for DHS transforming itself into the 21st Century Agency the American people require to protect the Homeland."
Gary S. Connor, Brig Gen, USAF (Ret)
Emery Group Partner Gary Connor brings over 31 years of experience in program management and senior executive leadership in the U.S. Air Force.
Gary’s last executive assignment was the Deputy Program Manager for the $ 8 billion/year Ballistic Missile Defense System, Missile Defense Agency (MDA), Huntsville, Alabama. Since retiring from the Air Force in late 2009, Gary serves as an Aerospace Industry consultant, providing strategy and implementation advice to a diverse array of Federal, Defense and commercial technology endeavors. A recognized and well-respected “systems thinker”, Gary offers specific, in-depth expertise in Large-scale Program Management, Enterprise Management, Strategic Planning, Logistics Transformation (such as performance-based logistics) and Complex Systems Integration. In addition to his consulting role, Gary serves on the Board of Advisors to nLogic and Cummings Aerospace, and he provides similar advisory support to several other small technology companies in the Huntsville area.
Gary’s senior executive management experience focused on leading multi-billion dollar enterprises and 1000's of people to develop and field fighter, missile defense, command & control, and intelligence/surveillance/reconnaissance systems globally for the US, NATO and our Allies. Gary’s a seasoned leader and experienced manager with superior communications, organizational, execution, international relations and people skills. His other notable senior leadership positions include: Program Director, Ground-based Midcourse Defense, MDA; Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications, Multi-National Force, Iraq; Commander, Command & Control (C2) Intelligence Surveillance & Reconnaissance (ISR) and Battle Management Systems Wings, Hanscom AFB, Massachusetts, and; Director Reconnaissance Systems Program Office, Wright Patterson AFB, Ohio.
Gary earned his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and Master of Science in Computer Engineering from the University of Lowell, Lowell, Massachusetts. He also earned a Masters in National Resource Strategy from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, Ft McNair, Washington DC. Gary is a Life Member of both the Air Force Association (AFA) and the National Defense Industrial Association, and he is active in AFA events at the local and national levels.
In addition to his strategic work with the Emery Group, Gary provides additional aerospace consulting services as President of Connor Group, LLC.
Richard Moore
Richard served as the Director, Cybersecurity Office in the Security & Intelligence Directorate at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Arlington, VA.
As Cybersecurity Director, he had management oversight for all of DARPA’s Cybersecurity responsibilities to include Policy and Strategic Development, Infrastructure Protection and Program Planning, Identification and analysis of Threats and Vulnerabilities, Network Accreditations under RMF, Risk Mitigation and Management of those Risks, Outreach within the DoD Community and other Federal Agencies and Information Security Awareness training. He also coordinated with security specialists, contractors, senior officials, members from DoD and non-DoD agencies and oversight personnel to resolve shortfalls and possible security violations.
He has more than thirty-five years’ experience in leading highly motivated, qualified, security professionals in managing Cybersecurity and information technology for the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs.
Lee Smith, CDR USNR (Ret)
Lee brings 50 years of experience including commercial and government startups, initiating, leading and managing mission driven technology programs that adapt existing technology for new uses in support of law enforcement, intelligence, counterintelligence and other Homeland Security missions.
Lee is an experienced Naval Aviator, oceanographer, meteorologist, geophysicist, systems engineer, elected county board official, real estate developer, business architect, geospatial architect, enterprise architect as well as a Federal IT specialist. He co-founded 3 commercial firms (Marine Acoustics, Inc- Industrial Electrical Engineers-LS3,LLC). Additionally, he assisted in the standup of 3 Federal Agencies (DHS, TSA and CISA). Most recently he retired from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) where he was the Associate Chief for IT Investment and Compliance.
Sean Mckay, Col, USAF (Ret)
Sean brings 23+ years experience in United States Air Force systems acquisitions and advanced technology with dozens of successful ISR aircraft, space systems, and airborne ISR sensor deployments into operations.
Sean successfully commanded at the Group level with over 240 personnel with budget authority for over $3.5 billion of combined funds from the United States and 27 other nations. He also successfully built a $22 million business development pipeline for a world leading software company in less than 9 months. In addition to his work with the Emery Group, Sean is the Owner and General Partner of Precision ISR.
Peter Chin
Peter brings over 25 years of modernization and transformation experience in senior leadership roles at multiple branches of the Federal government and private industry. Peter focuses on generating outcomes and accomplishing mission objectives.
Linda L. Jacksta
Linda L. Jacksta is the former Deputy Executive Assistant Commissioner, Operations Support, U.S. Customs & Border Protection.
Prior to retiring in January 2021 after 35 years of service, Ms. Jacksta held several critical positions as a career member of the Senior Executive Service. In her most recent role, she led and directed the intelligence, international affairs, planning and requirements development, incident coordination, forensic/scientific services, and use of force policy functions in support of mission effectiveness for CBP’s 60,000 employees.
Previously, she served as the Assistant Commissioner for Human Resources Management, where she led sweeping improvements to the Agency’s hiring processes, the Agency’s case management and discipline processes, and implemented a National Resiliency Program – the first of its kind for CBP.
Ms. Jacksta also served as the principal executive for the Agency’s Employee Engagement Center of Excellence, having represented CBP on the Department of Homeland Security’s Executive Steering Committee. In this capacity, she led and directed CBP’s engagement strategy and Agency-wide implementation of the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS), resulting in increases in CBP’s overall FEVS scores for two consecutive years.
Other notable roles include Acting Deputy Assistant Commissioner for the Office of Internal Affairs, where she provided leadership and direction for functions such as personnel security; employee misconduct investigations; operational security, while promoting the integrity and accountability of the CBP workforce. Ms. Jacksta also served as the Executive Director for Mission Support, in the Office of Field Operations, managing a $4 billion budget and a broad spectrum of support functions for the Agency’s largest component; and as the Executive Director, Cargo Systems, in the Office of Information and Technology, where she led major changes in the delivery of critical functionality for the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE), a multi-billion dollar IT modernization effort.
In 2016, she received the prestigious Meritorious Executive Presidential Rank Award, one of the Nation’s highest civil service award for her consistent efforts in solving some of the Agency’s most pressing challenges across a wide spectrum of program areas.
Contact Us
Email: robert.merriner@theemerygroup.com
Phone: 703-389-1276
