About Us

Payal Tak

President & CEO

President & CEO of TELESIS Ms. Tak founded the company in 1998. Ms. Tak has over 28 years of experience in the fields of information technology and government contracting. She actively supports strategic planning, corporate operations, and maintains customer communications.

Ms. Tak has successfully established strategic relationships with several Federal Government agencies and leading industry partners and has led the company through many years of remarkable growth to its present stature as a leading provider of high-end IT solutions for federal agencies such as Departments of Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Energy, Health and Human Services, Transportation, Justice, General Services Administration, Housing and Urban Development, and SOCOM, to name a few.

Ms. Tak has been recognized as the U.S. Small Business Person of the Year for the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area by the U.S. SBA and has received a special Congressional recognition for her invaluable service to the community. Under her leadership, TELESIS has maintained an intense focus on quality and implementation of best practices for service delivery, which has resulted in TELESIS earning several accolades for consistently delivering the promise of its tag line and exceeding client expectations.

Ms. Tak is supported by a world-class professional executive team at TELESIS that shares her deep passion for excellence in service delivery and customer success. Today, with the support of her executive team, Ms. Tak is leading TELESIS to new heights as a highly successful and respected Government contractor. Ms. Tak’s academic background includes degrees in Computer Science and Telecommunications Systems Management.

Dave Jefferson

Executive Vice President

Dave Jefferson serves as Executive Vice President at TELESIS. He is responsible for customer engagement lifecycle activities including solution development, value-based marketing, and relationship management. Before joining TELESIS, Mr. Jefferson was a principal at a highly successful government contractor where his leadership culminated in the successful merger with an area large integrator in 2011. Since joining TELESIS in 2012, Mr. Jefferson has been leading highly effective teams focused on development of new initiatives and implementation of proposed solutions, and maintaining customer relationships.

Mr. Jefferson’s career spans more than 27 years of business and technology experience in both federal and commercial markets. His expertise ranges from information technology to business operations and sales. He received a BA in Political Science at Boston University, and has earned several distinctions throughout his career including the Hammer Award for Excellence in Government.

Rick Simis

Vice President, DoD Programs

Rick Simis is Vice President of DoD Programs at TELESIS and in that role is responsible for operational excellence in all aspects of program performance, organic growth, and expanding core capabilities, which include IT and cybersecurity services.

Prior to joining TELESIS in July 2015, Mr. Simis served as the President and Business Unit General Manager for a large defense systems integrator.  His experience includes full spectrum of IT services, post production/deployment software support, logistics and global supply chain operations, and lifecycle support to the Army’s C4ISR systems.

Mr. Simis is a 1980 West Point graduate, holds an MS from Kansas State University and a Master’s Certificate in Executive Leadership from Cornell University. He retired from the Army after serving numerous command and staff positions around the world.  His awards include the Bronze Star, the Defense Meritorious Service Medal and four Awards of the Meritorious Service Medal.  He is a graduate of the Army’s Material Acquisition Management course and holds an ITIL Foundations certification.

Mr. Simis is a member of the Delaware Valley Chapter of the Program Management Institute, and is a life member of AFCEA International, the Association of the United States Army, West Point Association of Graduates, and the Military Officers Association of America.

Cheryl Brummell

Vice President of Programs

Cheryl Brummell serves as Vice President of Programs and chairs the Enterprise Project Management Office (PMO) for TELESIS. She is responsible for directing and leading day-to-day operations within diverse information technology, government contracting, program management, and business development environments. Ms. Brummell is responsible for customer relationships and strengthening performance of teams to deliver service excellence. Ms. Brummell served in the U.S. Air Force and later was a Department of Defense signals intelligence contractor. Before joining TELESIS, she was an Executive Director at a large integrator where her 15 years of leadership culminated with profit and loss responsibilities for a division focused on providing full lifecycle IT services for Federal and State government agencies.

Ms. Brummell holds a B.S. in Business Administration, with a concentration in Project Management from Colorado Technical University. She has maintained professional PMP certification from the Program Management Institute since August 2005. Ms. Brummell also holds an ITIL foundations certification, is a Certified Scrum Master (CSM), Certified in the Governance of Enterprise IT (CGEIT), and is a certified Scaled Agile Framework Agilist (SA). Ms. Brummell is an AFCEA Leadership Forum graduate and is a member of the Project Management Institute, ISACA, and Sigma Beta Delta Honor Society.

James Jensen

Vice President, National Security Programs

Jim Jensen serves as a Vice President of National Security programs at TELESIS. He is responsible for managing and overseeing key customer engagements at the Department of State and Energy Information Administration. Mr. Jensen brings more than 25 years of experience supporting multiple federal government customers. He has led complex information technology organizations and has deep expertise in the operations and management of mission critical enterprise systems.

Prior to joining TELESIS, Mr. Jensen was Program Manager at a Government Contractor, where he managed multi-site technical teams supporting the systems infrastructure of TSA’s mission critical security vetting and credentialing programs of transportation workers and all US passengers. Mr. Jensen has also served as a Senior Program Manager with a large Government integrator, where he successfully managed the Department of State’s, IT Operations Center supporting the operations and management delivery of all Information Technology services supporting the US Embassies and Consulates globally. Mr. Jensen’s experience includes over ten years of software development support, where he served as the system architect for the Department of State’s SMART messaging system upgrade. Mr. Jensen has served as a Foreign Service Officer, where he was the Communications Attaché posted to Iraq, Syria, and South Africa.

Mr. Jensen is an Army veteran. He is a member of numerous professional organizations.

Bruce Thoms

Vice President, Special Operations Programs

Bruce Thoms is Vice President of Special Operations Programs at TELESIS and in that role is responsible for operational excellence in all aspects of program performance, organic growth, and expanding core capabilities, which include Agile Development, Data Migration, Testing, C4 and Intelligence System Support, Cloud Services, and Software Architecture.

Prior to joining TELESIS in May of 2013, served as Senior Program Manager and Director for a large defense systems support provider and Logistics and Operations Manager under Mission Command.  His experience includes full spectrum of IT services, post production/deployment software support, software development, logistics, C4ISR and Intelligence systems support, Geo-Spatial Intelligence products, and logistics.  Mr. Thoms supported these positions globally and deployed numerous times in support of units and Army organizations.

Mr. Thoms is a University of Iowa graduate, holds a BS in Information Systems and a Master’s Business Administration, along with numerous certificates in project and process management. He is a former Army officer serving numerous command and staff positions around the world.

Sonia Dua

Executive Director of Managed Services

Sonia Dua serves as the Executive Director of the Division of Managed Services at TELESIS.  She is responsible for delivering diverse IT Services to include Help Desk, Service Desk and IT Infrastructure support from TELESIS’ Managed Services facilities as well as client sites. Ms. Dua is a 15-year veteran of TELESIS and brings over 20 years of experience in the management federal contracts. She has developed strong and lasting working relationships with TELESIS’ clients, vendors, program teams and partners. Under her leadership, her teams have consistently delivered the promise of TELESIS’ tag line and exceeded customer expectations.

Ms. Dua has successfully led multiple implementations of standardized program management methodologies at TELESIS resulting in successful CMMI appraisals for the company. Ms. Dua has a Master’s degree and is PMP and ITIL certified.

David Sliom

Director of Cybersecurity

David Sliom serves the Director of Cybersecurity at TELESIS. He joined TELESIS in October 2016, and is responsible for Cybersecurity for the successful delivery of several cybersecurity programs for civilian Federal Agencies and Departments.  Before joining TELESIS he served as Director of Security for a Firewall and Appliance manufacturer, and enjoyed a successful career for 25 years in serving the US Census Bureau. He served in several roles, including managing the integration of all systems for the 2000 Decennial Census. He also served as the Certification Agent for the 2010 Decennial Census.

Mr. Sliom started his career managing demographic surveys for the Census Bureau and transitioned to system support and integration and cybersecurity. He has experience in the cybersecurity field for more than 20 years. He holds a Masters degree from George Washington University in IT Project Management as well as several industry certifications in security and system management.

Eric Scott

Director of DoD Programs

Eric is currently serving as Director of DoD Programs at TELESIS, specializing in cybersecurity program integration.

Mr. Scott has a vast background of over 20 years in information technology (IT) and cybersecurity.  He has served in prior roles including IT Director, Information Systems Security Officer (ISSO), Information Systems Security Manager (ISSM), Security Control Assessor (SCA), Authorizing Official Designated Representative (AODR), and Chief Information Security Officer (CISO).  Throughout his career, Mr. Scott has supported all of the DoD Services, Several Defense Agencies, as well as the Intelligence Community (IC).

Mr. Scott retired from the United States Marine Corps Reserves after 20 years of honorable service where he served as an aviation logistics information management and support (ALIMS) specialist as well as a cyber information operations (IO) planner. Mr. Scott holds a MS in Management of Secure Information Systems (Cybersecurity) from George Mason University and a BS from Shippensburg University.  Mr. Scott is a certified Project Manager Professional (PMP), Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), and a certified Information Systems Security Architecture Professional (ISSAP).

Before joining TELESIS, Mr. Scott led the enterprise cybersecurity efforts for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and most recently was the CISO for the Air National Guard’s (ANG) Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) systems.

Jill Waltersdorff-Rich

Executive Director, Human Resources

Jill Waltersdorff-Rich is the Executive Director of Human Resources and Talent Acquisition for TELESIS. She is responsible for directing the overall administration, coordination and evaluation of the HR and Recruiting functions. With over 18 years of experience, Ms. Waltersdorff-Rich is a trusted, collaborative leader focused on best practices. She is an important partner with the TELESIS Leadership Team in our efforts to establish effective systems and streamline processes to serve our customers and employees.

Previously, Ms. Waltersdorff-Rich has successfully managed HR functions at two Government contractors in the Washington, DC Metro area. Her professional expertise ranges from needs analysis and project management to developing teams who provide transformational service. She considers herself a lifelong learner and eagerly welcomes new challenges.

Ms. Waltersdorff-Rich earned her MBA and MS in Management (HR concentration) degrees from the University of Maryland University College. She also holds a B.A. in English from the University of Mary Washington and maintains two HR Certifications (SHRM-SCP as well as an SPHR).

Douglas O

Director of Technology

Douglas O serves as Director of Technology with TELESIS.  He has been serving TELESIS’ customers for over 5 years and his primary responsibilities are to oversee all IT operations and maintenance for multiple corporate locations, ensure their alignment with current and future business objectives of the organization, and compliance with ISO 20000.  Mr. O has over 20 years’ experience in multiple IT fields most recently performing Systems Engineering, Design and Integration of US Government mission critical systems along with Operations and Maintenance services for US government contracts that provide mission critical services to internal Government Agencies and external Global customers.  Mr. O has an extensive background in providing the highest levels of customer satisfaction, building trust and confidence through transparent services with an emphasis on customer satisfaction.

Mr. O has held various positions in the IT field ranging from Telecommunications marketing development and support, Medical systems track and billing, Enterprise Technical Support Services, and Data Center Operations Services, thus giving him a unique perspective and insight on the use and integration of technology to help resolve problems and foster innovative thinking and ideas.

Monisha Mandal

Director of Quality Standards

Monisha Mandal serves as the Director of Quality Standards at TELESIS. She is responsible for implementation and management of Quality and Security Certifications for TELESIS.

Ms. Mandal joined TELESIS in 2013 to manage quality assurance certifications for TELESIS. As the number of certifications grew, so did her role and her team. She created a team to begin monitoring internal processes and controls and assess the risk associated with those processes and controls.  With over 20 years of diverse experience, Ms. Mandal works closely with and supports all operations and program managers to ensure adherence to policies and procedures for accurate performance, quality improvement, incident management, security management and risk management within TELESIS. Ms. Mandal identifies potential new areas of compliance, certifications and risk management frameworks to implement any additional certifications for TELESIS.

Ms. Mandal has successfully led multiple implementations of standardized program management methodologies at TELESIS resulting in successful ISO, FISMA and CMMI appraisals for the company. Outside of the Department of Quality Standards, Ms. Mandal has lead the IT team for the corporate offices at TELESIS and is currently spearheading the development of the TELESIS OpenFISMA+ tool. OpenFISMA+ is a suite of modules for POA&M tracking, Vulnerability Management, Security Authorization and Incidents.

Under her leadership, her teams have consistently delivered the promise of TELESIS’ tagline and exceeded customer expectations. Ms. Mandal has a Master’s degree and is PMP and CISA certified.

Stephanie Taylor

Director of Contracts and Pricing

Stephanie Taylor serves as the Director of Contracts and Pricing at TELESIS.  In this role Ms. Taylor manages the day-to-day activities of the department while being ever present in new business initiatives.  Ms. Taylor came to TELESIS with over 20 years of government contracting experience.  During her career she has led finance, pricing, quality and contracts organizations.  Utilizing her background, Ms. Taylor has streamlined the processes to ensure accuracy, efficiency and overall quality within her department to ensure the highest level of excellence is achieved in supporting TELESIS clients.

With the same passion Ms. Taylor brings to TELESIS, she also serves her community by volunteering in various capacities to include providing financial education through the cooperative extension in her county.

In 2002 Ms. Taylor earned her MBA from The George Washington University and has continued her desire to learn by earning various certificates to include achieving a Six Sigma Black Belt in 2008.