ESOP Board of Directors

Ashok Thareja founded A&T Systems in 1984. During the last 33 years he has led the company’s development through both internal growth and acquisitions. He enabled the acquisitions of VCampus, Inotech, and Tominy. In 1997, A&T incubated and funded Snare Networks. Dr. Thareja guided its product marketing and financial strategy. In September 1999, Computer Associates acquired Snare Networks.

In April 1999, he founded Orblynx and led the company as its Chairman and CEO for two years. Through Orblynx, he experienced the great telecom roller coaster ride from incubating the company through personal assets, getting the company funded with $50 million of venture money, launching a highly valued global content distribution business, and dissolving the company as the capital markets shut down for the telecom sector.

He currently serves on the Board of Visitors for the College of Computer, Mathematical and Physical Sciences at the University of Maryland, College Park.

Prior to being at A&T, as a research faculty member, Dr. Thareja led research at the Laboratory for Parallel Computation at the University of Maryland. There he directed research and development efforts in parallel processing. He also conducted research in performance monitoring and modeling of UNIX systems. Prior to that he was at BGS Systems. As an R&D Manager at BGS Systems, he developed the modeling tool BEST/1-SNA for IBM’s SNA networks. Dr. Thareja received his Ph.D. in Computer Science, in the area of performance modeling of computer networks such as ARPANET, at the University of Maryland.

Jeffrey Williams has 40 years of IT and Telecom Program Management experience and is currently heading the Program Management Practice at A&T. He has extensive experience managing programs/projects of varied complexities. Mr. Williams is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) and ITIL Foundations 3 professional. He joined A&T in 2007 as Program Manager for the USARC Voice Communications and Internet Protocol Router Network Services contract, where he managed daily operations for the USARC program that provisioned/maintained all Army Reserve Center voice/data circuits nationally at 950+ sites.

Mr. Williams was also the Information Management Communications Services (IMCS) II & III Program Manager for A&T Systems. The IMCS contract is in support of the Network Enterprise Technology Command (NETCOM) IMCS III acquisition. This acquisition is for non-personal Administrative Telephone Services (ATS) and Information Technology (IT) support services consisting of unified capabilities, wired telecommunications, voice, video, and data services for state-side Network Enterprise Centers (NECs) communication systems.

Mr. Williams has an M.B.A. in management from the University of Maryland University College and a B.B.A from Brenau University.

Mr. Williams served in the U.S. Army from 1982 to 2004 in various Information Technology positions. Upon retirement, he served as a Department of the Army Civilian Information Technology Specialist from 2004 through 2007 responsible for the reset/refit of all IT communications equipment for a major Army division.

As Facility Security Officer (FSO), Ms. Thareja manages all aspects of A&T’s security programs, which include educating and keeping employees up-to-dateKimberly, holding regular trainings at corporate and remote sites—for A&T employees and customers, reviewing and ensuring security policies are current and valid, etc. Ms. Thareja is a member of NCMS: The Society of Industrial Security Professionals and of Information Sharing and Analysis Center (ISAC), and regularly attends security related training that helps A&T keep abreast of security developments.

Ms. Thareja joined A&T in 2007 as Assistant FSO, and in 2012 took over as FSO. Prior to joining A&T, she has 15 years of experience working as a computer network engineer at General Electric (GE) on its World Wide Proprietary Computer Network. This work required her to travel around the world installing customer computers on the network.

Ms. Thareja holds a B.S. from the University of Maine in Computer Science, with a minor in Electrical Engineering.

As Controller, Ms. Corridon is responsible for A&T corporate accounting—financial reporting, audits, accounts payable and receivable, purchasing, and payroll. She has worked for A&T since 2003 in a wide range of accounting roles. She has experience with numerous accounting/payroll software packages, including implementation of new systems and operation of existing systems. She has 20 years of experience in government and commercial sectors, including legal and medical. Previously she has worked for CeLight, Inc., EB Networks, and Mentor Technologies.

She holds an A.A. in accounting and business management from Essex Community College. She also received certificates from Dunn & Bradstreet courses for collections, accounts receivable, and management.

MG(R) Joe Brendler served more than 31 years in the US Army, including 8 years overseas, in a career culminating in successive strategic senior leadership positions in major Defense Department organizations including the Defense Information Systems Agency, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, Headquarters Department of the Army CIO/G6, and United States Cyber Command. In his final military role, he was instrumental in elevating USCYBERCOM to full operational capability, as that organization’s Chief of Staff. Prior to this, Joe had made significant contributions and gained a wealth of operational, tactical, and institutional experience in organizations such as XVIII Airborne Corps, 82nd Airborne Division, 3rd Infantry Division, the Army Cyber Center of Excellence, and the US Military Academy at West Point, NY. After retirement from active military service, Joe hiked the entirety of the Appalachian Trail and then started a consulting company, and he has excelled in helping clients in the Defense Cyber and Information Technology sectors. Joe is a graduate of Cornell University, the Army’s School of Advanced Military Studies, and the National Defense University’s Industrial College of the Armed Forces. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Warrior Expeditions and serves on the Advisory Boards of several non-profit military cyber associations and several Defense Cyber and Information Technology companies. He is also continuing several ongoing wilderness adventure projects.