Jennifer is a systems scientist, architect, and engineer with more than twenty years of experience across defense R&D, aerospace, and enterprise modernization. Her MIT doctoral work — described as 'seminal' at her defense — applied entropy-based principles to the problem of strategically evolving complex systems. More disciplined about letting the work drive than about where it was going, less committed to received assumptions than to what the evidence actually showed, she followed a question about the foundational nature of systems she had long sensed but not yet fully seen. Through a catalytic convergence, it crossed a paradigm boundary and leapt into clarity. The further the work went, the harder it became to operate inside structures built on assumptions she could no longer hold. At the firm, she leads the technical and scientific work, is the primary author of The Skeptical Systemist, and tells people what they need to hear rather than what they want to, as graciously as possible.
Eric brings more than two decades of federal program management, defense contracting, and business development across a wide range of DoD portfolios. His career has been built at the intersection of government relationships, contract execution, and the organizational dynamics of getting things done inside complex defense programs — the same territory where Exunum's approach is most needed and most consequential.
He has managed business areas exceeding $110M and led more than thirty capture activities spanning the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Space Force, including proposals valued up to $1B. His experience with defense innovation channels — particularly through AFWERX — and his familiarity with non-dilutive funding mechanisms give the firm a direct path into the programs that support early-stage R&D.
Eric's relationships across Hanscom AFB and the broader AFLCMC community, and his familiarity with programs ranging from secure processing and NC3 to enterprise IT transformation, position the firm to engage where the structural problems are most visible and the analytical stakes are highest. At the firm, he leads business development, capture strategy, government contracting, and pipeline management.
The firm draws on a network of domain experts and analytical specialists engaged on a project basis — people with deep technical knowledge in specific areas where the approach is being applied. Details to follow as the practice develops.