Match-Working Studio

In 2020, Calvin J. Mitchell Jr. joined the U.S. Department of Education leadership team as the Acting Director of the Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU). In 2021, Mr. Mitchell transitioned to Director of OSDBU. As Director, Mr. Mitchell provides executive leadership and policy direction for developing and implementing policies and initiatives throughout the Department to ensure that all socioeconomic categories of small business are afforded opportunities to compete for contracts. Prior to the Acting OSDBU, Mr. Mitchell was the Deputy Director of Contracts and Acquisitions Management (CAM). As CAM Deputy Director, in the Office of the Chief Financial Officer, he was responsible for overseeing the work of four contracting divisions that provide operational procurement services to the Department of Education. Prior to joining the Department, Mitchell served as the Branch Chief of the Accounts Management Division at the General Services Administration. Mitchell led the organization toward meeting the Government-wide strategic goals to support all 24 CFO Act agency vision, mission, and strategic goals. Separately, Mr. Mitchell served as a Congressional Fellow for the U.S. House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee. In this position he served as the Principal Procurement Advisor to Committee leadership and provided guidance and oversight to Members and Committee staff on procurement, small business programs, and related acquisition issues within the Department of Homeland Security. Mr. Mitchell has also held leadership positions at the U.S Army Corps of Engineers.

Ms. Jennifer Thabet is an experienced program manager with an extensive background supporting DARPA and the DoD. Enhancing the ability of the small business community to create and transition revolutionary technologies that benefit the warfighter, federal government, and commercial marketplace is of paramount importance in Thabet’s role of program director, DARPA Small Business Programs Office (SBPO). She is focused on creating an environment that considers small business concerns a primary source of innovative solutions and advancing small business relationships and training opportunities within the DoD and other federal agencies.

Prior to joining SBPO, Thabet spent more than 13 years with Booz Allen Hamilton supporting DARPA and the DoD by providing program and project management for complex government contracts with a focus on project and financial management. She has specialized expertise in contract negotiations, business process improvements, and small business relations and risk management. Her experience includes work in multiple DARPA Technical Offices where she supported all aspects of the DARPA programmatic lifecycle from program concept to transition. Her background also includes work in DARPA support offices, including the Director’s Office (DIRO) and the Mission Services Office (MSO), where she served as the contract program manager for DARPA’s largest and most complex support contract. Prior to her time at DARPA, Thabet spent time as an attorney, specializing in contract law and general litigation.

Thabet holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Washington University in St. Louis, a Juris Doctorate degree from The George Washington University School of Law, and a Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification from the Project Management Institute.

In October 2020, Mr. Saville was promoted to Senior Procurement Analyst with the Department of the Air Force Office of Small Business Programs (SAF/SB) where he is the Policy Chief for USAF and USSF Small Business. His latest achievement was drafting Headquarters Air Force Mission Directive 1-30, Director, Small Business Programs, obtaining the Acting SecAF signature on the document, and managing its publication. His ongoing project is updating Air Force Instruction 90-1801 and Air Force Policy Directive 90-18, Small Business Programs.

Mr. Saville started his Air Force civilian career as a COPPER CAP Outstanding Scholar intern in Contracting. During his four years on the program, he worked in Depot Maintenance at Robins AFB, GA. Of those years as an intern, he spent nearly two of them in Special Ops Contracting working on the Gunship team. He also earned two Master’s degrees, one in Administration/Logistics Management and another in Logistics Systems. Upon graduating the COPPER CAP program, he went to Hanscom AFB, MA where he worked as a Contract Specialist on the U.S. team of the AWACS Contracting office. Later he would work on a large Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program, before he was promoted to Contracting Officer (CO) with an unlimited warrant. He was the CO on an Interim Contractor Support effort for the Battle Control System Fixed program, a major automated information system. The last effort he worked at Hanscom was the Three-Dimensional Expeditionary Long Range Radar (3DELRR), a major defense acquisition program. Upon RFP release he was off to Air Command and Staff College where he received his third Master’s in Military Operational Art & Science. From there he went to the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center (AFNWC) at Kirtland AFB, NM where he worked a number of Advisory & Assistance Services (A&AS) and Systems efforts. In 2016, after a little over 21 years of Air Force acquisition, he became the Contracting Resource Manager and Subject Matter Expert for the Directorate, as well as the Director of Small Business Programs. In 2019, he was made the Center Small Business Director full-time. His duties also included work as the AFNWC Services Acquisition Lead supporting the Deputy Program Executive Officer (PEO) for Strategic Systems, the Center Executive Director, and the Commander. He worked in that position until moving to the Pentagon.

Jayna Marie Rust advises contractors and other entities regarding their rights and obligations when doing business with (or receiving financial assistance from) the Federal Government. She helps clients recover money owed under Federal contracts, protest problematic contract awards, defend against competitors' protests and challenge adverse agency actions. In doing so, she represents them before agencies, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), Boards of Contract Appeals, the U.S.Court of Federal Claims, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, as necessary. She counsels clients on contract- and grant-administration matters, including analyzing and negotiating subcontractor and subrecipient agreements, teaming agreements, joint-venture agreements, and mentor-protégé agreements. She also assists clients with assessing and complying with employment-related laws and regulations specific to contractors and grant recipients. Additionally, Jayna works with clients to prepare for and close mergers, acquisitions, and other corporate transactions when Government contracts are involved. Jayna is a Counsel at Thompson Coburn LLP and a professor of Government Contracts Advocacy at the George Washington University Law School.