Our Leadership Team

After acquiring deep, hands-on experience in antiterrorism, critical infrastructure protection, physical security strategies, and risk management, Matt went on to develop executive government and business leadership and management skills that enable him to formulate strategy for Watermark’s clients.

Matt retired as a Colonel after serving 22 years in the U.S. Air Force. His military assignments included assignments as the senior U.S. government security official responsible for security oversight of our nation’s nuclear weapons program and as the senior security officer for the US Air Force Special Operations Command.

After retiring, Matt created and grew the integrated security consulting service division at a Fortune 500 company; within 3 years it was yielding >125% annual growth. He left that position to become VP/Chief Security Officer at Brinks Inc., one of the world’s largest risk-management companies. After establishing Watermark, he served for two years as Chairman of the Board and CEO of one of the largest security services companies in the U.S. At Watermark, he is responsible for overall business strategy, growth, and customer satisfaction.

Kevin brings nearly 35 years of military and DoD contractor experience in security operations, training, risks assessment, and methodology development and implementation. Upon retirement as a Chief Master Sergeant/E-9 from the Air Force, Kevin has been involved in security assessment, security system design projects, major security master planning efforts, and business development and growth strategies for clients and Watermark. He led research and development teams responsible for developing unmanned systems and remote weapons for security forces and explosive ordnance operations in high-threat environments. Kevin co-authored the U.S. Air Force effects-based security doctrine and was a co-developer and program manager of the Integrated Defense Risk Management Process (IDRMP) and supporting software tool, ForcePRO. In additional to being President of Watermark, Kevin continues to support clients in developing cost-effective, risk-based security solutions by leading security risk and vulnerability assessment teams examining processes in security, emergency management, communications, and resiliency programs.

Carla has extensive experience as a business administrator and contract executive. She oversees nearly every aspect of Watermark’s contracts, conducts business and office administration, and engages in salary and benefit negotiation. She manages numerous consultants and employees, assists in the company’s business development process, and participates in project and proposal pricing. She also consults on almost all aspects of Watermark’s business negotiations and deliberations. Carla serves as our Director of Accounting, as well as our Chief Risk Officer, negotiating and overseeing our complex insurance program.
Carla started her career in Venezuela in the real estate and property management industry, and joined Watermark after spending six years with the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington DC. She has a degree in Business Management from George Mason University and is fluent in Spanish.

Jenni retired as a Colonel in the U.S. Air Force. Her last assignment was Vice Commander at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland, where she led installation security, force support, and the 1st Helicopter Squadron. She regularly escorted the U.S. president and other heads of state on the ramp.

After retiring in 2007, she started work as a private contractor in Washington, DC, studying international and domestic terrorist organizations, transnational threats, organized crime and the terrorist and criminal exploitation of the Internet. She is senior fellow at the Center for Cyber and Homeland Security at George Washington University, a member of the Board of Directors for the International Foundation for Protection Officers, and advises the Homeland Security Training Institute at the College of DuPage in Chicago.

She holds a doctoral degree from Benedictine University, Master of Science degrees from Johns Hopkins University and Air University, and a Bachelor of Science from Penn State University. In 2003, she was a National Defense Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. where she studied the terror-crime nexus. She is a 2006 alumnus of the Harvard Senior Executive Fellows program.

An award-winning writer, her book Soft Target Hardening: Protecting People from Attack was the ASIS Security Book of the Year for 2015. She also authored Soft Target Crisis Management (2016) and The Terrorist-Criminal Nexus (2013). Jenni is dynamic and sought-after public speaker for ASIS, FBI, DHS, ASIS, DoD, state and local law enforcement agencies, Major League Baseball and others.

Denise combines her diverse experience in several industries including security, building service, healthcare, construction project management, resort management and training and curriculum design to assist clients. She has experience in all aspects of an organization, including finance, payroll, human resources, benefits, compliance, quality assurance, and operations. Most recently she had management oversight of WinTeam, document management systems, timekeeping, learning management systems, and reporting and analytics tools. She also built and led a contract operations support center, which provided significant cost-effective operational and administrative support to contracts. As a result, the organization reduced manpower by ten percent, saved approximately $300k annually and increased productivity by 30 percent. She also has experience in software requirements identification, and design and product management.

Focusing on innovation and results, Denise provides consulting support to security and building service contractors, including industry leaders in both the government and private sectors. Clients value her expertise in systems and contract optimization, process mapping and improvement, business intelligence and analytics, and project management. She leads Watermark’s consulting service, helping clients optimize people, technology and processes.