Meet some of your AMRA team!

PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER

Bona Tilahun is a seasoned management and business consultant with nearly thirty (30) years of experience in federal acquisition, assistance, other transaction agreements, program and risk management. He is the founder and Managing Director of AMRA Consulting, LLC, where he has led the company’s growth through strategic partnerships, particularly with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Mr. Tilahun holds a Top Secret clearance and brings deep expertise in acquisition strategy, acquisition policy and compliance, contract negotiation, cost/price analysis, and risk assessment.

Prior to founding AMRA, he served as a lead associate and acquisition expert at Booz Allen Hamilton, supporting clients such as DARPA, the Missile Defense Agency, and the Department of Homeland Security. He began his federal contracting career at the Office of Naval Research and the Naval Research Laboratory, where he gained extensive experience in negotiating and administering complex R&D contracts, Cooperative Agreements and grants as a warranted Contracting and Grants Officer.

Mr. Tilahun holds an MBA from the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business and a BA in Economics and International Relations from American University. He is DAWIA Level III certified and a Certified Professional Contracts Manager (CPCM) through NCMA.

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John M. Gyorda is a Senior Contracts Specialist at AMRA, supporting DARPA Contracts Management Office since January 2024 where he helps execute Contracts, OTAs, and financial assistance instruments. Prior to joining AMRA, John was a senior DoD contracting policy official for the Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Research, Development & Acquisition), in the office of Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Procurement, at the Pentagon for over two years. Serving at the highest level of Navy and DoD contracting, John strategically advised the Navy Secretariat, program managers, contracting officers, and principal-level industry counterparts in matters such as acquisition planning, contract types, FAR/DFARS, regulatory deviations and waivers, pricing, inflation, Buy American Statute, and recent laws and policy. John was a key DoD contributor in the regulatory rulemaking process, where he wrote clauses, provisions, and procedures for the DFARS, and represented Navy equities on proposed legislation; positively affecting National Defense Authorization Acts. In 14 years as a Navy civilian contracting officer/specialist, Johnexecuted in diverse and challenging positions across several Navy Commands, with unlimited warrant authority, including Major Systems (hardware production and software development), shipbuilding, services, and construction. In addition to leading major contracts and procurement policy initiatives, he’s also versed in financial statement audit, incurred cost allowability/allocability, the indirect rates process, and adept at interfacing with the DefenseContract Audit Agency (DCAA) and Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA). He holds a B.A. in Economics from St. Mary’s College of Maryland, and a M.A. in Procurement & Acquisitions Management from Webster University. He also obtained DAWIA level 3 certification in DoD Contracting.

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Ginnafer Burnett is a seasoned Contracting Professional working for Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) with a robust background in drafting and managing contracts. She possesses extensive expertise in developing acquisition strategies, conducting contract negotiations, performing cost and price analysis, ensuring policy compliance and alignment with organizational goals and objectives.

 Prior to working for DARPA, Ginnafer was an Active Duty Enlisted member who worked for the United States Air Force and retired with over 20 years. She was a Contracting Officer with over 14 years of experience, held an Unlimited Contracting Officer Warrant and had administered and awarded a diverse range of contracts across the Department of Defense. Proficient in FAR parts 8, 12, 13, 15, and 16, she gained a wealth of knowledge in strategic sourcing, acquisition planning, and contract administration. Throughout her Air Force career, Ginnafer demonstrated exceptional leadership, managing multi-million-dollar budgets and leading teams to achieve strategic objectives, enhance capabilities, and foster continuous business improvement.

 Ginnafer holds a Bachelor of Business Administration and Management from the University of Technology and Management and has also earned two Associate of Applied Science degrees in Contracts Management and Health Care Management from the Community College of the Air Force. She is DAWIA Level III certified in Contracting by the Defense Acquisition University.

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Mark Mizzell is a contracting and acquisition professional and a military veteran with a 20-year career in the United States Air Force. He transitioned to the private sector and currently serves as a Senior Contracts Specialist with Amra Consulting. In this role, he provides contracting subject matter expertise to DARPA's Contracts Management Office (CMO), specifically supporting the Strategic Technologies Office (STO), in the execution and management of FAR and non-FAR based contracts and agreements. DARPA's STO focuses on developing trusted, disruptive capabilities to enable national security leaders to win across all physical domains (air, space, sea, and land) and the spectrum of competition.

Throughout his military service, Mark gained experience in defense contracting, acquisitions, program management, and strategic planning, with skills in systems engineering, cybersecurity, and policy development. He holds an active Top-Secret SCI Clearance with Polygraph as of May 2023.

Mark's last active duty assignment prior to retirement was as Deputy Head of Contracting, Cyber Procurement Office, United States Cyber Command. In this role, he contributed to developing the new organization's structure, manning, & policies. He led a team of 12 contracting officers overseeing a $1B contract portfolio. With an unlimited warrant, he awarded and managed over 50 contracts valued at $500M, including $100M in R&D, prototype, and other transactions (OTs).

Prior to US Cyber Command, Mr. Mizzell was the Deputy Director of Contracting for the Air Force District of Washington, directing a team of 100 airmen managing a $32B contract portfolio. His earlier roles included Executive Officer to the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Contracting, advising on an $80B annual contracting portfolio, and Commander of the 355th Contracting Squadron. He has deployed multiple times in support of contingency operations in the Middle East.

Mark holds a Master of Science in Systems Engineering from George Washington University and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from The Citadel. He is DAWIA Level III certified in Contracting.

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Reed Fenimore is a Contract Specialist with nearly five (5) years of experience in federal acquisition, assistance, other transaction agreements, and program and risk management. She currently supports the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Contract Managements Office (CMO), and holds a Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI) clearance where she brings expertise in acquisition strategy, contract negotiation, cost/price analysis, and risk assessment.

Prior to working at AMRA, Reed had multiple leadership roles. Reed had experience working with DARPA's Security and Intelligence directorate where she managed a staff of eight at DARPA's Visitor Welcome Center (VWC) including training and oversight of daily VWC activities. Prior to her DARPA experience, Reed served as a Sales Representative for Immix Group Technology selling security hardware and software products for specific manufacturers to government customers utilizing the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Platform. Prior to that, she also served as a teacher for young children and a site director for an educational center overseeing 4 teachers and approximately 80 children. Reed is a graduate of Old Dominion University with a Bachelor of Science in Speech Language Pathology and Audiology with a minor in Special Education.

SENIOR MANAGEMENT CONSULTANT

Andrew Tibbetts has been a management and business consultant serving a variety of federal clients in the Washington DC metropolitan area. He has over twelve (12) years of experience in acquisition planning, acquisition strategy development and implementation, program management, acquisition/procurement policy analysis, solicitation and contract preparation, market research, contract cost and pricing analyses, source selection, contract administration, and contract negotiations. Prior to his consulting work, Andrew served as a Subcontract Administrator in which he solicited, negotiated and managed over 75 subcontracts and consulting agreements. Andrew has a bachelor's degree in Business Administration and Sports Management from Principia College. Andrew is a member of the National Contract Management Association (NCMA) and a Certified Federal Contract Manager (CFCM).

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SENIOR CONSULTANT

Bret Middleton is an experienced management and business consultant with fifteen years of experience in federal acquisition, assistance, other transaction agreements, source selection, and program and risk management. He is a senior consultant of AMRA Consulting, LLC. Mr. Middleton holds a secret clearance and brings deep expertise in acquisition strategy, acquisition policy and compliance, contract negotiation, cost/price analysis, and risk assessment.

 Prior to working with AMRA, he served as a Supervisory Contracting Officer at Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) where he gained expertise in Major Systems acquisition, source selection, and service contracts.

 Mr. Middleton holds an MA from the University of Maryland University College in procurement and a BA in Business Administration from Salisbury University. He is DAWIA Level III certified.

SENIOR MANAGEMENT CONSULTANT

Beth Fisher has a variety of experience in higher education and as a SETA consultant for several federal clients in the Washington DC metropolitan area. As non-teaching faculty at Virginia Tech she ran an economic development research center which focused on engineering and information technology business development. During the last three years of her twenty five year career at Virginia Tech she served as Associate Director for Information Technology Acquisitions (ITA). She was primarily responsible for negotiating the software contracts for Virginia Tech, with added responsibility for specialized IT hardware RFPs. She also served as ITA’s point of contact with the university’s Windows, Mac, and Linux user groups. After retiring from Virginia Tech, she moved to Missouri to serve as executive director for a consortium which hosted and managed library systems for approximately 60 academic institutions. After three years she took a position as Project Director to the Assistant to the Provost for Strategic Opportunities at the University of Missouri - Columbia. Focusing on homeland and national security initiatives she served as program administrator for an Office of Naval Research (ONR) research project and worked with several U.S. Army schools at Fort Leonard Wood. After retiring from the University of Missouri she moved to the Washington DC area and supported ONR as a contract liaison. In this role she worked with technical program officers, contracting officers, general counsel, security office, comptroller’s office, small business office, and human subject research protection officer. Her latest positions have been with DARPA as a senior management consultant, first working with a technical office and more recently with the Contracts Management Office. Beth has degrees from Towson University and the University of Texas at Austin.

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Kyle Zinnel is an experienced contracts manager with 13 years of experience in federal acquisition. He has primarily supported the Department of Defense with Federal Acquisition Regulation requirements and Other Transaction Agreements. Mr. Zinnel holds a top-secret clearance and brings a plethora of knowledge in acquisition planning, contract negotiation, contract management, and cost and price analysis.

Prior to joining AMRA, he served as an unlimited warrant contracting officer supporting the United States Special Operations Command and Air Force Strategic Sourcing units. His acquisition career started when he enlisted in the Air Force in 2012 and began working as a contract specialist for the 6th Air Refueling Wing. There he gained experience in the acquisition process, contract administration, and contract negotiation. Following his enlistment he has supported different organizations as a Contracting Officer focusing on R&D and Services contracts.

Mr. Zinnel has an MBA from Purdue University, a BS in Healthcare Administration from Saint Leo, and is DAWIA Level II certified.

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Andres Rincon is a contract management professional with 12 years of experience in federal acquisition, assistance, other transaction agreements, program and risk management. He currently supports the Advanced Tactical Division at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Mr. Tincon holds a Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information clearance

Prior to supporting DARPA, he served as a Contracts Manager with NATO, and the Space Development Agency. He began his federal contracting career at the United States Air Force, serving a contracting officer with deployments and duty location spanningover four continents and across every operational facet of the contracting carrerfield.

Mr. Rincon holds a BA from the Saint Leo University. He is DAWIA Level II certified.

CONTRACTING SPECIALIST

Kevin P. Lonergan is a Contracting Specialist at AMRA Consulting, with a strong background in declassification analysis, government contracting, and national security. He brings over a decade of combined expertise in classified document review, quality assurance, and program coordination across multiple federal agencies and contracting firms.

Previously serving as a Team Lead at Koniag Government Services, Kevin led declassification teams, coordinated with agency and foreign representatives, and contributed to proposals as a subject matter expert. He also held multiple roles with Global Engineering & Technology, consistently exceeding productivity benchmarks and mentoring new analysts.

Kevin holds a B.A. in Criminology and Criminal Justice from the University of Maryland, College Park, and maintains an active Top Secret clearance with DOE HRRDR certification. His early career includes roles in asset protection and physical security, building a foundation of operational discipline and risk mitigation.

Detail-oriented and mission-driven, Kevin is dedicated to supporting federal initiatives with integrity, precision, and strategic insight.

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Courtney Schlusser is an accomplished federal acquisition professional with over seven years of progressive experience in Department of Defense contracting, including positions of increasing responsibility across NAVSEA and DARPA. She previously held an unlimited Contracting Officer warrant and has led complex contract negotiations totaling billions in obligated funds for ship repair, advanced weapon systems, and research & development programs.

Courtney is known for her leadership in high-stakes acquisition efforts—successfully transitioning major submarine and surface ship contracts, executing sole source and competitive actions, and mentoring junior staff. She brings advanced knowledge of federal acquisition regulations (FAR/DFARS), strong cost analysis expertise, and hands-on proficiency with key contracting systems such as SPS, Navy ERP, PIEE/WAWF, FPDS-NG, EDA, and contract e-filing systems (CDMS/e-Triever).

She holds an MBA with a focus in Business Analytics and is DAWIA Level III certified in Contracting. With a proven record of innovation, technical rigor, and collaborative leadership, Courtney continues to drive mission-critical outcomes for the Department of Defense.