Transforming Data from
Inception to Impact

From 1987 through 1998, Joe Costello led Cadence Design Systems to be the number one company in the Electronic Design Automation market (chip design software). He grew the company from $10M in revenue to nearly $1B, which made it one of the ten largest software companies in the world. In 1997, Chief Executive Magazine named Costello the top-performing CEO of all publicly traded companies in North America. During this time, he also served on the boards of public companies including Oracle, Macromedia (Adobe), and Mercury Interactive.

After Cadence, Costello served as a board member and advisor for dozens of early technology companies and stepped in as CEO at several of them. He currently serves as Chairman of three companies: Metrics Design Automation, Kwikbit, and Arrikto.

Costello holds a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics and physics from Harvey Mudd College, a Master of Science degree in physics from Yale University, and a Master of Arts degree in physics from the University of California, Berkeley.

Mark is a co-founder of Blue Delta Capital Partners, a growth capital firm which is focused on the U.S. Federal Government Services marketplace, particularly on technology-enabled solutions and services companies. Mr. Frantz currently serves on the Board of Directors or Advisory Boards for numerous privately-held growth companies and non-profit organizations, and he is also on the Board of Directors for ASGN (NYSE: ASGN).

Mark has been actively involved in all of Blue Delta’s investments, including Metis Solutions (acq. by PAE), Sonatype (acq. by Vista Equity), 42Six (acq. by CSC) and PAE (acq. by Platinum Equity, NASDAQ: PAE). Mr. Frantz was also a member of the Board of Directors for CSRA (NYSE: CSRA) which was acquired by General Dynamics for $9.7 billion.

Prior to Blue Delta, Mark had the privilege and pleasure of investing in and working with over a dozen highly successful companies and their excellent management teams, including Sourcefire (Nasdaq: FIRE, then acquired by Cisco), NetWitness (acq. by RSA), and Blackboard (Nasdaq: BBBB, then acquired by Providence Equity),

Mark has served as the Managing General Partner of In-Q-Tel (the strategic venture capital affiliate of the U.S. Intelligence Community), a Principal with Carlyle Venture Partners, a Partner at RedShift Ventures, the Associate to the Senior Chairman at Alex. Brown, the economic and technology policy advisor to Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge, and the Associate Director of The White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs under the 41st President of the United States, George H. W. Bush.

Mr. Frantz holds J.D. and M.B.A. degrees from the University of Pittsburgh and a B.A. degree (double major, history and political science) from Allegheny College.

Donna Morea is a highly accomplished executive and board director who is nationally recognized in the software, IT services, and private equity communities. She currently serves as the Chair of the Board of Directors at SAIC, as the Chair of the Technology Committee for the Board of Truist, and on numerous other private corporate and not-for-profit boards. With over thirty years of operating experience, she has deep and vast experience building IT practices that focus on strategic, enterprise-wide solutions for large-scale organizations.

Paul Smith was most recently senior vice president and general manager of Public Sector at Red Hat. Smith joined Red Hat in November 2004 and for 17 years led the Red Hat government business unit with responsibility for sales, marketing, consulting, channels, and strategic planning. He was responsible for the U.S. federal government worldwide and the U.S. state, local, and education marketplace nationally.

Smith brings more than 40 years of experience marketing key technologies to the government marketplace holding various management positions in the sales of software solutions to government agencies, and to systems integrators.

Before joining Red Hat, Smith was vice president of Government Operations at VERITAS where he, within his 5-year tenure, helped lead his business unit to be the fastest-growing vertical within the company. Smith also worked at Netscape Communication, where he led sales for its state and local organization nationwide. Prior to that, he led sales organizations at Oracle in the areas of Public Sector, Aerospace, and Defense, and the Department of Defense. Smith also worked for Unisys Corporation, where he held management positions responsible for federal civilian agencies.

In 2019 Smith served as the gala chairman for the National Kidney Foundation’s marquee Washington fundraising event.

Dr. Renato “Renny” A. DiPentima is the former President and CEO of SRA International. Renny helped take SRA public (NYSE: SRX) and grow revenue to $1.3 billion with a market capitalization of $1.75 billion. Prior to joining SRA as CIO in 1995, Dr. DiPentima held several senior management positions in the U.S. Federal Government, including serving as the Social Security Administration’s Deputy Commissioner for Systems and CIO. Renny served as Chairman of the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Improvement Team as part of the President’s National Performance Review initiatives. He has been honored with numerous awards, including two Presidential Rank awards (Distinguished and Meritorious Service), as well as “CIO of the Year” during both his public sector and private sector tenures.   Dr. DiPentima serves on the Board of Directors of Cap Gemini Government Solutions LLC, iNovex, and Gunnison Consulting Group and the Advisory Board of Blue Delta Capital Partners and is a member of organizations including the Economic Club of D.C and the National Academy of Social Insurance. He previously served on the Board of Directors of Brocade Communication Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: BRCD) prior to its $5.5 billion sale to Broadcom (NASDAQ: AVGO), and the Advisory Board of Red Hat, Inc.   Renny graduated with a B.A. from New York University, an M.A. from George Washington University and a Ph.D. from the University of Maryland. He has also completed the Program for Senior Managers at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Michèle Flournoy is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of WestExec Advisors, and former Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), where she currently serves on the board.

Michèle served as the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy from February 2009 to February 2012. She was the principal adviser to the Secretary of Defense in the formulation of national security and defense policy, oversight of military plans and operations, and in National Security Council deliberations. She led the development of the Department of Defense’s 2012 Strategic Guidance and represented the Department in dozens of foreign engagements, in the media and before Congress.

Prior to confirmation, Michèle co-led President Obama’s transition team at the Defense Department.

In January 2007, Michèle co-founded CNAS, a bipartisan think tank dedicated to developing strong, pragmatic and principled national security policies. She served as CNAS’ President until 2009, and returned as CEO in 2014. In 2017, she co-founded WestExec Advisors, a strategic advisory firm.

Previously, she was senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies for several years and, prior to that, a distinguished research professor at the Institute for National Strategic Studies at the National Defense University (NDU).

In the mid-1990s, she served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy and Threat Reduction and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy.

Michèle is the recipient of numerous honors and awards, including: the American Red Cross Exceptional Service Award in 2016; the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service in 1998, 2011, and 2012; the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff’s Joint Distinguished Civilian Service Award in 2000 and 2012; and the Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service in 1996. She has edited several books and authored dozens of reports and articles on a broad range of defense and national security issues. Michèle appears frequently in national and international media, including CNN’s State of the Union, ABC’s This Week, NBC’s Meet the Press, BBC News, NPR’s Morning Edition and All Things Considered and PBS’ News Hour, and is frequently quoted in top tier newspapers.

Michèle serves on the boards of CNAS, Booz Allen Hamilton, Amida Technology Solutions, The Mission Continues, and CARE. She serves on the advisory boards of The Leadership Council for Women in National Security, Sesame Workshop, Intel, and PIMCO. She is a Senior Fellow at Harvard’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affair, a current member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Aspen Strategy Group, and a former member of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, the CIA Director’s External Advisory Board, and the Defense Policy Board.

Michèle earned a bachelor’s degree in social studies from Harvard University and a master’s degree in international relations from Balliol College, Oxford University, where she was a Newton-Tatum scholar.