Recruiting, Staffing and Retention

Emily is an experienced leader in contingent workforce solutions with robust skills in management, operations and leadership. She leads a nationwide staffing initiative for the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) where she oversees a program management office and is responsible for organizing, directing and managing all aspects of contract operations. She also designs and implements innovative approaches to manage the 40+ partners, staffing agencies, clinical associations, credential verification organizations and universities that support the VHA initiative.

With a wealth of expertise spanning more than a decade, she has honed her abilities across several sectors. She has overseen portfolios of strategic workforce solutions clients for national hospitals and health systems made up of 150 hospital facilities. She leads cross-functional teams of client-facing individuals to provide exceptional service delivery to clients and collaborates across service lines to provide optimized workforce solutions.

In prior roles, Emily led Managed Service Programs for major health systems with close to 75 facilities across several states. She has secured hundreds of millions of dollars in contract renewals and grown revenue portfolios by 40% and business portfolios by over 350%. Emily specializes in building strong relationships and fostering long-term partnerships, actively participating in fundamental people and process strategy improvement initiatives.

• B.A., International Business, Minor, Spanish, University of Central Florida
• Founding Board Member, One Hope United

Tim Huntzberry serves as Director of Talent Acquisition and leads Aptive’s recruitment and staffing efforts. He works with top executives to develop and execute strategies designed to attract top level performers in key markets throughout the federal sector.

With more than 15 years of experience in the recruitment and career development arena supporting companies including CACI and Masterson Technology, Tim is well versed as a competitive problem-solver and maximizer of strategies and tools designed to attract top level producers and draw new talent to the company. His strong relationships and rich experience in talent acquisition help Aptive continue to build a culture of inclusivity and personal growth, while attracting the talent of tomorrow to meet the evolving needs of our clients.

Tim is a Veteran of the U.S. Navy.

Amelia Poling serves as the Director of People Operations at Aptive. She is responsible for leading Aptive’s overall Human Resources (HR) strategy, leadership development, cultural development, compensation and benefits, HR operations, employee relations and security. She works with corporate leaders to build and manage a people-first HR organization that reflects and supports their dynamic needs.

Amelia contributes to efforts that have resulted in: more effective and streamlined companywide talent acquisition and onboarding practices that better utilize technology; expanded hiring of Veterans; an initiative to harmonize compensation and benefit programs across the Company to promote efficient internal movement of talent; and more thoughtful, comprehensive talent development programs. One of her major contributions has been opening an important dialogue between Aptive and its employees through a comprehensive survey that engages employees at all levels and serves as the foundation for future change and progress related to people operations.

Amelia has worked with organizations such as the Department of Defense (DOD), Small Business Administration (SBA) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). She has 12 years of experience building close, collaborative teams through transparent communication and individual empowerment. In prior roles, Amelia oversaw the delivery of risk communications instruction to identify and address concerns, communicate sensitive issues in a public forum and help identify the best formats to share information.

Amelia works to ensure that each department embodies a culture of respect, psychological safety, accountability and engagement across Aptive teams.

• U.S. Army Veteran
• Certified Human Resources Professional (SHRM-CP)
• Prosci Change Management Practitioner (CMP)

Jay Callow is a sustainability-focused strategic engagement and program management expert with more than a decade of experience managing multidisciplinary programs for agencies across the federal government, such as the Department of Energy, Department of Defense, Office of Personnel Management and Department of Veterans Affairs. He has successfully led cross-functional teams to deploy innovative solutions that serve clients in the areas of strategic and operational communications, organization development, data analysis, media relations, human capital analysis, change management, digital transformation, technical writing, research and industrial-organizational psychology. As a servant leader with a strategic vision and collaborative approach, Jay oversees a diverse project portfolio. He mentors team members, supports business development efforts, implements emerging technologies to enhance project effectiveness and spearheads initiatives to drive client satisfaction.

Jay’s professional experience includes briefing climate strategy implementation plans to Congress; positioning energy and finance executives as dynamic thought leaders; building brands and stakeholder relationships; developing impactful keynote speeches; engaging with media to generate positive press coverage; executing communication campaigns and web strategies; facilitating enterprise-wide transformation initiatives; delivering culture-shifting workforce engagement products and activities; and fostering partnerships between government, industry and academia.

• M.S., Sustainability Management, American University
• B.A., Communication Studies, University of North Carolina Wilmington
• Business Strategy Certificate, McKinsey Academy
• Project Management Professional, Project Management Institute
• Communication Management Professional, Global Communication Council
• Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Workplace Certificate, University of South Florida Muma College of Business

Jon Brooks is a federal leader and U.S. Army Veteran with more than 20 years of experience supporting multiple agencies. At Aptive, Jon oversees a portfolio of health care-related projects and is responsible for the overall management of service delivery, quality, risk and cost control. He monitors and reports on the team’s financial performance, manages resources, builds key stakeholder relationships, leads project teams and mentors a learning culture across the enterprise.

Jon’s work in the industry includes project and program management experience leading large-scale, enterprise-level, transformative initiatives, including health care transformation, supply chain improvement/optimization and IT transformation. He has led teams of 50+ subcontractors and managed a $1.4B prime contract award, including a portfolio of 14 contract/task orders with over $30M in total contract value. Jon also led activities within the full business development lifecycle and designed go-to-market strategies.

In past roles, Jon has supported the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community. He has built multi-year pipelines while leading pricing activities and coordinating strategic capture initiatives. Jon’s efforts led to exceeding profitability goals by over 75%, doubling service line headcount and revenue. He is a proven leader who has worked for top firms such as Rios Partners, IronArch Technology, and Deloitte and is highly skilled in developing meaningful relationships and strategic partnerships.

• Certified Project Management Professional (PMP)
• Certified Supply Chain Professional, ASCM
• Certified in Logistics, Transportation and Distribution, ASCM
• MBA, American Intercontinental University
• B.S., Business Administration, University of Arkansas

Taylor Wood is an experienced communication and change management strategist dedicated to building and leading proactive teams that go above and beyond for her clients. She oversees a portfolio of communication and marketing teams across several government agencies, including the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Office of Personnel Management. In this role, Taylor focuses on growing and expanding Human Experience’s event management capability and enhancing Aptive’s recruitment marketing services through implementation of technical solutions.

Throughout her career, she has focused on learning various leadership styles and techniques to help others achieve success. Taylor is passionate about training others to lead with empathy and foster positive working relationships, enabling teams to provide exceptional service to clients. In previous roles, Taylor has led numerous communication teams and enterprise-wide transformation initiatives for the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, Department of the Navy, VA, United States Patent and Trademark Office, Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Energy.

• Secret Security Clearance
• Certified Project Management Professional (PMP)
• Prosci Certified Change Management Practitioner (CCMP)
• M.A., Strategic Communications, American University
• B.A., Communication Studies, West Virginia University

Yessenia “Yessie” Castillo is an accomplished health professional, consulting executive and program leader. She leads the growth and operations for Aptive’s Civilian Health account.

Yessie leads Aptive’s efforts with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and other federal health care projects. She supports business development activities, including strategic planning and solutioning related to program evaluation, implementation, measurement, public health, mental health, suicide prevention and substance use disorder.

A results-driven self-starter with a proven background in the academic and federal health care sectors, Yessie has over 18 years of experience, particularly in public health, evaluation and data analytics. In previous roles, she supported several Veterans Health Administration (VHA) contracts, primarily focused on mental health and suicide prevention, including evaluating the national rollout of the Women’s Health Transition Training, President’s Roadmap to Empower Veterans and End a National Tragedy of Suicide (PREVENTS), VHA’s Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Clinical Decision Framework, Creating Options for Veterans’ Expedited Recovery (COVER) Commission for VHA and supported the VHA Primary Care Services Office for Post Deployment Health Services.

• Candidate, DrPH, Diverse Populations and Health Equity, Mercer University
• MPH, Epidemiology, Rutgers School of Public Health
• B.S., Cognitive Psychology, Duke University
• Prosci Certified Change Management Practitioner (CCMP)
• Certified Project Management Professional (PMP)
• HRSA Building Education and Student Training in Maternal and Child Health Fellowship