Workforce Planning and Transformation

Kathryn (Kat) Dame leads Aptive’s employee engagement and experience, learning and development, corporate events and knowledge management. Kat has 20 years of experience directing major transformative initiatives that require leadership, program management, workforce development and strategic planning.

• Diversity and Inclusion Certificate, Cornell University
• MarCom Platinum Award Winner, “Print Media | Print Creativity”
• The Holmes Report, Gold SABRE Award Winner, “Marketing to Youth”
• B.A., Communications, Spanish, James Madison University

Jennifer Farrell is an innovative learning and development leader who strives to ensure employees have access to the best training and development resources to be successful in their jobs. At Aptive, she leads a team that creates and curates interactive and relevant standardized curricula for 500+ employees and implements learner-centered development initiatives throughout all levels of the organization, collaborating and consulting with business leaders to develop targeted training solutions.

Since her start with Aptive in 2022, Jennifer has established and successfully implemented a Learning Management System (LMS), five communities of practice, an executive coaching program, an internal training academy, administered the employee professional development stipend and managed a comprehensive budget for tools and resources. She also led the Veterans Training Program, comprised of transitioning military service members and Veterans who can pursue project management courses to receive certifications such as PMP, Agile and ITIL.

Throughout her career in government consulting, Jennifer ensured service delivery excellence for global learning and development contracts at the Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Labor and Department of Defense. She designed and developed a standardized curriculum in alignment with federal guidelines used by 200,000 servicemembers annually and trained hundreds of trainers on the subject matter and adult learning principles. Additionally, as a workshop facilitator, Jennifer coached 6,000 of America’s Veterans through their military to civilian career transition by delivering dynamic and educational planning workshops. She has developed quality assurance programs, prepared contract training infrastructure and materials, built standardized virtual training templates and delivered synchronous onboarding sessions.

• M.A., Political Communication
• B.A., English Language and Literature, University of Northern Iowa
• Customer Experience Professional Certification, Medallia
• Communicating for Impact, McKinsey & Company
• Certified Professional (SHRM-CP), SHRM
• Adult Learning Theory, Association for Talent Development

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

Abby Rosenberg helps clients address challenges, implement organizational improvements, communicate effectively and improve health care access and equity. With nearly 15 years of federal consulting experience, Abby leads technical assistance, health education, research and evaluation and program management projects, using data to drive decision-making and impact. She supports projects for the Department of Veterans Affairs, Defense Health Agency and Department of Health and Human Services.

• Prosci Certified Change Management Practitioner (CCMP)
• Certified Project Management Professional (PMP)
• MPS, Georgetown University
• B.A., Communications, University of Maryland

Taylor Grant is a creative leader and experienced designer who applies human-centered design to produce innovative and impactful visual communication materials. Through strategic oversight, she ensures the creative team develops engaging brands and campaigns that achieve client goals while informing, inspiring and encouraging action. She creates thoughtful brand identities, paid media, social, events, out-of-home advertising, websites and outside-the-box creative executions that connect with target audiences and leave a lasting impression.

Taylor has more than 12 years of experience in visual communications and her eye for design and prior work with federal agencies provides Taylor with the ability to lead, support and serve Aptive’s creative team.

• Telly Award Winner for Art Direction in Social Impact
• M.S., Communications Design, Pratt Institute
• B.A., Psychology, Dartmouth College

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