Scott Tucker is the President and CEO of Planet Technologies.

A veteran entrepreneur and technologist, Scott leads an experienced team of Microsoft focused specialists supporting clients in 43 states across the U.S. Under Scott’s leadership, Planet has been recognized as a six-time Microsoft Federal Partner of the Year, a seven-time Microsoft State and Local Government Partner of the Year and a five-time Microsoft National Windows Partner of the Year.

Prior to Planet Technologies, Scott was the CEO of eQuest Technologies—a leading provider of Microsoft-based services to hosters around the world – customers included Deutsch Telecom, Host Italia, and America Online. He served as the President and member of the board at Patriot Technologies, a cyber security services firm that manufactured intrusion detection products for Fortune 500 organizations.

Scott graduated from James Madison University with a degree in Business Management. Currently, Scott serves on the Board of Directors for the USO and is a member of the Executive Advisory Board at James Madison University. An avid supporter of the Veteran community, one of Scott’s highlights was serving as an escort for the Honor Flight Program assisting with guided tours of our nation’s capital to veterans of WWII, Korea and Vietnam Wars.

Other interests are family, Alabama football and music. Scott was a former scholarship athlete for the University of Alabama football team. Today, when he is not watching his son play Rugby, you may find him playing in a band with Mark Bryan of Hootie and the Blowfish.

Steve Winter

Exec Vice President, Business Development and Delivery

Steve Winter is the Vice President for State and Local Government and Education at Planet Technologies. Steve is responsible for driving our Microsoft corporate strategy for these business segments. Steve also serves as the business lead for Eastern US revenue. Under his leadership, Planet has been awarded Microsoft’s State and Local Government Partner of the Year and unprecedented five times. Steve speaks regularly on the transformation of Government and Education IT at Key Notes, the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference and various local conferences.

Under Steve’s direction, Planet developed a series of Solution Accelerators targeting Criminal Investigation, Inspection and Management functions of Governments and Education organizations. These applications and others like them are the cornerstone to Planet’s burgeoning SaaS business. The adoption of these services is changing the responsiveness of government to their constituents. Prior to Planet, Steve founded eQuest Technologies — a leading provider of Microsoft-based services to the world-wide hosting community. This organization was later acquired by Planet Technologies and was the launching point for Planet’s cloud business leveraging Steve’s vast cloud domain knowledge and leadership.

Steve attended the University of North Florida where he studied Jazz Performance. He is a respected youth basketball coach, leading teams both at the national travel and high school level. This experience is a key motivator for his passion in supporting the Education segment at Planet.

Andrew Kagan

Chief Technology Officer

Andrew Kagan is the Chief Technical Officer (CTO) at Planet Technologies. In this role, Andrew guides the company’s Strategic IT Planning and Enterprise Architecture efforts. He identifies and investigates important new technologies and brings them into the company’s strategic decision-making process. Andrew also consults Planet’s clients on emerging technologies as well as Information Technology trends and best practices.

Before joining Planet Technologies in 2007, Andrew was employed by NCI Information Systems, Inc., providing Program Management support at the United States Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration. Prior to that Andrew served as a Senior IT Manager and Senior IT Consultant at W3Net L.L.C., Lockheed Martin, ACS Government Solutions Group, Titan Corporation, and MCI Telecommunications. Andrew has extensive experience in the areas of Strategic IT Planning, Enterprise Architecture, IT Operations, and Project Management.

Andrew has received the equivalent of a Master of Science degree in Mathematics from Tashkent State University (former USSR). He holds a number of industry certifications: Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), Microsoft Certified System Engineer (MCSE), and Novell Certified Engineer (CNE); and he is a long time member of The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Computer Society, and Project Management Institute.

Outside of the office, Andrew enjoys playing chess; reading and learning about science, history, sociology and economics; and cooking. Visit Andrew’s blog

Clay Custead

Chief Financial Officer

Clay Custead is the Chief Financial Officer for Planet Technologies. As Chief Financial Officer for Planet, Clay oversees the company’s corporate infrastructure with a focus on finance and accounting, processes, procedures and operations.

Clay has 25 years of experience managing the accounting, treasury, and financial functions in Fortune 500 and privately-held government contracting environments as well as 7 years’ experience as a C.P.A. in public practice. He also holds certification in management accounting and is knowledgeable of ISO certified business environments.

His background provides him with subject matter expertise in Government contracting including risk management, DCAA regulations, FARS, CAS, and indirect rate structures. Working in publicly held environments subject to Sarbanes Oxley has afforded him expertise in the design, documentation, and implementation of business process flows and controls.

Clay is a graduate of the University of Maryland, College Park, and a life-long resident of the Washington D.C. metropolitan area. Outside of the office his interest include family, Harley’s, and reading history. He is presently ghost writing his father’s autobiography.

Dan Nelson

Vice President, Operations and Delivery East Region

Since 2003, Dan has had a successful career at Planet, first starting as an engineer and developer working on Microsoft technologies. He honed his specialized talents by developing solutions that were deployed to millions of users. Dan then advanced into leading international development teams, responsible for building and architecting custom solutions for Planet customers.

Dan’s focus turned to helping customers architect specialized solutions for the Microsoft SharePoint and Azure platforms, and currently oversees service delivery operations for Planet, specializing in SharePoint and Azure.

Bob Ballard

Vice President, Sales and Strategy East Region

Bob Ballard has 25 years of IT experience including 14 years at Microsoft, most recently as Chief IT Strategist for State and Local Government. He has led some of the most strategic victories for Microsoft in both the commercial and public sector, starting with enterprise wins versus IBM and Novell, leading early efforts in the unified communication business, and finally, as one of the first cloud-focused resources in the company covering Public Sector. Since joining Planet in 2014, Bob created and leads the Cloud Strategist team which helps drive customer business objectives through our IT projects. In his current role, Bob leads our Sales, Organizational Change Management and Cloud Strategist teams for the East Region.

Jennifer Dodd

Vice President, West Region

Jen Dodd is the Vice President for the West Region responsible for creating a culture of trust with clients, partners, and associates. The West team consists of seasoned, ambitious experts that are passionate about connecting humans with technology in all aspects ranging from organizational culture to technical implementation. Our consulting methodologies are intentional, creative, adaptive, and effective, and we enjoy guiding our clients on novel paths toward meaningful and successful outcomes. Our collective approach to solutioning is sustained by an infrastructure of support that fosters efficiency, connection, innovation, and pride in all aspects of our business. We desire to be long-term trusted partners with our clients, to operate with a service ethic, and to prioritize high quality project outcomes that make our clients deliriously happy.

Jen began her journey at Planet as a SharePoint consultant and shortly after joining Planet co-founded the Colorado Women in SharePoint group. With a background in technical training, Jen has leveraged her passion for teaching to effectively mentor others on their technical journey. Over the past 12 years, Jen has helped solidify Planet’s reputation in the West and lead our Microsoft service practice across the states of Colorado, California, Washington, Alaska, and more.

Jen received her Bachelor’s degree in Marketing from the University of Colorado, Boulder and her Master’s degree in Management of Information Systems from the University of Colorado, Denver. Outside of the office, Jen loves mountain biking, hiking, playing tennis, traveling, volunteering with youth, reading, cooking, and eating good food with great friends.

Jennifer Ann Mason

Vice President, Workforce Transformation and Learning

Jen leads new programs and innovation solutions for Planet’s corporate solution offerings. As a SharePoint Server MVP, Jen’s technology insight and ease of simplifying complex challenges have been a tremendous asset in developing offerings such as Planet’s Evolve 365 web based training service that is used by government clients across the United States. Jen plays a vital role in assessing and program development around Cyber Security and other managed service offerings. Prior to joining Planet, Jen was a senior consultant at Rackspace and spent 12 years consulting others on best practices for implementing business solutions using SharePoint technologies. Jen is in high demand for her knowledge and expertise and regular speaks across the country on best practices for user adoption and deployment of large scale Microsoft implementations.

Jen has worked with a range of companies, leading teams responsible for design, implementation and maintenance of SharePoint environments. Most recently she has been responsible for product development and finding creative ways to delight customers.

Sam Cool

Vice President

Sam has over three decades of experience in consulting and business development. As Vice President, he focuses on business development in the Eastern United States. Sam is very engaged in the Microsoft Partner Community and served on the US Board for the IAMCP (International Association of Microsoft Channel Partners), and currently is serving on the Board for the Washington DC IAMCP Chapter.

Sam has also served as Board Chair for the Washington County Chamber of Commerce, the Goodwill Board & Board Chair for the PenMar Development Corp (the old Fort Ritchie Army Post).

Since joining the company as a founding Vice President 1999, Sam has played an integral role in Planet Technologies’ growth among both staff and clientele.

Sam and his wife have four children. He and his family are active in their community and are determined to get involved and make a difference.

Billie Schwetz

Vice President, Federal Service Delivery

As Planet’s Vice President for Service Delivery, Billie is responsible for ensuring Planet delivers technical services and solutions that exceed the expectations of our U.S. Federal government clients, while also driving operational efficiency and innovation within the larger Planet organization. With more than twenty years of technical management expertise supporting public sector organizations with law enforcement and national security missions, Billie has extensive experience in Agile delivery and is a certified Scrum professional and coach. She ensures that Agile, DevOps, DevSecOps, and Cloud Technology principles and best practices are employed in the solutions Planet delivers on behalf of our customers.

Throughout her career, Billie has led the development of mission-critical applications and managed large-scale Microsoft/SharePoint environments. Her leadership and technical acumen have consistently driven projects to successful outcomes, and she takes great pride in empowering teams to self-organize, innovate, and continually deliver value. She prioritizes collaboration to ensure that customers receive valuable solutions to their everyday challenges.

Patrick Curran

Chief Technology Officer, Federal

Blending a rich tapestry of technical prowess with a dynamic presence on the soccer field, Patrick Curran is a distinguished figure in both the digital and athletic arenas. As the Chief Technology Officer for the Federal sector at Planet, Patrick’s strategic vision and innovative solutions have been pivotal in navigating the complexities of government IT services.

His professional journey, which began at Broadcast Sports, has been marked by a relentless pursuit of excellence, leading to his current role where he oversees the integration of SharePoint and Azure technologies to meet the unique needs of federal clients. His contributions have earned Planet Technologies multiple accolades as a Microsoft Partner of the Year.

Patrick’s academic roots trace back to Saint Louis University, where he cultivated a foundation that would support his future endeavors. His commitment to sharing knowledge is evident in his participation in industry events like the Microsoft Azure Gov Meetup and SharePointTV, where he imparts wisdom on DevSecOps and other advanced topics.

On the soccer field, Patrick’s leadership extends beyond technology. His experience as a player and coach has instilled in him a profound understanding of teamwork and strategy, which he seamlessly translates into his professional life. His coaching philosophy emphasizes the same principles of innovation and teamwork that he applies to technology solutions.

Patrick’s dual passion for technology and soccer embodies his approach to life: strategic, collaborative, and always aiming for excellence. His influence at Planet Technologies and in the broader IT community continues to inspire and drive progress.

Demetrias Rodgers

CTO, SLED and Commercial Operations

Demetrias Rodgers has over 22 years of IT experience including 16 years supporting State & Local government. Prior to joining Planet, Rodgers served as the Deputy Chief Operating Officer for the Virginia Information Technologies Agency (VITA). In his role at Planet, Demetrias ensures solutions & services are aligned to meet the needs of our commercial and state & local government customers by partnering with the executive leadership team on strategy creation, adoption, implementation, and execution specific to technology, services, and solutions. Demetrias also works with public sector leaders to identify services & solutions for achieving their strategic objectives for technology and compliance specific to their targeted outcomes.

As the Deputy COO for VITA, Rodgers created and implemented the first cloud strategy for the Commonwealth and authored legislation for cloud readiness and utilization signed into law by then-Governor Ralph Northam. The bill directed all state agencies to move locally hosted IT systems to cloud environments. Demetrias led the push for cloud security modernization and its initial zero trust framework for the cloud environments. Rodgers was also essential in the implementation of the end-to-end RPA service, the first state-level initiative in the nation. He joined VITA after working for a large managed service provider and defense contractor.

Laura Winingham

Controller

Laura Winingham is the Controller for Planet Technologies. As Controller, Laura manages the activities of the Finance Team, including accounts receivable, accounts payable, bank reconciliations, and fixed assets. She is responsible for overseeing the timely and accurate reconciliation of the financials monthly. She leads audit engagements for financial statements, GSA, and ISO 9001. In addition to her role as Controller, she sits as Vice-Chair of the ISO Management Review Board.

Since joining the Planet family in 2009, Laura has held various roles. In her early years at Planet, she assisted with the transition to the current accounting system, created the system documentation, and implemented policies and procedures. Laura moved into the role of Controller in 2015.

Laura graduated from Saint Michael’s College with a bachelor’s degree in accounting. She has 20 years of experience in accounting and business. In 2017, she was selected as a Top Accounting Executive by Recognize DC.

Laura lives in Maryland with her husband and children. In her spare time, she enjoys cheering her children on in their various activities, volunteering as the PTO Treasurer, singing, and running.

Christian Noury

Director, Human Resources

Christian Noury is the Director of Human Resources at Planet Technologies. She oversees all the HR functions within Planet, creating and promoting HR policies, programs, benefits and people management strategies. She is instrumental in integrating human resources initiatives into the strategic goals of the organization. She has demonstrated a dedication to Planet and an unwavering commitment to the staff since joining the company in 2010.

Christian is a professional with more than 25 years of human resource management experience. She lives in Northeast Connecticut with her four children and a house full of pets. When she is not being a passionate sports mom on numerous types of fields and venues, she loves to cook, garden and spend time with family.

Aubrey Wood

Vice President, Marketing

Aubrey Wood leads Marketing for Planet Technologies. In her role, she is responsible for the development and execution of strategic marketing initiatives designed to enable business growth and drive awareness of the Planet brand. With nearly 25 years of experience marketing IT and professional services to the public sector, she is considered a subject matter expert on position-to-win marketing strategies designed to enable sales and support growth objectives.

Before joining Planet, Aubrey spent seven years leading federal marketing at NIC Federal, now a wholly owned subsidiary of Tyler Technologies. Prior to that, she held marketing leadership roles at Monster Government Solutions, QinetiQ North America, and NCI Information Systems.

Aubrey graduated from Virginia Tech with a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing Management from the Pamplin College of Business.

Randall M. Heck

Randy is a General Partner of Goodnow Investment Group, a $1.2 Billion hedge fund group based in Darien, CT. He is the portfolio manager of Thresher Partners LP and Old Kings Capital LP.

Mr. Heck joined Goodnow Gray & Co. in 1992. From 1983 to 1992 Mr. Heck was employed by Gabelli & Co. In 1985 he became Managing Director of Gabelli Associates Fund, LP, an event-diven hedge fund. From 1988 to 1992 he served as Director of Gabelli Securities, Inc. Mr. Heck received his BA from Western Maryland College in 1982 and his MBA graduating with honors, from Columbia University School of Business in 1984. Randy has served on various local non-profit and youth sports boards over the last 30 years.

Jason Katz

Jason has over 40 years of Sales and Management experience, primarily in the software industry. A founding member of Microsoft’s Federal Division, he spent 31 years at the company holding various roles in Sales Management.

His longest roles included Sr Director of Sales Strategy for Federal and Public Sector as well as Sr National Director of Sales Strategy for Federal, SLG, Edu, Healthcare and Financial Services in the Regulated Industries division. He holds a Master’s in Education from the University of Virginia, is married with 2 children and lives in Maryland.

Curt Kolcun

Co-founder & Executive Chairman at Xapp AI, Senior Advisor TalentSky, Advisor Planet Technologies

Curt is an accomplished leader, senior executive, and company officer with over 35 years of success advancing technology solutions, leading significant sales organizations, & delivering sustainable long-term growth.

Curt is Co-founder & Executive Chairman of Xapp AI, a company specializing in conversational AI to create smart, industry focused virtual assistant solutions that can easily capture data and provide consistent, accurate responses in real-time. XAPP AI provides turnkey solutions, managed cloud services, and consulting services for implementation. Working with Fortune 100 organizations, XAPP AI has deployed over 1,200 conversational AI applications to create streamlined, self-service customer experience solutions.

He was previously vice president of U.S. Public Sector at Microsoft, with over 27 years of strong results. He was responsible for a multi-billion-dollar business leading a team of sales & technical professionals serving federal, state, and local governments, system integrators, educational institutions, and partners across the United States. His team was focused on delivering mission critical solutions and fostering the evolution of public sector customers to Microsoft 365 & Microsoft Azure clouds. Prior to joining Microsoft, Curt worked at NBI, Inc in various sales and technical roles. He started his professional and technical career in the U.S. Air Force.

Curt currently serves on the executive committee of the USO of Metropolitan Washington D.C. and Baltimore. He has received numerous awards in recognition of his industry and civic contributions, including: Federal Computer Week’s Fed 100 Award, Government Computer News’ Industry Executive of the Year, the National Guard Youth Foundation Youth Challenge Award and the AFFIRM Leadership Award for Industry.

Fran Soistman

Fran is the Founder, President and CEO of Healthcare Management & Transformation Advisory Services LLC. He currently serves on multiple Corporate and Scientific Advisory Boards including: Change Healthcare, Innovaccer Inc, Saeidan Inc, Baby Scripts, Sinolation Group, Virtual Health Partners, Inc. and Alveo Technologies Inc. Mr. Soistman also serves as a Senior Executive Advisor for McKinsey and Company, a Global Consulting Firm and provides advisory services to more than a dozen Private Equity Firms and their clients on an ad hoc basis. In addition to his advisory activities, Fran has over twenty-five years of governance experience serving on Not-for-Profit and For-Profit Institutions and Businesses Boards of Directors including serving as Chairman on multiple Boards.

Prior to the founding of his Advisory Company in early 2020, Fran was Executive Vice President at CVS Health and President of Aetna’s Government Services Portfolio of Businesses. He was one of three members of Aetna’s Executive Leadership Team retained by CVS Health following their acquisition of Aetna in 2018.

Aetna’s Government Services businesses consisted of Medicare Advantage, Prescription Drug Program, Medicare Supplemental, Managed Medicaid and Medicaid Administrative Services, Federal Employees Health Benefit Program and until its exit, Individual and Public Exchange. During his seven-year span leading and transforming the portfolio of businesses, Aetna’s Government Services Businesses grew from less than 20% of Aetna’s total revenues in 2013 to more than 65% by the end of 2019 ($17.0B to more than $55.0B in organic revenue growth) and achieved industry leading Medicare Stars performance among public companies for 2018 and 2020.

Mr. Soistman represented Aetna on the Healthcare Leadership Council in Washington DC where he served on the Executive Committee and on the Health Care Transformation Task Force where he served as the Chair of the Board through the time of his retirement.
Fran has nearly 4 decades of diverse experience in healthcare, managed care, having co-founded Jessamine Healthcare and served as its Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, served in executive leadership capacities at Coventry Healthcare, Health America and Health Assurance, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Maryland aka, CareFirst and subsidiaries: Columbia Medical Plan and Life Card International.

Throughout his career, Fran has pioneered new innovations ranging from health insurance products to funding arrangements including alternative financing arrangements for the large group commercial market and the first retiree pre-funded health insurance program in 1988. He has led business turn- arounds, start-up companies, accelerated growth businesses and been tasked to take on the leadership of the enterprise’s greatest strategic challenges at that particular time.

Fran has dedicated more than twenty-five years to higher education through his affiliation to multiple Universities Boards. They include: 10-year term on the Penn State University Presidential Leadership Board of Directors (no longer active) and Towson University Board of Visitors (20+ years including past Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Board and current Co-Chair or the Capital Campaign), and the University System of Maryland Foundation Board. He also serves on the Boards of the Finca Vigia Foundation (formerly known as the Hemingway Preservation Foundation) and Planet Technologies.

Fran received his Bachelor’s Degree from Towson University and is a graduate of the Stanford University Executive Program. In 2004, Fran was a recipient of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in the Healthcare Technology/Services category. In 2012 Mr. Soistman was the Recipient of the Towson University Distinguished Alumni Award and in 2015 he received an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters. He has been a guest lecturer at Penn State’s Smeal College of Business, Georgetown University McDonough School of Business and conducted various speaking engagements at Towson University. Mr. Soistman has served as keynote speaker and featured speaker at various healthcare industry conferences for multiple decades.

Finally, Fran is committed to philanthropy and has established several endowments at Towson University, Penn State University and Penn State Hershey Medical Center to support economically challenged students seeking degrees in accounting, finance, nursing, public health and other health care related fields. His latest gift to Towson University has been characterized as transformative and is the largest in the institution’s history from an alumnus.

Fran’s greatest joy comes from creating memories with his son and two daughters.

Renee Wynn

Renee Wynn is an accomplished leader in information technology and cybersecurity with extensive experience guiding government agencies through complex transformations. Organizations are reaching out to Wynn to share her expertise in space and cybersecurity, leadership, women in STEM A+D, global IT management, and supply chain risk. She has presented to audiences at CyberSat, BoxWorks, NASA Space Apps Challenge, Microsoft Meetup for Government, and SolarStorm.

With 30 years of Federal service, Wynn was one of the longest-serving CIOs at NASA. She joined the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in July 2015 as Deputy CIO and was promoted to CIO two months later. Wynn managed a $2 billion Information Technology portfolio serving 65,000 employees and contractors and established NASA’s first-ever IT strategic plan that aligned its space and aeronautic program goals. She co-led NASA’s first transformation to a more centralized services model that improved overall quality, saved $50 million per year in software costs, and established a cybersecurity program that reduced risks across 150 metrics.

As CIO, Wynn served on NASA-level governing boards that provided oversight in planning and evaluating missions, including satellite launches, Mars 2020, James Webb Space Telescope, and Moon-to-Mars exploration programs. She testified before Congress on IT matters and supply risk-chain management and was praised for taking the right course of action to improve NASA’s cybersecurity posture and IT management.

Wynn was recognized by Federal Computer Week (FCW) with their President’s Award in 2020 and their Fed 100 Award in 2019. She was named to WashingtonExec’s “2019 Top 25 Execs to Watch” list. FedScoop lauded her leadership in 2018 for implementing new technologies, strategies, and IT programs to lower the cost of government while making it more innovative, agile, and effective.

Before joining NASA, she spent 25 years with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in several roles, including CIO, Deputy CIO, the Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response, and the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. Wynn wrote environmental cleanup and land reuse policies, plus she worked on all five Base Closure and Realignment Act efforts. She also led the EPA in negotiating the cleanup principles associated with un-exploded ordinances.

Wynn currently serves on corporate advisory boards for Interos Solutions, Inc. and Palo Alto Networks, Inc. She is a past board president for the American Council for Technology and Industry Advisory Council (ACT-IAC), a non-profit public-private partnership dedicated to improving government.

A strong advocate for social responsibility, Wynn serves on the Board of The Women’s Center, a Virginia and Washington, DC-based non-profit organization dedicated to improving the community’s mental health and well-being through counseling, education, support, and advocacy.

Wynn earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from DePauw University.