Building a Well-Rounded Career at NetCentrics

“I have really enjoyed all the different roles I have been in over the past 16 years at NetCentrics,” says Melissa Bristol. Melissa is Program Manager for the company’s contract with the Federal Trade Commission at the Headquarter building on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. Her work has been recognized by peers and customers alike.

What makes Melissa somewhat unusual is her longevity with the company. Loyalty between employee and employer is increasingly uncommon, even in the government contracting space.

“Each position has helped me grow into the leader I am today. In each position I was able to work with and learn from the technical experts on my programs. That helped me stay relevant in the technical side as my position became more and more ‘managerial’.” 

How she got here and why she stayed illustrates the marketplace strength of NetCentrics’ brand and her willingness to keep learning.

Coming to NetCentrics

“I started with NetCentrics in February 2005.  I was working on a contract that supported the Army G3/5/7 [Army Reserves] at the Pentagon. A former colleague referred me to work on the IMCEN contract [Department of the Army Information Management Support Center],” she explains. “NetCentrics had a vacant position and I was able to come on as an IT Requirements Analyst.  I worked in that role, getting promoted to Team Lead and then Assistant Program Manager.”

NetCentrics won the United States Army Information Technology Agency (USAITA) Enterprise Security Services – Pentagon (ESSP) contract in September 2009. Melissa moved to that contract as the Program Manager. There, she helped NetCentrics provide Information Assurance/Cybersecurity  at the Pentagon. 

In 2011 NetCentrics was one of four companies awarded the United States Coast Guard [USCG]’s IA IDIQ Contract. Melissa moved over to this contract as a Senior Program Manager.  In October of that year NetCentrics won the first task order to provide A&A [Assessment and Authorization] support to the USCG. In November NetCentrics won two more task orders providing overall IA support and ran the USCG Computer Incident Response Team (CIRT).

Since NetCentrics was rapidly growing, in 2014 Melissa became one of two Director of Programs. Her portfolio included USCG and Army programs.  

Journey to the Federal Trade Commission

She continues. “In 2018, we were one of four companies awarded the FTC IT BPA [Information Technology Blanket Purchase Agreement] contract. The FTC BPA was moved under my portfolio in addition to the USCG and Army programs.  We won the first fully-competed task order to provide Help Desk, Mobile Ops and Engineering, Desktop DevOps and Engineering, Graphic Design, and Media and Event support for the FTC.” During the transition Melissa moved back to a full-time, on-site position. She hadn’t been on-site since managing the ESSP contract in 2009-2011. “I find the customer and the work to be interesting and have been enjoying this position since April 2019,” she says. 

“I have the pleasure of working with a fantastic team.  My deputy PM is Cihan Allison, Help Desk Operations Manager is Andy Ibarra, End Point Device Manager is Karthik Krothapalli (JRH employee) and they oversee our very talented team members.”

“The part of my job that I love the most is building a team that will provide elite support and be recognized as the go-to contractor for the customers,” she adds.

Softball and Books Fill Free Time

What does Melissa enjoy during her free time? Quality time with family and the pleasure of books.

“I have the honor of being the mom to two daughters.  I spend most of my evenings and weekends on the softball field watching both my children play year-round travel softball.  Their drive and determination to be great students and athletes make me so proud of them,” she says.  

Melissa also says, “I love to read and will spend my free time enjoying a good book.” She says, “I recently read The Four Winds, by Kristin Hannah which is a historical fiction book about a family during the Great Depression.”

Melissa is inspired by an eclectic mix of books, from career focused subjects to biographies, humor, murder mystery, sci-fi, and historical fiction. All of these keep her mind active and ready for the next challenge at work. And what will that be? As technologies evolve, we’ll see!

Connect with Melissa here on LinkedIn.