As an all-volunteer team, DEF strives to be the best that it can for the virtuous insurgency. One of the many groups supporting us is our Board of Directors, who share their experiences, advice and hard-earned insights to make us better.
The Board meets regularly to review business and provide strategic mentoring. If you’re interested in learning more, check out other posts about this amazing group of leaders.
We are excited to announce that Joy Shanaberger is joining DEF’s Board of Directors! Read more about Joy below.
Joy Shanaberger is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Boone Group — a Washington, D.C. based technology-enabled services firm actively redefining defense procurement. Specializing in defense acquisition and technical intelligence, Joy is frequently sought after for her ability to turn strategic theory into successful, detailed tactical approaches that move the needle for Boone’s clients.
Joy founded Boone in 2016 with a singular goal: establish a machine for the rapid advancement and adoption of superior technologies within the national security, energy and infrastructure markets. As Founder and CEO, she is responsible for overseeing company growth (both in revenue and process) and providing senior tactical oversight to clients.
“During WWII, my hometown was up against a big hairy audacious goal at the request of the President. The mission? Out build the opposition. The great industrial revolution powered results: flipping the Detroit automotive industry into the defense production industry. This took guts, gumption, and great teamwork.
The same is possible today with deliberate action from government and industry. Which is why I’m excited to help DEF continue to scale, efficiently connecting and empowering these deliberate efforts. We’re moving fast, but velocity is what I’m after; speed in the right direction.”
Prior to founding Boone, Joy worked in a variety of roles between federal and local government and the private sector. Most recently, she served the Office of the Secretary of Defense as a Senior Strategist and was responsible for communications as it applied to the defense industrial base and international partnerships for weapons program development. Joy also served as the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology & Logistics’ (AT&L) primary speechwriter and was routinely sought after by communications teams for the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense for assistance on communications within the AT&L domain.
Joy received her M.B.A with a specialization in Cybersecurity from the George Washington School of Business in 2015 and is a graduate of Columbia College, Chicago, where she earned a B.A. in Marketing Communications and Political Science. She also studied program management at Defense Acquisition University.
In addition to leading growth and execution for Boone, Joy is a certified yoga instructor, mentor for transitioning servicemen and women and their families, and spends much of her free time training as a USA boxing amateur fighter for an annual charity boxing match benefiting the military and veteran communities.
The Defense Entrepreneurs Forum is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that inspires, connects and empowers people by convening events, forging partnerships and delivering tangible solutions. Our mission is to promote a culture of innovation in the U.S. national security community.
If you are a civil servant, military member, academic, entrepreneur, policymaker, or technologist (or just find the idea of helping solve tough problems enticing), we’d love to have you join the DEF Community!
