Feature Stories

Deborah Sartin
Director of Project Management Office

Deborah Sartin, Director of the Project Management Office, for Ripple Effect Communications, Inc. brings 15+ Years’ professional experience developing PMOs from inception to service delivery.  She is an accomplished leader managing enterprise technical and business projects for federal, corporate, education and non-profit organizations.  

Created and managed an Office of Business Excellence and several PMO Centers of Excellence to drive organizational maturity in strategic planning, process improvement, quality management, contract management, and project portfolio management  

Ms. Sartin received her M.S. in Management Information Systems from The George Washington University, Washington, D.C.  

Ms. Sartin holds CMMI Associate, ISO Certified Auditor, PMP, CSM, SAFe SM, Prosci, ITIL, CIPM, and Balance Scorecard certifications.

Early Work History  

1990s  

Ms. Sartin worked as a federal contractor to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) managing technical support and training.  She also managed technical support and training for Mead Packaging, a global manufacturing company.  In addition, she worked as a Project Manager for an international telecommunication firm, Global One where she launched call centers in the Americas. She has a breadth of experience in all aspects of technology services, shifting organizations from traditional service models to innovative transformational models.  

Recent Work History  

2000-2012  

Ms. Sartin managed projects in the banking industry and worked as a business process improvement analyst for a telecommunications firm.  In these roles she developed metrics to improve IT staff performance as well as processes and procedures for organizational efficiencies. She served as a Technology Support Manager for T-Mobile’s global call center. She delivered the best customer experience via outstanding customer relationship management.  She also worked as an account executive and technical recruiter for Robert Half Technology. Ms. Sartin is frequently requested as a guest speaker and trainer on project management and organizational change management topics.  

Current Work History  

In 2012, Ms. Sartin joined the American Speech-Language Hearing Association (ASHA) as their inaugural Project Management Office (PMO) Director. From the success of this role, she was promoted to the role of Director, Office of Business Excellence to lead strategic planning, process improvement and project portfolio management. After her tenure at ASHA, Ms. Sartin developed and expanded PMOs at educational institutions including West Virginia University, the University of Pennsylvania, Success Academy Charter Schools in NYC, and the Univ. of TN Health Science Center.  She also provided Project Management consultation services with a global consulting firm where she helped clients establish Agile project management best practices.  

Paul Edwards
Chief Financial Officer

Paul brings 25 years of government contracting knowledge and over 10 years of senior management team experience to Ripple Effect.  He has worked in a variety of industries including IT services, secure networks, engineering, and shipbuilding.  Businesses he has worked with have ranged in size from $20M to $1B in annual revenue.

Most recently, Paul was CFO of Converged Security Services, a private equity backed business that was built through the acquisition of two government contractors specializing in IT services and security & access control. As the CFO, Paul was part of the team that grew the business by 40% over a two-year period.  He led the business in all aspects of finance, accounting, treasury, reporting and audit, as well as several company initiatives post-acquisition to streamline and improve business processes and compliance.

Prior to that, Paul worked as CFO for a small Rockville-based defense contractor called Ultra Electronics 3eTI, a subsidiary of a UK-based publicly traded company.  During his tenure there, Paul was responsible for all finance, HR, and IT functions.

Paul spent 19 years with General Dynamics in a variety of positions including CFO of their UK subsidiary, as well as Director of FP&A at GD’s Corporate Headquarters.  He started his finance career with 14 years at GD’s shipyard in Bath, Maine.

Paul graduated from Clarkson University with a Bachelor of Science in Engineering & Management.  He also has an MBA with honors from Clarkson University. He lives in Broadlands, VA with his wife, Kim.  He has three daughters in college at VCU, JMU and South Carolina.