Full Name
Ms. Carlen Capenos
Job Title
Director, Small Business Programs
Company
Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA)
Speaker Bio
Carlen Capenos serves as the Director of the Office of Small Business Programs for the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA). She is responsible for ensuring small businesses are provided with maximum opportunities to participate at both the prime contract and subcontract levels. In fiscal year 2020, DISA awarded more than $1.74 billion in prime contracts to small businesses.

Before this, she was the Chief of the Acquisition Resources Branch for DISA’s Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization (DITCO). She led and managed two teams providing contracting services to various customers throughout DISA and the Department of Defense. She was a working Contracting Officer with an Unlimited Warrant and was the Contracting Officer for the $7.5B Systems Engineering, Technology and Innovation (SETI) multiple award contract vehicle.

Previously, she served as the Chief of the Secure Environment Contracting Branch at the Real Property Services Field Office for the Baltimore District Corps of Engineers. In five years, she and her branch awarded $5B in contracts. The highlight of this was the successful awards of the $1.5B Utah Data Center and the $650M High Performance Computing Center projects.

Additionally, Carlen spent six months on a detail as the Deputy Chief of the Construction Division for the Baltimore District. She has also been the Deputy for Small Business and spent a year in the Contracting Division on the Civil Works Team.

Carlen worked for ten years for the Air Force at RAF Lakenheath, England, Los Angeles Air Force Base, McGuire Air Force Base, NJ and Andersen Air Force Base in Guam. She is level III certified in Contracting. She served as the Mission Manager for the Emergency Response Team for Debris Removal and deployed as the Contract Specialist to support Hurricane Gustav Relief. She is a graduate of the North Atlantic Division’s Executive Leadership Program, graduated as a fellow in the Excellence in Government Leadership Development Program sponsored by the Partnership for Public Service and completed the USACE Pilot Program for Contracting Personnel and earned a Construction Management Certificate from Auburn University.
Carlen Capenos