Ms. Mary Margaret Evans has pursued a diverse career marked by both private and public sector experience.  Ms. Evans is currently Vice President and Division Manager of the Strategic Partnerships division of Parallax Advanced Research.  Before coming to Parallax in 2019, she supported the US Navy’s Manpower, Personnel, Training & Education (MPT&E) transformation effort, leading the MPT&E effort to stand up a new Enterprise Support organization with responsibilities similar to those of Chief Operating Officers in the private sector. Prior to this, Ms. Evans was with LMI as Vice President, Department of Defense (DoD) Market Strategy from 2015 to 2017 and with the Office of the Secretary of Defense as the Principal Director of the Manufacturing and Industrial Base Policy Office from 2014 to 2015. In the industrial base policy role, Ms. Evans was responsible for all matters relating to the defense industrial base, including preservation of essential industries and technologies; defense industry mergers, acquisitions, and consolidation; assessments of industrial capabilities by sector; and other DoD industrial policy and budget matters.   

From 2006 to 2014, Ms. Evans held a variety of executive positions at Insitu, Inc., a small aerospace company that produces unmanned aerial systems (UAS).  During her tenure there, Insitu experienced phenomenal growth going from a small, start-up with $40M revenue to a mid-sized company with over $450M revenue and 800+ employees.  Ms. Evans positions changed over time to meet the company’s expanding needs and included roles such as Vice President for Corporate Operations, Government Relations and Strategy, and Acting CFO.  She also directed international UAS operations for Insitu as the VP for Sustainment Operations, successfully supporting 17 deployments and 160,000 combat flying hours per year in Iraq, Afghanistan, and on the high seas  

Before going to Insitu, Ms. Evans held a variety of positions in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Her public sector experience runs the gamut from introducing state-of-the-art business practices to the DoD to accelerating the transition of R&D technologies into U.S. military capabilities; directing the planning and execution of all DoD conventional arms control treaties and agreements; and successfully advancing U.S. negotiating positions with the former Soviet Union as Technical Advisor to the Defense and Space Talks in Geneva.  One of the youngest career women to become a member of the Senior Executive Service in 1994, Mary Margaret held a variety of high-level positions to include: 

• Assistant Deputy Under Secretary of Defense, Defense Technology Integration (2004 to 2006) 

• Executive Director, Joint Defense Capabilities Study (2003 to 2004) 

• Director, Change Management Center (2001-2003) 

• Deputy Director, Defense Reform Initiative (1998 – 2001)  

• Deputy Director, Arms Control Implementation and Compliance, (1989 – 1998) 

• Member of the Intelligence Community Reinvention Team, National Performance Review (a four month assignment to the Office of the Vice President in 1993) 

• Technical Advisor, Defense & Space Talks, Strategic Defense Initiative Organization (1987 - 1989)  

• Executive Officer, Directed Energy Office, Strategic Defense Initiative Organization (1986 – 1989) 

Mary Margaret holds an M.A. from George Washington University, Washington, D.C. in Security Policy Studies and a B.A. from the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, in History and German.