Ms. Jenness B. Simler chairs the National Security Practice at Invariant. In this role, Ms. Simler and her team explain business to government and government to business. She tackles some of the hardest problems facing the defense industry, to drive the kind of certainty that allows the defense ecosystem to work more effectively for all.

Previously, Ms. Simler was the Vice President of Contested Logistics within Boeing Global Services. Ms. Simler led a team of professionals readying The Boeing Company to seamlessly support government customers’ evolving concepts of operations in sustainment and logistics. She joined Boeing in 2017, serving first as the Vice President, Boeing Global Services and Defense Policy, within Government Operations.

Ms. Simler’s tenure at Boeing was preceded by many years in government service, in both the Legislative and Executive branches. From 2005 through 2017, Jenness functioned as a member of the professional staff of the Committee on Armed Services of the U.S. House of Representatives, including as the Staff Director and Deputy Staff Director.  Prior to her work in Congress, Jenness operated as the deputy to the Chairman, Combating Terrorism Technology Task Force within the Office of the Secretary of Defense.  Her early career also included several years as a program officer at the Office of Naval Research (ONR) and as a project engineer within an industry consortium managing composites manufacturing technology programs for the Navy. 

Jenness holds an MBA, from the University of Maryland-College Park, and a BS in Mathematics, from Millsaps College in Jackson, MS.