Meet Jennifer

Jennifer Wagner is a senior vice president and has been with Booz Allen for more than 25 years. She leads the firm’s Enterprise Risk and Security teams as well as the Office of the CEO. Her key responsibilities include:

• Orchestrating the Leadership Team agenda, including analysis of business implications for strategies brought to the Leadership Team
• Directing our personnel, industrial, and physical security programs spanning the business to ensure Booz Allen meets our clients’ needs as well as keeps our people safe
• Leading our firm’s Enterprise Risk Management program, including enterprise technical risk reviews, to ensure enterprise resiliency and advancement of our client work

Previously, Jennifer managed different functions within the federal contracting area including strategic subcontract teaming and negotiations for major firm proposals, contractor purchasing system review compliance, digital signature of subcontracting documents, and the senior executive advisor and independent consultant process.

Jennifer is an executive committee member on the Conference Board’s Strategic Risk Management Council and is an active member of the National Contracts Management Association. She is also a board member at The Women’s Center in Vienna, Virginia. 

Jennifer earned her B.A. in international studies from Allegheny College.  

What makes you excited to come to work in the morning? I love what I do; it’s always different and challenging and I have a delightful group of people that I work with. We don’t take ourselves too seriously. We can laugh.    

What’s a pressing need facing Booz Allen? To stay ahead of the rapid pace of evolving technology so we are prepared both for market opportunities and to address and mitigate the inherent risks.    

How do you stay on top during a market downturn? Continue to invest in the company, like we did with our innovation agenda. Investment in ourselves is essential. 

What are your three tips for managing and motivating your people?  Be authentic, get to know what motivates your employees, and stay connected.      

What advice would you give yourself as a young professional? To have more self-confidence.

When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up? A concert pianist.

What were you like in high school?  A swimmer and musician. Not nerdy, but I ran with an eclectic crowd.

What was your first job? I was a swim instructor. And my first professional job was for Intelsat, a global satellite network. I was too young to realize the incredible benefits.

What is one thing you always have with you? My phone.

What’s your most prized possession? An excellent black-and-white picture of my father from when he was 6 or 7 years old. He was one of eight children, and the family was of very modest means. The picture captures his family building a soap box derby car. He is very happy, and you can see clearly how connected he was to his brothers.

What’s an obsolete item you can’t get rid of? A computer mouse.

What are you nostalgic for?  I’m nostalgic for Pittsburghers. I’m a diehard Steeler fan. 

What’s the most influential book you’ve read? The Diary of Anne Frank. I read it in high school, and in German during college when was studying the language. The horrors of what she went through, but her courageousness, had a big impact on me.

What is your favorite vacation or travel spot? Paris. It’s so beautiful and my husband and I have great memories from there.

What’s an idea or invention you wish you’d thought of? Immunotherapy drugs. My mother died of a rare blood cancer, and today I see the advancements these drugs have had in treating cancer and wish they would have been around when she died 15 years ago.

What motivates you? Challenging work.

What do you look for in a mentor? Somebody I can be really honest with, and they can be honest with me. Someone who has seen me in action and can give good feedback.

What’s been your life’s biggest challenge? Parenting.

What’s been your biggest accomplishment so far? Parenting.

What can we do to be happier? I really think that if we put positive stuff into our heads, positive stuff will come out.

What’s the best business advice you’ve gotten in your career? Don’t be afraid to take chances.

What mentorship advice would you give someone who took on a new leadership role? Be humble, stay connected to your people, and listen, listen, listen.