Nicole Geller
CEO and Founder
Nicole Geller is CEO and Founder of GCS, Inc., a premier provider of acquisition, program management, and contracts management services and solutions to the federal market. A seasoned executive with extensive experience building and leading teams of experts, Ms. Geller founded GCS in 1995. Today the firm employs more than 250 highly skilled professionals and serves a nationwide customer base of federal agencies and government contractors. GCS has been ranked #23 on the third annual listing of the 50 Fastest-Growing Women-Led Companies compiled by the Women Presidents’ Organization (WPO) and American Express, “Washington Technology’s” Fast 50 List of companies to watch, and has been included 3 years running on the “Inc. 5000” list . GCS’ annual revenues more than quadrupled between 2005 and 2009.
Prior to founding GCS, Ms. Geller was with Booz, Allen & Hamilton as a contracts manager. In addition to preparing the company to pass federal compliance audits, she played a critical role in numerous complex business process re-engineering (BPR) projects. This included assembling and leading several teams of prominent companies charged with privatizing the stock market of the former Soviet Union. Her career also includes several years at PRC, where, as a subcontracts administrator, she led BPR initiatives related to equipment financing that delivered significant cost savings to government customers.
Leveraging her proven ability to find, structure, and lead mission-focused teams of subject matter experts, Ms. Geller built GCS to deliver exceptional contract administration support that ensures effective management of programs, budgets, and large-scale acquisitions. Today, GCS’ customers include the Department of Homeland Security, Veterans Administration, General Services Administration, Department of Defense, the Marine Corps, the U.S Army, the U.S. Navy as well as several national intelligence agencies and large government contractors.
Ms. Geller is an appointed member of the George Mason University College of the Humanities and Social Sciences Advisory Board and the National Contracts Management Association (NCMA) Executive Advisory Council and in 2003 was designated as a distinguished NCMA Fellow by the organization’s National Board of Directors.
In addition, she is a member of the Committee of 200, Co-Chair of DC Regional Events, as well as an active member of the Young Presidents’ Organization and the Association for Corporate Growth. Ms. Geller is a frequent speaker at local and national events on issues related to the federal contracting industry and entrepreneurship. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from George Mason University.
Valerie Underhill, CPA
Sr. Vice President/Chief Financial Officer
With extensive experience in all aspects of financial management, operations, proposals and government contracting, Valerie Underhill is a Senior Vice President (Sr. VP) and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at GCS. She is responsible for collaborating closely with other GCS executive management members on strategic and operational analyses and planning , contracting compliance, cost management programs, employee engagement and managing the company’s finance, accounting, contracts, human resources, security, IT and administration functions. She is also currently managing the Industry Solutions division of the corporation.
Prior to joining GCS, Ms. Underhill served as CFO at True Tandem, a management consulting firm, where she directed all aspects of finance, accounting, contracts, human resources, proposal pricing, IT, risk management, and facilities management.
Previously, Ms. Underhill had an impressive 21-year financial management career at LABAT-ANDERSON Inc., an $83 million government contractor acquired by USIS in 2009. Her time there included eight years as corporate controller followed by 13 years as CFO and Treasurer. She was responsible for the company’s finance and accounting management as well as contracts, human resources, bids and proposals, facilities, security, and corporate IT. She also gained significant experience in government contracting compliance, strategic planning, mergers and acquisitions, metrics development, reporting and controls process optimization.
Ms. Underhill holds a Master of Business Administration degree from George Washington University and a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from University of Virginia. She also earned a Masters Certificate in Government Contracting from George Washington University.
She is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Virginia Society of Certified Public Accountants, Greater Washington Society of Certified Public Accountants, Institute of Management Accountants, and Association for Corporate Growth.
Tanaz Shahrzad
Vice President of Federal Solutions
Tanaz Shahrzad, Vice President of Federal Solutions at GCS, has a robust business and program management background with demonstrated domain expertise driving efficiencies across numerous work streams throughout the program lifecycle. A natural leader with more than a decade of management and strategy consulting experience, she brings with her a proven track record in client delivery, results and satisfaction.
In her current role she is responsible for managing the day-to-day Federal operations to maximize growth, service, quality, production efficiency and cost-effectiveness for GCS’s valued clients.
Prior to joining GCS, Ms. Shahrzad was the Director of Federal Programs at LMN Solutions, an IT consulting company, as well as a member of their executive leadership team. While there she managed relationships and programs across the Federal market to ensure sound financial practices, healthy profitability and service excellence.
Before that she served as the Senior Managing Consultant at IBM in the Strategy & Change Practice. In this role she performed program management duties across multiple accounts, supported business development goals and led a team of consultants to support the practice’s premier government clients.
Previously, Ms. Shahrzad was an Associate at Booz Allen Hamilton on the Modeling, Simulation, and Analysis Team.
Ms. Shahrzad holds a Master of Science degree in Information Technology for Business from Johns Hopkins University, Carey School of Business; as well as a Bachelor of Science degree in Commerce from the University of Virginia, McIntire School of Commerce. She also holds an Executive Certificate in Management & Leadership from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Business.
Jack Nichols
Director, Contracts
With over 30 years of government contracting, compliance, and program and production management, as Director of Contracts, Jack Nichols directs and oversees delivery of GCS’ contract support services to federal and government contracting clients. He offers in-depth subject matter expertise and direction internally and to clients on best practices in contract and subcontract management, cost control, customer relationship management, and acquisition program management.
His experience spans a broad range of contract and agreement types as well as the full lifecycle of contract and sub-contract management and related activities. Prior to joining GCS, Mr. Nichols served for almost 15 years in numerous positions of increasing responsibility at Sun Microsystems, Inc. and Sun Microsystems Federal, Inc. These included manager of government contracts for Global Sales & Services Legal, business development executive for Criminal Justice/Public Safety/Homeland Security, and manager of government contracts for Finance and Legal. During his tenure at Sun, Mr. Nichols led contract organizations, served numerous defense and federal agency clients, and worked extensively with numerous partners to achieve contract performance goals.
Prior to that, he served for six years as Director, Contract and Purchasing Organizations at Stanford Telecommunications, Inc. in Santa Clara, CA. While there, Mr. Nichols developed and executed federal contracting training programs as well as negotiated and managed the company’s largest solution-based contract..
He also held contracts, quality engineering, quality assurance and production engineering positions at Zeta Laboratories and NASA’s Ames Research Center, both in Sunnyvale, CA.
Mr. Nichols is an active member of the National Contract Management Association. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Public Administration/Political Science and Economics from California State University.
