McKean Defense Group, LLC announced today that Mr. Jeffery L. Cherry, founder and director of Conscious Venture Lab and managing partner of Conscious Venture Partners, LLC/Conscious Venture Fund has been elected to McKean's board of directors. Mr. Cherry is also the founder, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and managing partner of The Porter Group, LLC.

Mr. Cherry's career spans more than 34 years in the federal market, and in working with both start-up and mid-size companies focused on growth and cultural change. Early in his career, Mr. Cherry created a successful 8a business that delivered engineering and information technology services to defense and civilian government clients. His most recent work has included the analysis of how companies can achieve competitive advantage – and create societal impact – by tending to the needs of a broad array of stakeholders (customers, employees, communities and shareholders). As a consultant on two books on these principles of "Conscious Capitalism," he has become a leading voice on the paradigm shift in business towards societal purpose as a path to company performance. These ideas are imbedded into the investment thesis of Conscious Venture Partners, the venture capital firm he founded in 2012.

"As an employee-owned company, McKean is always seeking to expand our Board membership with candidates who deeply understand McKean's business and have mastered the unique stakeholder engagement required in this business model," said Joseph Carlini, Board Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of McKean Defense. "Jeff clearly has both. His recent work on economic diversity is also attractive to us as we continue to work toward a more inclusive environment, both inside and external to McKean." McKean was a small business in the Navy engineering services market until 2010, but has consistently encouraged small and minority business relationships, and has always invested a portion of our profits in local communities near McKean offices.

Mr. Cherry is a member of the Cornerstone Capital Global Advisory Council, a global sustainability investment advisory firm. He is the founding partner and member of the Board of Directors of the Laudato Si Challenge, a global initiative supported by the Vatican to create profitable, sustainable and innovative product and services for climate change and involuntary migration. He serves on the Board of Sponsors of the Loyola University Baltimore Sellinger School of Business and is a member of the Board of Advisors for the Maryland Momentum Fund, the venture capital fund for the University System of Maryland.

Mr. Cherry has a master's and bachelor's degree from the Catholic University of America.

Additional Information:

McKean Defense is an employee-owned Life Cycle Management, Engineering, Enterprise Transformation, and Program Management business headquartered in Philadelphia, PA. McKean Defense's engineers, developers, technical staff, programmers, analysts, and program managers identify and deploy new shipboard technologies, integrate information technology across shipboard platforms, and develop strategies to support the Warfighter. McKean Defense's employees create strategic solutions to help customers reach new levels of mission support and transform their organizations.