Joe McNally Rejoins SMA to Lead Program Planning & Controls

Personnel Announcement

We’re pleased to welcome Joe McNally back to SMA: The Program Lifecycle Company as Vice President of Program Planning & Controls (PP&C).

For many of our clients and associates, Joe McNally needs no introduction. He has been a long-time champion of SMA, and this move is the latest chapter in a story that started years ago.

Building a Career in Defense

After serving for 14 years in the army, Joe moved into weapons manufacturing at Raytheon, a natural next step. That’s how he became introduced to SMA, later joining us as an Associate in planning and scheduling. The move allowed him to gain experience quickly and propelled his career forward, into increasingly consequential roles across the defense industry.

But even after moving on to other roles, Joe kept advocating for SMA. His advocacy eventually became a career pivot.

“I referred somebody to the company. And Jacque emailed to say ‘We should talk sometime. We had a conversation for about an hour about what I was doing and what I was thinking about”

The conversation led to an invitation to rejoin the company.

Joe says accepting was an “easy decision”.

“I really enjoyed my time with SMA, and I recognized the opportunity to come back and help build what’s next. I’m excited to see where we can take it.”

A Center of Excellence for Scheduling, Program Management, and Financial Analysis

Because of his military and industry background, Joe understands challenges from the customer’s, client’s, and associate’s points of view. That holistic perspective makes him well-equipped to connect clients with the right experts who will help them improve their outcomes, rather than simply staff their roles.

As VP of PP&C, Joe will focus on strengthening how SMA provides support by connecting the associate, and by extension clients, to the larger network of experts that SMA has on-hand.

“The goal is to be a good teammate, be a good partner.”

In his words, he wants to “put associates in place that are ready to work day one when they go to a client,” backed by “a center of excellence around our disciplines of scheduling, program management, and financial analysis, so associates have the know-how for specific tool use, but also the confidence that if they hit a snag on a deployment, they can reach back to us for help.”

We’re excited to have Joe back at SMA, supporting our associates and clients with his expertise in program planning and controls.

Tawnia Luong is a Senior Marketing Specialist at SMA: The Program Lifecycle Company. She develops content and communications around government acquisition and program management, translating complex acquisition and industry topics for government and industry audiences. Her experience spans federal, commercial, and nonprofit sectors.