Meet the team

The CT Strategies team understands the interconnected security and economic needs of the public and private sector as passengers, cargo, and conveyances move throughout the world. They help theirclients succeed based on the experience of their leadership, who led recent changes in data-driven trade management and enforcement in the U.S.

Allen Gina - President & Co-Founder

Allen Gina is the President of CT Strategies, a Customs and Border Management consulting firm which provides strategic services to clients seeking current and innovative insight into border management and supply chain challenges in the U.S. and around the world.

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Andrew Farrelly - CEO & Co-Founder

Andrew Farrelly is the CEO of CT Strategies, which provides strategic services to clients seeking current and innovative insight into border management and supply chain challenges in the U.S. and around the world. 

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Ricaurte Arrocha

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William Ferrara

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Charles Bartoldus

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Shawn Beddows

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Zachary Hartnett

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Robert Watt

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Erin Sofianek

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Ronald May

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Karen Kenney

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Bradd Skinner

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Ama Essiomley

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Claire Dodman

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Conor Crep

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David Burnell

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Shine Aung

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Silvia Santos

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Bernd Schlenther

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Thoang Tran

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Jeffrey Baldwin

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Kathleen Conway

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David Austin

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Eugenio Garza, Jr.

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Erik Moncayo

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David Murphy

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Salvador Nieto

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Christopher Kennally

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Noel Sanchez

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Leigh Winchell

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Joe Uribe

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Gary Lupinacci

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Matt Roseingrave

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Gary Calhoun

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K. Hallie Larsen

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Michael Ford

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Jade Kelly

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John David (JD) Jackson

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Gordon Wright

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Contact

  • 1800 M Street NW Ste 540
    Washington, D.C. 20036
  • +1 (202) 629-5199
  • info@ct-strategies.com

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    © 2023 CT Strategies

    Allen Gina is the President of CT Strategies, a Customs and Border Management consulting firm which provides strategic services to clients seeking current and innovative insight into border management and supply chain challenges in the U.S. and around the world.

    Prior to establishing CT Strategies, Mr. Gina served as Assistant Commissioner for International Trade at U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). As Assistant Commissioner, Mr. Gina oversaw a workforce of over 1,000 employees,a budget of over $300 million, and led the most extensive trade transformation initiative in CBP’s history.

    Full Biography

    Andrew Farrelly is the CEO of CT Strategies, which provides strategic services to clients seeking current and innovative insight into border management and supply chain challenges in the U.S. and around the world. While in government, Andrew devoted himself to the strengthening of United States security interests through an accomplished career with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). 

    During his time with CBP, he significantly developed the operational standards and efficiency as a former Director of Targeting Programs for CBP’s National Targeting Center, as well as in his most recent role as the Chief of Staff for the Deputy Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

     

    Full Biography

    Mr. Arrocha has served a distinguished career, in both the public and private sectors, with particular expertise in border security, customs and immigration operations, risk management, and technologies applied to border security. Most recently, Mr. Arrocha served as the Advisor to the Director General of the Panama National Customs Authority, where he had previously served as Deputy Director General. In these roles, he collaborated with international partners in Latin America, the United States, and other locations to implement technological solutions for advanced information collection to support proper management of high-risk cargo and passengers.

    Full Biography

    William Ferrara is a highly accomplished federal law enforcement executive with extensive leadership, management, and operational experience. Throughout his 33-year career at U.S. Customs & Border Protection (CBP), and its legacy agency, the United States Customs Service, Mr. Ferrara was a transformational leader who consistently delivered solutions to complex national and international challenges.

    Full Biography

    Charles Bartoldus is an operations and policy executive with over 34 years of law enforcement, national security, and border protection experience developing, implementing, and directing tactical and strategic programs within the White House National Security Staff (NSS), Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

    Full Biography

    Shawn Beddows is CT Strategies’ Vice President of Global Services. Mr. Beddows has over 21 years of experience serving U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the legacy Customs Service.

    Most recently, while in government, Mr. Beddows served as CBP’s Deputy Attaché in Brussels, Belgium. Mr. Beddows is also an Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) Technical and Operational Adviser who is recognized by the World Customs Organization (WCO) with expertise in air cargo and passenger operations, maritime cargo operations, as well as aviation security initiatives. 

    Full Biography

    Zach Hartnett is responsible for developing and executing company business strategy, providing strategic advice to company leadership, and designing and implementing business plans to maximize team performance to achieve company goals. Mr. Hartnett also serves as a portfolio manager for non-intrusive inspection projects, as well as an advisor on federal acquisition, budget, and engagement strategy across the customer portfolio.

    Full Biography

    Robert Watt has over 33 years of Federal Service with U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the U.S. Customs Service. Prior to his retirement in December of 2019, Mr. Watt was serving as the Director for the Non-Intrusive Inspection Division (NIID). In this role, Mr. Watt oversaw a $1 billion portfolio of NII technology consisting of radiation detection, x-ray, and imaging equipment that provided critical interdiction and detection capabilities at ports of entry throughout the United States.

    Full Biography

    Prior to joining CT Strategies, Ms. Sofianek worked as a Development Intern for the Middle East Children’s Institute in Amman, Jordan and as a Market researcher for Gonzaga University. Ms. Sofianek holds Bachelor of Arts degrees in International Relations and Economics from Gonzaga University. She has a particular interest in economic development strategies and international capacity building.

    Full Biography

    Ronald May is a supply chain security and customs operations expert with over 31 years of experience serving U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the legacy U.S. Customs Service. Most recently, he served at the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa as the U.S. CBP Attaché to Canada. As CBP’s senior representative to Canada, Mr. May was responsible for coordinating all U.S./Canada border management policies and strategies with the U.S. Ambassador and Canadian Government entities.

    Full Biography

    Karen Kenny is a Senior Global Supply Chain Advisor at CT Strategies, which provides strategic services to clients seeking current and innovative insight into border management and supply chain challenges in the U.S. and around the world.

    Full Biography

    Mr. Bradd Skinner is a Homeland Security professional who is an accomplished leader, with 35 years of domestic and international experience. With over 20 years of experience with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Mr. Skinner’s areas of expertise include border security systems, trade operations and negotiations, and international investigations. Mr. Skinner is fluent in Spanish and English.

    Full Biography

    She has a background in brand strategy development, particularly with small to medium sized businesses. Specializing in optimizing growth on digital platforms, Ms. Essiomley most enjoys the creative processes involved in connecting brand purpose to relevant audience needs.

    Prior to joining CT Strategies, Ms. Essiomley worked as a UX Assistant at the University of Minnesota UX Laboratory. Ms. Essiomley graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2017 with a degree in Advertising and Digital Media Studies. 

    Full Biography

    Claire Dodman, Director of Business Development, is responsible for identification and pursuit of strategic opportunities and partnerships. Ms. Dodman guides objectives for business expansion, develops proposals and project plans, and conducts outreach.

     

    Full Biography

    Conor Crep is a Global Services Associate at CT Strategies. As a Global Services Analyst, Mr. Crep supports CT Strategies’ client portfolio, manages client relationships, and provides research and analysis to inform client-facing deliverables.

    Full Biography

    David Burnell is an accomplished professional and entrepreneur. He has served at the executive level for small and large multi-billion-dollar supply chain companies and successfully founded and sold two companies.

    Mr. Burnell is the President & CEO of eSun Global Consultants LLC. Founded in 2013, the firm offers expertise in mergers, acquisitions, and all aspects of supply chain operations. Heis also a subject matter expert in counter terrorism, and regulatory compliance related to Homeland Security, and Transportation Cargo Security.

    Full Biography

    Shine Aung is a Business Development Analyst at CT Strategies, a firm which provides strategic consulting services to clients seeking insight and innovative approaches to current border management and supply chain challenges in the U.S. and around the world.

    Shine Aung supports CT Strategies by performing market research and analysis, prospect outreach, and relationship management. Mr. Aung holds a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University. Duringhis undergraduate studies, Mr. Aung conducted research on Asia’s economic development. He also has experience working as Consultant in the Philippines.

    Ms. Santos has 20 years of service experience in the Mexican Customs and Foreign Trade. Her experience is not only as an official of different Mexican customs ports of entry, but also during her time in the private sector, she provided her services as a training leader for an influential multinational corporation, managing one of the customs projects of high relevance for the Mexican government within the Mexican Customs. She created and imparted training programs to the personnel of said project.

    Full Biography

    Bernd Schlenther is an independent expert who assists governments in improving domestic resource mobilization (DRM) and in addressing illicit financial flows (IFFs). Mr. Schlenther’s expertise lies from his more than 20 years of operational and management experience at the South African Revenue Service (SARS), where he served in diverse fields, including taxation, customs, enforcement and compliance, anti-money laundering, risk management, and intelligence.

     

    Full Biography

    Thoang Tran recently served as the Deputy Chief of Party/Senior Customs Expert at the USAID Trade Facilitation Program (TFP). Here, he was responsible for the General Department of Vietnam Customs (GDVC) and line ministries, including the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development, Health, and the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

    Preceding his career with ASEAN ARISE, Mr. Tran served as a Senior Officer at Vietnam’s Ministry of Justice (MoJ) Administrative Procedure Control Agency (APCA), where he was responsible for suggesting changes to customs administrative procedures and processes at the provincial level.

    Full Biography

    Jeffrey Baldwin is a customs and port operations expert with over 39 years of federal service with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and its predecessor agencies.

    Throughout his career, he has been entrusted with the complete management of law enforcement operations, policy, and infrastructure at critical multimodal port locations across the United States as well as at the national level.

    Full Biography

    Kathleen Conway is an experienced border management professional with over thirty-six years of service in law enforcement, border security, and trade policy and operations. She began her federal career as a U.S. Customs Inspector and has since implemented and directed tactical and strategic programs within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

    Ms. Conway’s areas of expertise include border security and trade facilitation, customs and immigration operations, risk management, and technologies applied to border management.

    Full Biography

    David Austin is a Customs Operations, Information Technology, and Training expert with 33 years of government experience and 14 years as a consultant/trainer in the private sector. 

    For 23 years he served at Customs/CBP Headquarters as an IT manager involved in system design, development, documentation, testing, training and implementation. During this time, he helped modernize and enhance the automation behind numerous CBP operations and trade processing systems.

     

    Full Biography

    Eugenio Garza Jr. is a former U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) official with over 42 years of federal service. Most recently, he served as Director of Field Operations at the Laredo (Texas) Field Office for CBP. While serving as Director of Field Operations, Mr. Garza provided oversight and guidance to the operation of eight ports of entry across Texas. He also created partnerships with the private sector and other federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to include the Government of Mexico.

     

    Full Biography

    Erik Moncayo has over 25 years of Federal Government experience and most recently served as the Deputy Assistant Commissioner for CBP’s Office of International Affairs (INA), where he provided executive leadership in planning short and long-range strategies, activities, and projects with national and international impact.

     

    Full Biography

    Dave Murphy served CBP for 30 years and held a number of critical leadership positions, including as Director, Field Operations, Chicago Field Office. In this capacity, he was responsible for all Office of Field Operations activities in a 12 state Midwest region.

    He supervised a workforce of approximately 1,100 employees, 40 offices, 23 Port Director and 4 Area Port Directors and his managerial oversight included all international arrivals in airport and seaport environments, including airports at Chicago O’Hare, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Cleveland, Cincinnati and St. Louis, as well as three largest express consignment operations in the United States (DHL, UPS and FedEx). 

    Full Biography

    Salvador Nieto is a retired Chief Patrol Agent. He most recently served as the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Director of the Border Enforcement Coordination Cell at the El Paso Intelligence Center (EPIC). In this capacity, he directed a multi-jurisdictional information coordination cell, which served as the primary location for DHS-focused southwest border interdiction, investigative, and intelligence coordination.

    Full Biography

    Christopher Kennally has more than 44 years of Government experience. After retiring from the U.S. Army in 1998, he entered on duty with the U.S. Customs Service, later reorganized as U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), at the Port of Anchorage, Alaska.

    He has held a variety of key management positions within CBP, such as the Area Port Director-Savannah, Georgia, Acting Director of Field Operations (DFO), Seattle Field Office, Assistant DFO-Trade, Seattle Field Office, and Deputy Executive Director, Cargo and Conveyance Security (CCS).

    Full Biography

    Noel Sanchez is a retired U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) official. Most recently, he was appointed as the Assistant Director for Border Security at the Laredo, Texas Field Office in December 2010. As Assistant Director for Border Security, he was responsible for all activities related to the admissibility of people, addressing and preventing threats of terrorism, and the deterrence of smuggling of contraband and narcotics through the eight ports of entry in the Laredo Field Office.

     

    Full Biography

    Mr. Winchell is a Customs and investigations expert with more than 34 years of related law enforcement experience. Mr. Winchell has held executive positions in the World Customs Organization, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and its predecessor agency, the U.S. Customs Service.

    Full Biography

    Joe Uribe is a recently retired Customs operations expert with 38 years of service at three different federal agencies. His decades of service and leadership in the areas of trade facilitation, agriculture inspections, and border security add extensive and unique aspects of experience to the CT Strategies team.

    Full Biography

    Gary Lupinacci is an expert in the area of cargo security and an accomplished professional with extensive experience, both in the public and private sector.

    Mr. Lupinacci is the former Vice President of Security and Government Compliance at Worldwide Flight Services. In this capacity, he led the regional security staff team, assuming responsibility for all security of 95 cities and over 10,000 employees. In addition, he developed and implemented strategic security culture change programs.

    Full Biography

    Matt Roseingrave is a Senior Project Manager Advisor at CT Strategies, which provides strategic consulting services to clients seeking insight and innovative approaches to current border management and supply chain challenges in the U.S. and around the world.

    Full Biography

    Gary Calhoun is a highly accomplished federal law enforcement professional with extensive leadership, management, and operational experience. Throughout his 30 year career at U.S. Customs & Border Protection (CBP) and while enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps, Mr. Calhoun was a transformational leader who consistently delivered solutions to complex national and international challenges.

    Full Biography

    K. Hallie Larsen is an Analyst on the Global Services Team at CT Strategies. As an Analyst, Ms. Larsen supports CT Strategies’ client portfolio through research and analysis.

    Full Biography

    Michael Ford is the founder of Trade Bridge Consulting and a career professional in international transportation, specializing in import/export documentation and regulatory compliance. Mr. Ford’s leadership in communication and system logic on governmental rules and regulations is central to understanding and resolving complex regulatory issues quickly, decisively, and with minimal impact on customers.

    Full Biography

    Mr. Jade Kelly has served in the private sector for over 30 years, with particular emphasis on operations strategies, trade compliance, digitalization, supply chain security and risk management.

    Full Biography

    Mr. John D. Jackson is an accomplished law enforcement officer, investigator, trainer, consultant, and advisor with an impressive 34-year career. He possesses extensive expertise in border security policy development, crisis incident management, international investigations, and countering terrorism, transnational crime, and weapons of mass destruction. Mr. Jackson’s exceptional skills and professional, diplomatic behavior have been cultivated through a wide range of foreign and domestic assignments, involving extensive engagement with senior leadership at prestigious institutions such as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), State Department, and various U.S. and foreign law enforcement, government, and military agencies.

    Full Biography

    Mr. Gordon Wright is a highly experienced professional with over 40 years of expertise in border agencies, international transport associations (IRU & IATA), and DHL Express. Throughout his career, he has been a lead negotiator on cross-border security, customs regulations and procedures, cargo and mail supply chains, and international trade.

    Full Biography

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