Ms. Jenness B. Simler joined The Boeing Company in 2017, following many years of service in both the Legislative and Executive Branches of the U.S. Government. She is the Vice President, Boeing Global Services and Defense Policy within Government Operations. In this capacity, she advocates for capabilities and policies that enable predictable and affordable product support, with superior mission effectiveness. She also engages defense policymakers on a wide range of acquisition, supply chain, cyber, software, and technology issues to improve policy alignment with the National Defense Strategy and the resiliency and responsiveness of the defense industrial base.

From 2005 through 2017, Jenness served as a member of the professional staff of the Committee on Armed Services of the U.S. House of Representatives. Most recently, she served as the Staff Director of the Committee and as the Deputy Staff Director for 4 years. In these roles, Jenness was the senior advisor to the Committee Chairman – responsible for strategic planning and operations of the committee, leading the staff, and delivering the annual defense policy bill, which authorizes over half of the federal discretionary budget and sets policy for the conduct of military operations, procurement, research, civilian and military personnel matters, military construction, nuclear security, and the organization and management of the armed services. Previously, Jenness served as the policy director for the committee, conducted oversight of Navy and Marine Corps procurement and research and development programs, managed the defense acquisition policy and industrial base portfolio, and had responsibility for defense science and technology programs. She is a recipient of the Medal for Exceptional Public Service from the Secretary of Defense.

Prior to her work in Congress, Jenness served as the deputy to the Chairman, Combating Terrorism Technology Task Force within the Office of the Secretary of Defense. She worked closely with multiple Defense laboratories and agencies, National Labs, combatant commands, and the joint task force established to defeat Improvised Explosive Devices to identify promising technologies and develop counter-terrorism/counter-insurgency concepts.

Jenness’ previous experience also includes several years as a program officer at the Office of Naval Research (ONR) and as a project engineer within an industry consortium managing composites manufacturing technology programs for the Navy. At ONR, Jenness was responsible for programs in the areas of advanced composite materials and joining technologies. She is Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act(DAWIA) level III certified.

Jenness holds an MBA, from the University of Maryland-College Park, and a BS in Mathematics, from Millsaps College in Jackson, MS. She is an alumna of the Kappa Delta Sorority. Jenness resides in Alexandria, VA with her family, who is her biggest delight – thanks to husband, Gary Schuerfeld, and their children, Taggart and Annibel.