Joanna Olsen
Program Manager

Joanna has over 20 years of experience in program management supporting the Army, Navy and Naval Special Warfare. She is a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt and has supported many process improvement initiatives across the Department of Defense (DoD). Joanna attended Cal State Long Beach for an undergraduate degree in Business with a minor in Marketing. She has a Master’s degree in Operations from Ashford University. Her career began in the DoD, interning in the purchasing department at TRW (now Northrop Grumman).

After college, Joanna relocated to San Diego and began working for Booz Allen for SPAWAR 1.0, assisting in the role out of Navy Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). This role cultivated a passion for process improvement, including Lean Six Sigma. She progressed to supporting the Navy SEALs for over 10 years as the lead process improvement analysis for the Chief of Staff’s improvement initiatives. These initiatives included developing an inventory management system to ensure the SEALs had the right weapons/equipment for deployment and a data warehouse to assist in analyzing drug and alcohol usage of soldiers worldwide.

Joanna is currently a Program Manager supporting multiple efforts for NAVWAR and NIWC PAC. In this role, Joanna directs a multi-location, cross-functional and multi-disciplinary IT team of 20 direct staff members in electronic/network engineering, software development, and cybersecurity efforts. She tracks and manages resource requirements, risks, and detailed project schedules in support of LSS/ODDS, RADIAC, NAVWAR 5.0, and ANTS.

In her free time, Joanna enjoys spending time outdoors with her husband and two children. The family loves adventure and can be found off-roading or boating in Arizona and snowboarding in Mammoth. She is actively involved in her children’s school and serves as the PTA hospitality coordinator.