Jennifer Jones Gebhardt

About Jennifer Jones Gebhardt

I work at the intersection of defense tech, research, and product to help government and industry leaders make faster, smarter decisions about acquisition, sustainment, supply chains, and the health of the U.S. industrial base. My background blends over a decade of analytical research with hands-on SaaS product leadership, giving me a mix of policy depth, technical fluency, and execution experience inside a fast-growing startup. Whether leading cross-functional teams or briefing senior decision-makers, my goal is the same: translating complex data into actionable guidance that strengthens defense and national security.My background is defined by two parallel tracks:1. Product Leadership & Defense Tech: I have deep experience scaling product initiatives within high-growth SaaS environments. I recently led the development of AI-enabled workflow solutions—from automated text extraction and entity normalization to model-driven risk scoring—that accelerate defense acquisition within Govini\'s SaaS platform, Ark.ai. I\'ve partnered closely with analysts and engineers to turn messy government data into high-impact insights and data products used across the federal government, particularly the DoD/DoW.2. Research & Market Intelligence: I am a quantitative analyst at heart. My work fuses data science (R, Python, NLP) with strategic market intelligence to solve problems with real-world consequences. I\'ve coached emerging research talent and led cross-functional research initiatives that support acquisition leaders, sustainment planners, and policymakers navigating complex, high-stakes environments. Before working in defense tech, I spent years in academic and applied research, publishing peer-reviewed work in political psychology and building deep experience in quantitative and qualitative methods. That foundation still shapes how I approach data quality, methodological rigor, and insight generation.My research on political psychology and policy has been published in peer-reviewed journals and cited by The New York Times, The Washington Post, Politico, and CNN.AREAS OF EXPERTISE:Research & Market Intelligence: Industrial Base Policy, Market Research, Competitive Analysis, OSINT, Natural Language Processing (NLP), Time Series, A/B Testing.Data Science & Visualization: Python, R, SQL, Generative AI/LLMs, Tableau, ggplot, RegEx.Product Strategy: Agile/SCRUM, Roadmapping, Product Analytics (Mixpanel), Prototyping (Figma), Workflow Management (Jira, Confluence).

Experience

1. Director of Research

   Govini

   May 2025 — Present · Arlington, VA, US

   I lead strategic, data-driven research into defense, national security and federal acquisition, identifying how technology and artificial intelligence can transform legacy systems and processes into strategic advantages for the United States.

Education

• University of Maryland

  Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), Government and Politics

  2006 — 2010

• UC Irvine

  Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Political Science - Political Psychology

  2010 — 2017