We understand the importance of a good work-and-family balance and offer a flexible work schedule, family friendly leave policies, opportunity to grow, health insurance, stock options and more.
If you are interested in working with our dynamic team, please forward your resume to jobs@freshhaystack.com.
Sharese Walker is the Director of Operations at CANDA Solutions LLC, a software company specializing in Risk Management including continuous vetting, industrial security, and investigations management.
Joining CANDA Solutions after 30+ years at a Federal Government – Intelligence Agency, Sharese is a Supervisory Information Technology Specialist, Program Management Professional and Business Finance Manager with extensive experience in; Information Technology, Project and Portfolio Management across multiple technologies; IT contract management, agile methodologies; DevOps and in leading teams in delivering mission critical enterprise solutions.
Sharese has a Bachelor of Arts in Information Systems Management and holds a DOD Top Secret /SCI clearance.
As the value of U.S. Federal Government and Corporate Intellectual Property (IP), reputation, brand, and national interests increases, organizations will have to leverage new, cutting edge security technologies and integrations to increase protection from inside and outside threats. Fresh Haystack innovative AI (Artificial Intelligence) RIDE (Risk Integration & Decision Engine) allows out customers to profit from true integrated risk management and data driven decision making. Though it is a work in progress, the following features are already currently available:
AI RIDE
Combining Continuous Vetting (CV), Counterintelligence (CI) and Insider Threat into a single analysis environment ensures that each of these critical functions are sharing information in the right context and only relevant alerts are raised. We are providing a holistic approach that breaks the mold of silos and pockets of excellence, to prepare integrated context for Cyber Security, Financial, Criminal, Foreign Influence, Identity Resolution, Behavioral Risks, Human Factor, Dark Web, Open Source and Social Media analysis. Our system provides notifications / escalations on the facilities, contracts and associated the workforce / companies under risk evaluation. Our solution truly addresses continuous, multi-factor situational risk awareness across the entire Enterprise, along with all suspicious and reportable activities of selected individuals outside of the workplace in a way that is transparent and protects privacy rights. The ITD (Insider Threat Defense) module is based on the Enterprises’ ability to setup a risk baseline based on variety of data sources across critical programs and personnel, facilities within FH ecosystem to access, manage, investigate and mitigate Risk continuously. Fresh Haystack ITD integrates with multiple federated third-party data providers like LexisNexis Risk Solutions, ESR, TRSS (Thomson Reuters Special Services), TransUnion, Appriss and IDInsight as examples. Data sources and the criteria they cover are aggregated into sample packages: Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum. These data sets can be configured to form a risk factor baseline that provides similar analysis to government investigation standards, but with the capability to add additional data sets commensurate with varying configurable risk baselines across the enterprise and/or personnel population. As an example, a Professional Services firm may want to select the Bronze program for all employees and contractors that are customer facing, gaining access to customer sites, and/or operating company vehicles. Likewise, that same firm may elect to enroll employees with access to Research & Development (R&D), IP or “Keys to the Kingdom” in the Gold or Platinum program for a heightened level of inspection.Insider Threat Defense • Continuous Vetting
CE is a personnel security investigative process that leverages an automated records check (ARC) methodology and applies standardized business rules to identify adjudicatively relevant information to assess cleared individuals’ on-going eligibility for access to classified information **Source ODNI / NCSC Fresh Haystack approaches Continuous Evaluation, Insider Threat and CounterIntelligence via a multi-source, “always-on push model”. When an adverse event happens, whether inside work or outside work, an alert is created in the source system or 3rd party federated data provider and then received by Fresh Haystack. A case is auto-generated, the appropriate security individuals are notified, and the adverse event is viewed in context with the subject’s role in the company and in the context of the adjudicative criteria of the classified contracts, programs, facilities, devices, badges and credentials relative to the subject. This capability enables your organization to view all available data points from a “whole-person” perspective; adding an extra dimension to your corporate risk management and employee safety strategies. This approach combines: All in order to proactively identify and mitigate the threats before they fully mature.Insider Threat Defense
Trust Everyone until given a reason not to…
Fresh Haystack is an enterprise class industrial/personnel security case management system. Our approach goes beyond compliance and features data driven workflows designed to eliminate errors in security clearance processing for seamless submission and process standardization. Our system acts as a force multiplier for your security department, closing the gap on time and expense in security clearance processing. Our clients generally reduce national security contract onboarding time by 66% and reduce security clearance packet submission errors by 80%. We are different from our competitors and since inception offer modern, secure, web-based interface, scalable architecture, integration and automation with many internal/external systems.Personnel Security • Collateral, SCI, Suitability & Public Trust
The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the need for many large organizations to reinvent themselves with a focus on innovation in an attempt to enable technology and streamline their hiring practices, breaking down business silos (HR, PMO and Security) the marketplace is seeing a shift in this area. Our Fresh Haystack software has been integrated with multiple Human Resources Systems (HRIS) Systems, Applicant Tracking Systems, Contracts Systems, and Enterprise Reporting Systems. As an example, our multiple integrations with Workday HR, and Workday Recruiter produce the following three high-value integrations that should be considered: HR Employee Demographic Import and Nightly Batch – An initial import of demographic data from Workday HR. Then, on a nightly basis, the integration picks up any new entries and/or changes to existing personnel. If there are any duplicate entries, they are flagged for correction in our system via our personnel merge function. Forms Automation – An initial setup for set of the forms needs to be collected from the applicant per contract and/or agency. Then, using Applicant Portal, the secure data collection from applicant, data validation, electronic signature using DocuSign integration and forms generation needed for government submission. Training Automation – An initial setup for set of the applicant/employee training requirements based on the contract and/or agency. Then, using Applicant Portal, the secure data collection from applicant, training requirements validation, electronic signature using DocuSign and training expiration notifications. Our clients find that these integrations pay for their entire industrial security tool by simply cutting a few days in the onboarding process for cleared candidates. Prescreen HRIS Integration – Within your HRIS the Recruiting team can initiate a Security Prescreen on an Applicant the moment they become a Candidate. This provides Recruiters and Hiring Managers with the Prescreen security assessment while making interviewing and hiring decisions. Security Clearance HRIS Integration – If the Candidate accepts an offer with CLIENT, their status in Workday is updated to “Clearance Transaction”, and Workday delivers a message to the security tool initiating a Security Clearance Request workflow automatically with no lost time. Ultimately, these 3 integrations generate significant Return on Investment (ROI).Personnel Security • Human Resources
Fresh Haystack helps security departments craft narrowly tailored “clearability” questionnaires for use in conducting security prescreening of candidates for positions involving Collateral/SCI clearances and positions of Suitability and Public Trust. Our questionnaire includes issues such as criminal conviction resulting in incarceration for one year or more; unwillingness to surrender a foreign passport; mental incompetence, as determined by a DOD-approved psychiatrist; discharge from the Armed Forces under dishonorable conditions; or current unlawful use of or addiction to a controlled substance can trigger an automatic denial. This may also include specific guidance provided by government clients involving their suitability standards such as US citizenship required, which can trigger automatic denials. Lastly, this process allows an applicant to remove themselves from the process by “opt out” from moving forward which saves time and resources. RIDE provides valuable predictive analytics driving contract specific performance metrics allowing to accurately estimate EOD (Entry on Duty) date. This capability is unique in the market. HR/Recruiting/Hiring and PMs using our system can eliminate bench time and issue an offer letter to the candidate based on the Personnel Security Questionnaire (PSQ) they completed via the Applicant Portal and the adjudicative guidelines evaluated by the Security team. This feature allows users to predict contract start dates which allows for better customer service, planning, and increased contract revenue; furthering the value and billable revenue that the HR and Security team deliver to the organization.Onboarding • PreScreen
The Enterprise Investigations Management is a suite that provides a method to scope an investigation, auto-create leads that are extracted from candidate F85p/SF86 form inputs and additional case criteria, and then auto-assigns eads based on the proprietary WATO (Work Assignment and Tuning Optimization) algorithm to investigators based on the multiple factors such as geographical location of the lead to be investigated, complexity of the case and others. The Investigators Portal allows full-cycle accomplishment of:Investigations Management
Fresh Haystack makes it easy to accelerate candidates and employees through the security clearance process and easily organize, manage and track all associated artifacts and data. Gain instant velocity with a fresh approach. Your Security Team wants to process candidates fast and error free so your company can have happy customers and be more profitable, not fight with messy spreadsheets, hanging email and outdated software that slows them down. Leverage Fresh Haystack to fill classified positions across your portfolio of contracts ~24 business days sooner than industry average. An extra 192 hours per new-hire makes a significant impact to the business.Personnel Security
Accelerate the Federal Government Security Clearance Process
Give your Security Team the best Tools in the Game
Gain Top-Line Revenue, Reduce Bench-Time and Maximize classified position profitability.
The Deltek Government Contracting Industry Study (11th Annual Comprehensive Report) conducted in 2020 found that “finding, recruiting and retaining qualified talent continues to challenge the government contracting sector. Talent shortages and commercial competition for candidates have complicated matters for human capital management leaders.” It also discovered that “high turnover rates are affecting all companies, but 47% of large businesses are experiencing 16% or higher turnover”. Findings in this report are significant and bring onboarding issues and automation to the forefront of the onboarding process. Another major challenge is the pandemic and the new “normal” with many large organizations planning to allow WFH (work from home) for an unknown period of time, if not permanently. This shift creates multiple challenges with applicant/candidate enrollment, onboarding procedures, collecting forms and fingerprints, and delivering badges and/or assets to the applicant/candidate. Fresh Haystack developed a set of services (A to G on the diagram) which connect multiple business users and processes to remove bottlenecks in the cycle, enable seamless and automated integrations between Human Resources (Hiring and Recruiting), Project Management, Security and applicants/candidates. We crafted this solution to shorten the onboarding cycle, streamline the overall experience, deliver time savings, and provide hyperautomation customizable to any level of the organizations’ deployment strategy.Onboarding
Customer Benefits
See for yourself!
Before and After Fresh Haystack
Chris Hagenbuch is a Principal at CANDA Solutions, a software and services firm specializing in industrial security, insider threat, continuous vetting, and counterintelligence, as well as Investigations management. CANDA’s flagship product Fresh Haystack has been proven to increase billable revenue by 60% and cut expenses by 40% when implemented throughout the hiring cycle of the Defense Industrial Base contractors. Chris’s subject matter expertise is sought after for insider threat, continuous vetting, and investigative analysis.
This knowledge was built while spending 20 years supporting law enforcement, threat assessment, background investigation and credentialing programs within DHS (such as Registered Traveler, TWIC, HME, FFDO, Aviation Workers, TSA Personnel Security, Federal Air Marshals, US-Visit and The US Secret Service), and over 25 years providing project, program, and portfolio management services with direct P&L to $250M. He has a Bachelor of Arts in Engineering from Lafayette College and a Executive Education Certificate of Finance From the Wharton School
Known for his work and presentations regarding Agile system delivery, identity management, information assurance, vetting and credentialing practice areas, his experience spans across consumer, corporate, and government areas. A leading security expert, Hagenbuch has been engaged in various working groups, participated in publications, provided speaking engagements and lectures, and received several awards.
Paul Perkins joined CANDA solutions in 2020 as the SVP of Sales focused on growing the business, revenue & the team for the Fresh Haystack Enterprise Industrial Security solution as well as the CARES (Continuous Adaptive Risk Evaluation solution).
Paul focuses on Federal, State & Local Governments, Higher Education and the Commercial market for CANDA as well as growing our partner community both technology and VAR. Paul has practiced in the Cyber Security solution market for over 20 years and joins CANDA Solutions with experience in both sales & sales leadership with companies such as Unisys, IBM, Dell and Bit9.
While at Unisys Paul led a team of experienced sellers and sales engineers focused on all of the public sector security sales efforts & the Stealth solution, Paul was able to grow revenue by over 200% and the partner community by over 300%. At IBM Paul was a leader in taking the standard IBM Security suite of solutions and converting them to a SaaS offering focused on the Federal, SLED and commercial markets, growing revenue by 300% and the partner community by over 500%.
Andy has extensive experience in Federal and Commercial Business Development, Capture, and Customer Account Management. He brings a track record of successful business acquisition within ultra-competitive market environments. Andy is seen by his co-workers, customers, and partners as a leader with high integrity and driven to achieve results.
At CANDA, Andy’s focus is on the alignment of the Federal and Commercial Business Development, Direct Sales, Channel Sales & Marketing. Andy works closely between our product teams, the market, and industry as we look to continue developing new avenues of business growth.
Mr. Leonard has extensive experience delivering information technology consulting services for government and commercial clients. Demonstrated management success in leading teams to deliver mission critical, high-quality, enterprise solutions and achieving outstanding customer satisfaction ratings.
Chris has considerable experience with a variety of technologies including systems architecture, design, and full life cycle system development including Agile methodologies and DevSevOps. He has project management experience at the project and program management level including full P&L and business development responsibilities.
Principal of CANDA Solutions, LLC, Andrew Razumovsky is responsible for the systems’ delivery, operations, and business development efforts. Mr. Razumovsky brings more than 22 years of total industry experience of computer based business applications, data warehouse, databases development, customer support using various operation systems, tools, and hardware platforms.
With over 15 years of extensive experience as an information technology specialist with focus on risk and threat assessment, law enforcement and case management programs, Mr. Razumovsky has advised major US government clients such as Dept. of Defense, Dept. of Justice, State Department, NASA and the Department of Homeland Security. He has a concentration in the persistent challenges of security focused Human Capital and Enterprise Risk. Razumovsky’s vast experience, including working with IBM, Arbitron and CommerceOne, paves the way for Fresh Haystack, the next generation risk focused case management solution. He is an acknowledged expert in the development of innovative solutions for database, credentialing, security systems, and Agile delivery.
His main focus areas at CANDA are Enterprise Risk Management, Product Innovation and Business Development driving customer acquisition resulting in significant growth for the company and industry awards.
Mr. Razumovsky currently serves on INSA (Intelligence and National Security Alliance) Security Policy Reform Council (SPRC). Andrew is giving back to community as a board member of the Associated – Jewish Federation of Baltimore and Jewish Community Services (JCS).
Mr. Razumovsky earned a Master of Science degree in Applied Mathematics from the Tbilisi State University and received a Certificate of the Management Excellence at Harvard Business School.
The Enterprise Investigations Management is a suite that provides a method to scope an investigation, auto-create leads that are extracted from candidate F85p/SF86 form inputs and additional case criteria, and then auto-assigns eads based on the proprietary WATO (Work Assignment and Tuning Optimization) algorithm to investigators based on the multiple factors such as geographical location of the lead to be investigated, complexity of the case and others. The Investigators Portal allows full-cycle accomplishment of:
Streamline Investigations Management through Algorithm-based Optimization and Assignment
CARE solution bridges this gap by converging the individuals, their profiles, access, networks, risks and activity into a single pane of glass for agencies and corporations to evaluate true risk exposure by consistently making intelligent data-driven decisions to access, track and capture mitigation opportunities while continuously delivering Trust and minimizing Enterprise risk The CARE module is based on an Enterprises’ ability to baseline and prioritize critical programs, personnel, facilities, suppliers / vendors / subcontractors, and assets within the Fresh Haystack ecosystem to access, manage, investigate, and mitigate Risk continuously Our out-of-the-box CARE approach aligns with 4 out of the 5 pillars of the National Counterintelligence Strategy released in February 2020. CMMC Risk Stream coming soon
CE is a personnel security investigative process that leverages an automated records check (ARC) methodology and applies standardized business rules to identify adjudicatively relevant information to assess cleared individuals’ on-going eligibility for access to classified information **Source ODNI / NCSC Fresh Haystack approaches Continuous Evaluation, Insider Threat and CounterIntelligence via a multi-source, “always-on push model”. When an adverse event happens, whether inside work or outside work, an alert is created in the source system or 3rd party federated data provider and then received by Fresh Haystack. A case is auto-generated, the appropriate security individuals are notified, and the adverse event is viewed in context with the subject’s role in the company and in the context of the adjudicative criteria of the classified contracts, programs, facilities, devices, badges and credentials relative to the subject. This capability enables your organization to view all available data points from a “whole-person” perspective; adding an extra dimension to your corporate risk management and employee safety strategies.
Trust Everyone until given a reason not to…
Fresh Haystack makes it easy to accelerate candidates and employees through the security clearance process and easily organize, manage and track all associated artifacts and data. Gain instant velocity with a fresh approach. Your Security Team wants to process candidates fast and error free so your company can have happy customers and be more profitable, not fight with messy spreadsheets, hanging email and outdated software that slows them down. Leverage Fresh Haystack to fill classified positions across your portfolio of contracts ~24 business days sooner than industry average. An extra 192 hours per new-hire makes a significant impact to the business.
Accelerate the Federal Government Security Clearance Process
Give your Security Team the best Tools in the Game
Gain Top-Line Revenue, Reduce Bench-Time and Maximize classified position profitability.
Fresh Haystack makes it easy to accelerate candidates and employees through the security clearance process and easily organize, manage and track all associated artifacts and data. Gain instant velocity with a fresh approach. Your Security Team wants to process candidates fast and error free so your company can have happy customers and be more profitable, not fight with messy spreadsheets, hanging email and outdated software that slows them down. Leverage Fresh Haystack to fill classified positions across your portfolio of contracts ~24 business days sooner than industry average. An extra 192 hours per new-hire makes a significant impact to the business.
Accelerate the Federal Government Security Clearance Process
Give your Security Team the best Tools in the Game
Gain Top-Line Revenue, Reduce Bench-Time and Maximize classified position profitability.
