Executive Officers

Gail Bassin
Gail is a third-generation Washingtonian who grew up in Montgomery County, attended public schools, and graduated from the University of Maryland Business School with a BS in Business Administration/Accounting. Gail became a certified public accountant and then earned a master’s degree in clinical psychology from Antioch College. This unusual blend of academic achievements facilitates her understanding of existing and emerging problems in health and social sciences and allows her to identify sound business solutions that keep the needs of people as the central focus.

From the outset Gail has been in the vanguard of those determined to change the business world’s perspective about women and their roles in the workplace, particularly in the consulting field, which was dominated by men when Gail started her career. Her achievements are notable. She sits on the Executive Committee of the Professional Services Council, the national trade association of the government professional and technical services industry. She is 1 of 2 women on the 17-person committee and 1 of 2 representatives of companies with annual revenues of less than $100 million.

In October 2008, Gail was named Executive of the Year at the 6th Annual Greater Washington Government Contractor Awards ceremony. The award recognizes her outstanding contributions to JBS, the community, and the government contracting industry during 2008. In fall 2007, she received an Administration for Children and Families, Assistant Secretary’s award “in recognition of her exemplary achievement and expertise in providing program support to the Family and Youth Services Bureau.”

Gail’s financial expertise and strategic wisdom have been critical to the growth of JBS. “JBS International would not exist without Gail Bassin,” says Jerri Shaw. “Her financial acumen and ability to understand what is needed for our long-term fiscal viability and growth have made it possible for us to prosper, expand, and enter new markets.”

Jerri Shaw
Jerri was raised in a small town in Wisconsin, attended Oberlin College where she earned a degree in Sociology, and went to the University of North Carolina, where she received her MA in City and Regional Planning. In the early 1970s, she began her work in the government contracting field, when only 2 percent of consultants in the private and public sectors were women.

Jerri has always been ahead of her peers in identifying emerging trends and issues, and she has eagerly embraced the challenges inherent in being among the first to try to address a problem. Her typical response is to call together people who could contribute to the solution, facilitate the development of potential strategies for addressing the problem, identify needed resources, and then leverage those resources to implement the strategies that were developed. For example, she was ahead of the curve in working to establish family planning clinics in West Virginia. More recently, Jerri established the Traumatic Brain Injury–Resource Optimization Center (TBI–ROC) at JBS. A goal of TBI–ROC is to ensure a unified private/public civilian and military approach to the design and operations of the TBI service system.

In addition to creating a successful business, Jerri has been passionate about the importance of creating a work environment that focuses on people’s strengths, fosters growth, and supports innovation. One of JBS’s most distinguishing characteristics is its corporate culture—a culture that Jerri has been instrumental in defining and nurturing. She makes sure that JBS focuses on people first—staff, clients, partners, and those whose lives we touch through the work we do.

In October 2007, both Jerri and Gail were selected for inclusion in Maryland’s 2007 Top 100 Minority Business Enterprise list that honors minority and women entrepreneurs. The 100 recipients were chosen from 1,200 nominees for outstanding achievements in business development, client satisfaction, professional affiliations, and community involvement. Along with Gail, in November 2007, Jerri received a Women Who Mean Business Award from the Washington Business Journal.

“From the very beginning, Jerri was determined to prove to herself and the rest of the world that women could succeed in leadership roles,” says her partner, Gail Bassin. “And she has certainly done so. JBS is the success it is today because of her leadership in understanding how to build a business that remains true to its core beliefs and values.”