hershman regularly contributed to "businessweek" and is the co-author of "faster, cheaper, better: the 9 levers for transforming how work gets done" which she finished writing after the death of its original author, michael hammer, in 2008. before joining the defense department in april 2018, she was the ceo of the denovo group and former ceo of hammer and co. hershman previously worked for avnet, inc. as the corporate senior vice president of operational excellence. she holds a degree in engineering and industrial distribution from clarkson university.