PhoenixTeam CEO and COO Make Inc.’s 2024 Female Founders List
Inc.’s seventh annual Female Founders list highlights entrepreneurs with world-changing companies
ARLINGTON, VA, UNITED STATES, April 10, 2024 — Inc. recently announced its seventh annual Female Founders list, honoring 250 of America’s most dynamic, pioneering, and inspirational women entrepreneurs whose innovations and ideas are shaping the world into a better place. We are thrilled that two of our founders have made this year’s list! Tanya Brennan, PhoenixTeam Managing Partner and CEO, and Tela Mathias, PhoenixTeam Managing Partner and COO, were selected from a record-breaking number of trailblazing applicants, female founders who are challenging the status quo and tackling some of the world’s biggest problems and have had the most significant impact in the past year.
Tanya and Tela connected early in their careers while working at Price Waterhouse Coopers Consulting on a Department of Veterans Affairs project for the VA’s loan guarantee program. They formed a friendship over a shared dream to create a company that valued authenticity, learning, and empathy equally as much as delivering on our client’s greatest challenges. This, combined with a burning desire to bring joy and purpose back to software development, turned their dream into reality. In 2015, Tanya and Tela, along with their like-minded colleague Tom Westerlind, PhoenixTeam Managing Partner and CFO, co-founded PhoenixTeam, a minority and woman-owned small business (SBA WOSB) specializing in consumer lending and financial services technology solutions for federal and commercial clients.
In 2023, PhoenixTeam expanded on a shared vision to “serve those who serve” by providing our country’s veterans an opportunity to leverage their experience and leadership in the civilian space. Together with John Trodden, CEO of Blue Bay Business Delivery, LLC, a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB), they founded Blue Phoenix, a Mentor (PhoenixTeam) Protégé (Blue Bay) Joint Venture. Blue Phoenix is a technology company that delivers unparalleled business and technology PMO and delivery excellence to federal clients.
“Merging Blue Phoenix as a joint venture just allows us to bring the best of both worlds to the table,” said Brennan. Mathias added, “Blue Phoenix’s fundamental mission is to aid servicemembers in returning to civilian life after serving our great country…. This was a great way to build a shelf from our business to meet the mission of aiding that transition and delivering tech excellence for the federal government, especially at the VA.”
With over 23 years in the mortgage industry, Tanya lends her expertise across the product discovery, development, and implementation lifecycle. She is often referred to as a “problem crusher,” eliminating every obstacle that impedes value realization. She is a dynamic leader with a keen ability to communicate the value of different approaches to her clients and thought leaders in the industry. In 2020, she was honored by PROGRESS in Lending as a 2nd Annual 2020 Lending Luminary Award Winner, celebrating people in the mortgage banking industry who inspire or influence others and recognize them for their industry vision and leadership.
Tela has spent the last 23-plus years implementing winning strategies in the federal and private sectors. Her career has been focused on defining, designing, and delivering these strategies in both the federal and private sectors. She serves as a strategic advisor to several of the country’s largest fintech providers, guiding them through their most complex transformations. Tela is a mortgage expert specializing in software product discovery and management, go-to-market strategy, and all things implementation and delivery. She leads PhoenixTeam’s AI team and serves as its thought leader in the space.
About PhoenixTeam
PhoenixTeam is a technology company that specializes exclusively in the design, delivery, and care of technology solutions in the federal and commercial spaces. Our dream is to enable affordable and accessible homeownership for all Americans through customer-centric technology solutions. We believe that by bringing joy and purpose back to software development while bridging the gap between technology and business teams, we can really make a difference in the lives of clients and homeowners everywhere. PhoenixTeam is a woman and minority-owned small business headquartered in Arlington, Virginia.
About Blue Phoenix
Blue Phoenix is a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) technology company that delivers unparalleled end-to-end technology and business outcomes to federal clients. A Joint Venture formed in 2023 between Phoenix Oversight Group, LLC (Mentor), and Blue Bay Business Delivery, LLC (Protégé), we specialize in delivering technology and program leadership excellence. Blue Phoenix exists to “serve those who serve,” providing our country’s veterans an opportunity to leverage their experience and leadership in the civilian space. Blue Phoenix’s combination of technology expertise and military fundamentals is the cornerstone of the world-class IT solutions we deliver to federal agencies.
