Lamont Hames

Lamont Hames is a seasoned executive and trusted advisor to senior leaders in government, commercial, and EdTech sectors. As a former NASA executive, his domain expertise lies at the intersection of corporate procurement, innovative technologies, and research & development by diversifying corporate and government supply chains to become more inclusive. An effective change agent, he delivers actionable and measurable solutions that directly contributes to brand reputation, social impact, and enables market expansion. His client engagements assist them throughout their environmental, social, and governance journey leading to sustainability in key corporate performance areas.

Mr. Hames is Founder, President, and CEO of LMH Strategies, Inc. (LMH), a leadership, management, and human systems consulting firm formed in 2011. LMH is a multi-disciplinary solution provider by addressing client challenges through strategic planning, project management, organizational communications, diverse supply chain integration, and corporate social responsibility solutions. Mr. Hames is an expert in leveraging ESG commitments to include strategies that highlight the economic impact of investments in the areas of supplier diversity and STEM Research & Development collaborations with minority serving institutions (MSI) in higher education by demystifying them as cost burdens by demonstrating ROI as a business enabler. Over the span of his career, he has advised many of top 100 federal sector corporation C-Suite executives, private sector, and hundreds of small and diverse owned suppliers.

In 2016, Hames co-founded the MSI STEM Research & Development Consortium (MSRDC), a national not-for-profit corporation with seed funding from the Department of Defense. Mr. Hames has led and negotiated funded research projects for dozens of MSIs and their industry partners ranging from $50K to over $3M in a wide range of disciplines including cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and quantum computing and data analytics, that addresses national defense industrial base and homeland security interests.

In 2018, Mr. Hames’ well regarded reputation led to an appointed as a study committee member by the National Academies of Science (NAS) STEM Education and Workforce Programs to provide expertise for a Minority Serving Institutions research study and his contributory recommendations were published in a report entitled Minority Serving Institutions: America’s Underutilized Resource for Strengthening the STEM Workforce and presented to the U.S. Congress. As a NAS advisor, Mr. Hames contributed as a peer reviewer to the recent 2022 publication: Defense Research Capacity at Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Other Minority Institutions: Transitioning from Good Intentions to Measurable Outcomes.

Prior to founding LMH Strategies, Hames served as business development executive with P&L responsibility for two small cap government technology companies helping each grow to over $50 million in revenue before their exits. Hames served as Chief of Staff in the NASA Headquarters Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU) and served as executive secretary for the NASA Minority Business Resource Advisory Committee responsible for coordinating agencywide recommendations from an external board of appointed minority business executives to the NASA Advisory Council. During his tenure, NASA contracted over $3.6 billion in spending with diverse small businesses and minority-serving institutions.

Mr. Hames is a member of the National Contract Management Association (NCMA), and Sourcing Industry Group (SIG), and certified as a Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) by the Capital Region Minority Supplier Development Council. He is certified in Corporate Board Readiness by Santa Clara University. He has a Master of Science in Management Information Systems from Bowie State University and a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from St. Augustine’s University. Mr. Hames began his career in public service as a Presidential Management Fellow. Over the years he has completed 5 marathons and cycled 2 century rides. His next goals are to desire to improve his golf game and complete an Ironman 70.3 Triathlon. He resides with his family in the Washington, DC area and enjoys traveling and spending time mentoring his nieces and nephews.