SOFtact Solutions (STS) CEO and Founder Mary Allison (MA) Brinker, best known in the industry as “MA,” ventured to start her company in 2017 with a succinct and pithy motto. 

“We are problem solvers,” shared MA. “We simply are trying to solve complex problems in today's war fighting environment through the offerings that we provide across products and services.” Today, MA and the more than 80 employees and contractors that make up STS’ workforce embody that message. 

STS, headquartered in Fayetteville, provides strategic advisory and consulting services, solving problems through design, procurement, integration, execution and program management of subject matter experts and the hardware/software necessary to implement solutions. The company’s client list includes the U.S. Department of Defense and other government agencies at the federal, state and local levels, as well as nonprofits and commercial customers.

Around half of the company’s business entails solutions integrating the ServiceNow platform, which is typically used to provide cloud computing solutions for the creation and management of automated business workflows. STS also handles work within the United States Army Command, Control, Communication, Computers, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Center (C5ISR) suite. 

“We're not only providing IT services, but we're providing the program management. We're really getting into the weeds of the gaps our customers have, and trying to navigate that environment, delivering the right people in the right seats, the right types of practitioners and principals in order to get the job done across the entire C5ISR enterprise,” MA said. 

Opening STS in Fayetteville was an avenue for MA to return home. Originally from Lee County, MA spent several years in the Tampa, Florida area. She has had a successful career in the defense industry since 2005, supporting the public sector for the past 16 years. 

MA is known and respected for her intense work ethic, passion for 

customers and exceptional reputation working with Special Operations Forces, Combatant Commands, Joint Agencies and other government organizations. 

Her volunteering roles include being a member and corporate partner of The Honor Foundation, and a founding board member of OpenWERX/ TeamWERX at SOFWERX in support of the United States Special Operations Command (SOCOM). All in all, she is affiliated with multiple organizations and associations in support of national security and American Veterans. 

MA started the company because the clients she had forged relationships with throughout the years in previous roles showed that there was demand for MA’s skillset, expertise and knowhow. 

“I had so much encouragement from the industry. From colleagues, but probably more so from my customer community, the actual folks that we were supporting on the ground, whether they were in uniform or they were government service members,” MA shared. “Year over year, they just wanted to be doing business with me, and I provided them a unique trust factor, if you will, and authenticity. They really felt like I should go out on my own and provide consulting services… to the government and/or to other industry partners to help them navigate ‘how would you effectively do good things to support the warfighter?’” 

Learning how to take that next step and grow in a leadership role took some time for MA.

“I had three kids under the age of three, and I'm young, and I'm in a male dominated industry,” MA said. “The more and more I thought about it, I just was like, ‘there's no good time. I want to be able to do what I want to do. I want to be able to set expectations, hold myself accountable.’” 

As STS grew, MA said she fostered a work culture where employees felt welcome, with a growing feeling of familiarity. 

“Predominantly everybody who came to work at SOFtact, they wanted to come work with me,” MA said. “Nobody was working for me. That still holds today… Our retention is super high, and I believe we built a phenomenal organizational health, and a healthy organizational culture.” 

MA shared that building a healthy work culture was particularly important to her. 

“As a woman in the industry, I knew what I liked and what obstacles that you naturally just faced,” MA said. “I just wanted to ensure that the culture was solid, and that the foundation was being built with the right humans.”

For MA, being a woman and a mother in an executive level position in the defense tech industry means something special. She said it’s particularly important as other people looking to get their break in the industry look to role models like MA. 

“Back in the day there weren't many women, and there definitely weren't many young women doing what I was doing in the community, in the space,” she said. “The true strength and leadership lives in the relationships that we build and the examples that we set, and then the impact that we leave behind.”

Beyond a healthy organizational culture at a thriving woman-owned business, SOFtact has also enjoyed international recognition. 

In late February, STS announced it had received the prestigious 2025 ServiceNow Partner of the Year Award, recognizing its outstanding achievements and contributions to the ServiceNow ecosystem. The company was honored with the 2025 Transformation Partner of the Year Award for the Americas, which celebrates the outstanding work of partners who are driving innovation and delivering exceptional value to customers across the Americas.

Learn more about SOFtact Solutions on their website www.softactsolutions.com.