Leadership Team

Julie Myers Wood, President
Nicholas J. Smith, Managing Principal
Bill Riley, Business Development and Worksite Program Manager
Theresa Bertucci, Senior Manager
Phillip Crawford
Michael Vanacore

Julie Myers Wood, President (julie@iandcsolutions.com)

Julie Myers Wood is the President of ICS Consulting, LLC (ICS). In this capacity, Wood provides internal audit, risk assessment, and quality control services to companies and government clients on a wide range of issues, including trade control concerns, immigration compliance issues and security and guard services. Ms. Wood has been retained by some of the largest companies in the country to help them assess their programs and develop creative solutions to ongoing challenges. Ms. Wood also has been instrumental in developing proprietary software products that assist employers with trade and immigration compliance issues, including SecureID (www.icssecureid.com) and EZCertOrigin (www.ezcertorigin.com).

Prior to founding the company, Ms. Wood served as head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement for nearly three years. In this role, she led the largest investigative component of the Department of Homeland Security and the second largest investigative agency in the federal government, with more than 17,000 employees and an annual budget of more than $5 billion. Among other duties, the agency investigated a full range of criminal violations of all U.S. export laws related to military items, controlled “dual-use” commodities, and sanctioned or embargoed countries. As the head of ICE, Ms. Wood also directly supervised the Federal Protective Service (FPS), which provides guard services for federal buildings. She also created a new internal audit function at ICE to monitor contractor and guard performance in detention facilities and established new performance-based standards to monitor performance.

Ms. Wood previously served as Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement at the Department of Commerce, where she led the export enforcement agency that has primary responsibility for the enforcement of export controls relating to “dual-use” items and sanctioned or embargoed countries.

Her other government positions have included Chief of Staff for the Criminal Division at the Department of Justice, and Deputy Assistant Secretary at the Treasury Department. Ms. Wood also served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, where she prosecuted a variety of criminal cases, including financial crimes, immigration violations, securities fraud, and other white-collar criminal cases.

Before entering government service, Ms. Wood was an associate at Mayer, Brown & Platt in Chicago, Ill. She also clerked for the Honorable C. Arlen Beam of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.

Ms. Wood is a frequent speaker and commentator on immigration and law enforcement issues. She has appeared on FOX, CNN, C-SPAN, ABC, CNBC, MSNBC, NPR, and numerous other television and radio stations. She is a member of the Advisory Committee for the American Bar Association’s Commission on Immigration and the Constitution Project’s Immigration Committee.

Ms. Wood earned a bachelor's degree at Baylor University and a J.D. from Cornell Law School. She is a native of Shawnee, Kansas.

Nicholas J. Smith, Managing Principal (nick@iandcsolutions.com)

Nicholas J. Smith, Managing Principal

Nicholas J. Smith is a partner and the managing principal of ICS Consulting. Utilizing his extensive leadership background both within the Department of Homeland Security and in the U.S. Senate, Mr. Smith helps clients build effective “win” strategies for federal contracts. He serves as a liaison for clients between key federal government decision makers in an effort to build new business opportunities and/or expand business. Additionally his understanding of federal immigration and customs requirements enables him to work with clients large and small to build custom compliance programs. Mr. Smith is a co-developer of ICS Consulting’s proprietary audit software, “ICSEval” used in all audits, EZcertorigin and SecureID.

Mr. Smith served as Chief of Staff for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) where he oversaw the day-to-day activities of the nation’s second largest federal investigative agency with more than 17,000 employees and a budget of $5 billion. Mr. Smith was responsible for coordinating the agency’s activities with the White House and the Department of Homeland Security and it’s associated agencies.

Prior to joining ICE, Mr. Smith spent nearly 10 years working in the U.S Senate in various leadership positions. Most of his time on the Hill he served as Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist’s press secretary and deputy chief of staff. While working with Senator Frist, Mr. Smith acted as the key communications coordinator for Senator Frist on all of his major legislative initiatives including health care, education and foreign affairs. In this role, Mr. Smith also served as a communications liaison between the Senate Republican Leadership and the White House. He also served as treasurer in 2000 and president in 2001 of the United States Senate Press Secretaries Association.

Before his work with Senator Frist, Mr. Smith produced policy briefings and worked in investor relations for a public policy organization, did media relations for Senator Arlen Specter, and worked in sales and marketing for a multi-national publishing company.

Mr. Smith is a graduate of Pennsylvania State University.

Bill Riley, Business Development and Worksite Program Manager (bill@iandcsolutions.com)

Bill Riley is the Business Development and Worksite Program Manager for ICS Consulting, LLC. Prior to joining ICS Consulting LLC, Mr. Riley was an Assistant Special Agent in Charge at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the Philadelphia office. Mr. Riley was a Special Agent for 20 years with both ICE and the Immigration and Naturalization Service having worked in New York City, Washington, DC and Chicago.

Over his 20 years as a Special Agent, Mr. Riley conducted and supervised investigations focused on immigration benefit and document fraud, counter-terrorism, human smuggling and trafficking, worksite enforcement, and student/school compliance.

During his time as an investigative agent, Mr. Riley served as the Acting Executive Director for ICE’s Office of State and Local Coordination. He implemented the expansion of the 287(g) program and testified before the House Homeland Security Committee regarding the improvements being made to the 287(g) program.

Mr. Riley also served as ICE’s first national Unit Chief for Worksite Enforcement. While in this role, Mr. Riley developed the ICE Mutual Agreement between Government and Employers (IMAGE), created the current ICE auditing program and helped develop the worksite enforcement Special Agent advanced training program.

Mr. Riley holds a Bachelor’s of Science degree from Philadelphia University.

Theresa Bertucci, Senior Manager

Theresa Bertucci joins the ICS Leadership Team after retiring with over 35 years of senior federal government service. She served 8 years as a Senior Executive within the Department of Homeland Security with experience in the Transportation Security Administration, U.S. Immigration and Customs Service, and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service. The remainder of her service (24+ years) was spent in the U.S. Department of Justice.

At U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) she was responsible for the programmatic oversight of E-Verify, the SAVE Program, Self-check, the I-9 Form, the Biometrics Program, the National Records Program, and the FOIA program. Her experience included the oversight of the Verification Information System, which served as the baseline for the E-Verify and SAVE Programs. She provided oversight of the growth of the E-Verify monitoring and compliance program, working with the DHS Civil Rights office and the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division. Additionally, she had extensive experience working with the USCIS Chief Information Officer to migrate the various technology systems to the DHS Data Centers. The USCIS FOIA program is the second largest in all of the United States Government with over 100,000 receipts annually.

During her three year tenure with U.S. Immigration and Customs Service, Mrs. Bertucci served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Management. She had direct responsibility for the Information Technology Program (CIO); the Financial Management Program (CFO); the Acquisition Program (CAO); the Records, Facilities, and Assets Program; the Human Capital Program, the Training Program (Office of Training and Development); Diversity and Equal Employment Opportunity Program (in support of the Assistant Secretary; and the FOIA Program. While serving at USICE, Mrs. Bertucci earned the Presidential Rank Award (2007). Her experience at USICE included extensive communication and cooperative efforts with senior leadership at the Department of Homeland Security and the Management Directorate.

Mrs. Bertucci served at the Transportation Security Agency (TSA) for a period of 19 months. While at TSA, she was appointed as the Assistant Administrator of Intermodal Programs with direct responsibility over programs to staff, train and equip the seven modes of Transportation Security, including Aviation, Mass Transit, Rail, Pipeline, Postal and Shipping, Highway and supporting the U.S. Coast Guard in Maritime. Her subordinate organization included 10 direct report Senior Executives and a headquarters organization of approximately 250 employees. The field responsibilities included staffing, training, and equipping over 45,000 federal Transportation Security Screeners, 185 Federal Security Directors and management/staff personnel in over 450 airports. Mrs. Bertucci also served as a Deputy Assistant Administrator of Human Capital while at TSA. She also had headquarters oversight of the Strategic Management and Analysis Staff, Security Program (information and physical), FOIA, Civil Rights Division, Ombudsman Office and Credentialing Programs Officer (personnel security program).

During her 27+ years with the Department of Justice, Mrs. Bertucci grew from a GS-4 Clerk Typist to a Senior Executive appointed in 1997. She served a majority of her career (21 years) in support of the nations United States Attorneys. Mrs. Bertucci was the Deputy Director of the Executive Office for United States Attorneys. She had oversight of the Information Technology (CIO); Human Capital; Facilities; Support Services; Security Programs; Internal Control Programs (COO); Financial Management (CFO) and Data Analysis of the Offices of the United States Attorneys. She also supervised the Victim Witness and Law Enforcement Coordination Program of the Offices. She played a key role in support of the appointment process of the United States Attorneys working closely with Department of Justice leadership and the White House. Mrs. Bertucci earned a Presidential Meritorious Award in 2002.

Philip Crawford

Philip Crawford joins the ICS Partner Network after 29 years of service at U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE), Department of Homeland Security. Most recently, Mr. Crawford held the position of the Field Office Director (FOD) of Detention & Removal Operations for Arizona and was the acting FOD in Seattle Washington. In these roles, Mr. Crawford was responsible for all detention and removal operations in the states of Arizona, Washington, Oregon and Alaska. Mr. Crawford began his career with the agency serving as an Immigration Inspector at the Port of San Ysidro in California.

During his career, Mr. Crawford served in many roles critical to the missions of ICE and the INS. He has significant experience with ICE criminal alien removal and fugitive operations programs, fraud investigations of immigrant visa applications, an extensive knowledge of the detention and removal process more generally, as well as detention alternatives and Secure Communities among many other agency initiatives.

Mr. Crawford is a graduate of California State University, Long Beach.

Michael Vanacore

Michael J. Vanacore joins the ICS Partner Network after 28 years of government service. Most recently, Mr. Vanacore served the Department of Homeland security (DHS) as the Director of the Office of International Affairs for U.S. immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the largest investigative agency in DHS.

As the Director of the Office of International Affairs from 2004 until retirement in 2007, Michael Vanacore managed more than 50 foreign offices in over 40 countries encompassing over 430 employees and including 254 investigators internationally. Mr. Vanacore reorganized the global footprint of the office and realigned much of the wok to ensure maximum efficiency.

In January of 2003, Mr. Vanacore was transferred to the then newly forming ICE as a key member of the DHS Transition Team. In this position, Mr. Vanacore played an essential part in ensuring the foundation of ICE came together seamlessly as 22 agencies were merged under the DHS umbrella.

Under the leadership of Assistant Secretary Michael J. Garcia, Mr. Vanacore served in several key roles and reported directly to the Assistant Secretary. In March of 2003, Mr. Vanacore was selected as Deputy Chief of Staff and served in that position until December of 2003 when he was named as Acting Chief of Staff. In May 2004, he became the Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary and held that position until October 2004.

Mr. Vanacore began his career as a Customs Service Inspector in the New York City area in 1979. He was selected as a Special Agent in 1983 and served as both a Special Agent and supervisor in Newark, New Jersey, JFK Airport and New York City before being transferred to Washington, DC in 1992. From 1992 through 1996, Mr. Vanacore served in the U.S. Customs Service Headquarters Office of Domestic Operations, Smuggling Investigations Division and the Office of Internal Affairs. From 1996 through 2000, Mike Vanacore served as the Assistant Special Agent in Charge in Atlanta, GA. In July of 2000, Mr. Vanacore returned to Customs Headquarters as the Director of Strategic Investigations, having programmatic oversight over the Customs export control program.

In his time with the Customs Service, Mr. Vanacore worked on a number of major cases, initiatives, and managed several long-term undercover operations. He played an integral role in the development of Project Shield America and the revitalization of the Strategic Investigations program, post September 11, 2001. Mr. Vanacore was involved in several major ICE initiatives and deployments, most notably leading DHS law enforcement efforts in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

Since retirement from the government, Mr. Vanacore has been consulting with the Independent Monitor/SCO for a major multi-national Defense contractor under a Department of State compliance agreement and a Deferred Prosecution Agreement for the Department of Justice.

Mr. Vanacore is a New York City native, and is a graduate of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice with a degree in criminal justice.