Experience and principal

What the firm has done, and what the principal did before it.

Luctor Consulting resumed operations in September 2025. The engagements below are separated so it is clear which were delivered by the firm and which were delivered by the principal under a prior employer or in military service.

Luctor Consulting company experience

Luctor Consulting engagement Client: a professional services firm February 2026 to present

An AI-enabled business development method

Retained on an ongoing basis by the CEO to develop the firm’s AI-enabled business development method for the National Capital Region market. The engagement began with the method rather than the tooling: what the business development process is, who does what, and which parts of it are repeatable enough for AI to carry.

Delivered

The AI-enabled business development method itself
Written operating procedures that make the method repeatable

In development

AI-enabled document generation and opportunity-tracking tools are in development. They are described here as work underway, not as delivered capability.

Principal’s prior consulting experience

Delivered by the principal as an employee of the named firm, for the named government customer. These are not Luctor Consulting contract results.

Role: Deputy Project Manager / Consultant II Employer: Enterprise Resource Performance, Inc. (ERPi) Government customer: Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration May 2020 to May 2021

Warehouse and distribution improvement, VHA COVID-19 response

The problem

VHA’s largest COVID-19 contingency warehouse covered 250,000 square feet and distributed $1.2 million of medical supplies and equipment to 172 hospitals nationwide, at more than 100 orders a week at peak. There was no agreed process baseline, and the defect rate showed it.

Contribution

Managed procurement and distribution for the site. Conducted a work study of on-the-ground warehouse operations and built the process flow diagram the improvement effort used as its baseline. Stood up and led a process improvement working group drawn from VHA, HHS and the Defense Logistics Agency. Used data and root cause analysis to develop the KPIs that would most reduce supply chain defects, and partnered with the in-house technical team on a new data management and automation solution.

Documented result

13% → <1%

Order defect rate

Fulfilment defects at 100+ orders per week.

3/week → 0

Shipping errors

Sustained after the new KPIs were adopted.

50%

Manual entry removed

After the tracking and automation build.

Delivery of key medical supplies improved from one week to one day after building specialisations across sites. Served as liaison between HHS warehouse staff and VA logistics personnel throughout.

Role: Manager, Governance and Policy consultant lead Employer: Atlas Research, LLC Government customer: Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration June 2021 to September 2021

Program governance and policy, VHA Regional Readiness Centers

The problem

VHA had created the Regional Readiness Center program but had no design document governing how it would operate or comply, and no template for how it would work with outside consulting groups.

Contribution

Owned and updated the project management plan and developed the customer support roadmap. Researched the relevant regulations, policies and procedures with Public Relations, Public Policy and Legal subject matter experts and integrated them into the design document governing program operations and compliance. Communicated across multiple levels of the VHA organisation and partner teams to generate buy-in for the program vision.

Documented result

Adopted

As client template

The customer support roadmap became VHA’s template for other consulting groups.

1 document

Governing operations

Policy, regulation and procedure integrated into one design document.

Supported budget requests and the development of the program’s quality measures.

Role: Manager, human-centered design research team Employer: Customer Value Partners (CVP) Government customer: Health Resources and Services Administration 2022 to 2024

Portal usability research, Rural Communities Opioid Response Program

The problem

Grantees had to find and apply programme resources through the RCORP Technical Assistance portal, and there was no evidence about whether they could actually locate what they needed.

Contribution

One of a three-person human-centered design research team. Designed and executed two usability studies, a card sort and a tree test, on the Useberry platform, and built and fielded a survey to 30 grantees. Synthesised three months of qualitative and quantitative research data into the final usability report and recommendations delivered to the client.

Documented result

2 studies

Card sort and tree test

Fielded on Useberry against real grantees.

Grantees surveyed

Survey designed, fielded and analysed.

Three months of qualitative and quantitative data were synthesised into the final usability report, with recommendations prioritised for the client to act on.

Military leadership experience

Military service, not consulting work. It is here because the skills transfer directly: interagency coordination, logistics planning, and building process where none existed.

Military service, not consulting work Role: Commander, 946th Transportation Company, U.S. Army Reserve Operation Allies Welcome, Fort McCoy, Wisconsin October 2021 to 2022

Coordination at scale with no business rules in place

The problem

Fort McCoy held the largest Operation Allies Welcome refugee population in the country. There were little to no previously established business rules for coordinating housing, movement and resettlement at that scale, across a set of agencies that had never run this mission together.

Contribution

Led a team of 172 Soldiers and interpreters responsible for the safe housing and resettlement of 7,946 Afghan allies. Identified the gaps and applied program management practice to build new coordination mechanisms and standard operating procedures. Coordinated across the Departments of Defense, State, Homeland Security and Health and Human Services, the U.N. International Organization for Migration and the International Rescue Committee, and worked with clinicians and Afghan community leaders on sensitive cases.

Documented result

90%

Fewer missed flights

One new mechanism against a primary mission KPI.

7,946

Afghan allies supported

Housing and resettlement at the largest OAW site.

The unit’s mobilization orders were specifically extended while adjacent companies redeployed early, and the unit earned a Meritorious Unit Commendation. A business case presented to senior leadership to extend the mission and expand its responsibilities allowed two adjacent units to deactivate early, saving an estimated $500,000.

The principal

John N. Barbato, MBA, PMP
Founder and principal consultant

John Barbato founded Luctor Consulting in 2019 and resumed operations in September 2025 following release from active duty. He works on program and project management, process improvement and business process reengineering, human-centered design research, and the governance and policy documents that make a new program operable.

He holds an MBA from the Raymond A. Mason School of Business at the College of William and Mary, with a concentration in consulting, and a B.S. in Biochemistry from Virginia Tech. He is a serving Major in the U.S. Army Reserve, currently Operations Officer for the 55th Sustainment Brigade at Fort Belvoir, with two mobilizations: Operation Allies Welcome and Operation Spartan Shield.

Credentials

MBA, William and MaryPMPLean Six Sigma Green BeltBPMN 2.0Secret clearance, currentB.S. Biochemistry, Virginia TechMajor, U.S. Army Reserve, Logistics 90A

On the clearance

The Secret clearance is held by the principal personally and is current. Luctor Consulting does not hold a facility clearance.