The finalists for WashingtonExec’s Pinnacle Awards were announced Oct. 11, and we’ll be highlighting some of them until the event takes place live, in-person Nov. 30.
Next is Givers of GovCon Podcast Episode finalist Mark Lee, executive vice president for public sector at ICF. Here, he talks key achievements, primary focus areas going forward, proud career moments and more.
What key achievements did you have in 2021/2022?
ICF celebrated another year of growth in 2021 and we’re well-positioned for substantial growth in 2022, too. Within the public sector portfolio I manage, our digital modernization services achieved double-digit service revenue growth and reached a record pipeline of new opportunities totaling nearly $1.8 billion last year ⏤ and we’re on track to do even better in 2022.
We also drove additional value for our clients by making several critical technology investments through three major acquisitions ⏤ over the course of only eight months! Adding ESAC, Creative Systems & Consulting, and SemanticBits to ICF brought us exceptional talent, capabilities, and market expansion. This enhanced our combination of domain expertise, innovative technology, and digital solutions that allows us to meet federal market demand.
What are your primary focus areas going forward, and why are those so important to the future of the nation?
Government agencies all over the world are facing significant economic and social challenges ⏤ a global health crisis, technology advances with shifting user expectations, more intense natural disasters, and more. As industry leaders, we should be asking ourselves: What are we doing to help create healthier and more resilient communities and more equitable outcomes for vulnerable populations?
My team and I are most focused on helping government leaders think differently about how to address these massive ⏤ and often interconnected ⏤ challenges. They need industry partners with domain expertise and the right technology, digital solutions, and advanced analytics to help them deliver practical programs that lead to positive outcomes. This is exactly what we do.
We’re delivering programs that make a real impact in people’s lives as we help our clients meet their most critical missions. We’re transforming the Food and Drug Administration’s IT and business systems to help ensure the safety of our nation’s foods, drugs, and other products. We’re improving access to proteogenomic data for the National Cancer Institute to advance our country’s understanding of cancer so new discoveries can be unlocked. And we used scalable and reusable logic to develop an app that quickly distributed emergency economic assistance to families, workers, and small businesses.
People come to work at ICF with the desire to do good and they stay because they can see how we’re making a meaningful, tangible impact.
What are you most proud of having been a part of in your current organization?
ICF’s purpose is to build a more prosperous and resilient world for all. It motivates and inspires me and my colleagues. Simply put, we’re a team that wants to improve lives and make the world a better place. And we do that through our mission-driven client work and our actions.
Across our public sector work, we purposefully build diverse teams ⏤ from domain experts to advanced technologists ⏤ to help solve our clients’ most complex challenges. We get the right people in the room to offer new and different ways of thinking so we can come up with the best, most impactful solutions.
About 86% of our annual revenue is from client work that delivers positive social impact ⏤ in areas like health, education, development, and social justice ⏤ as well as positive environmental impact. There’s a reason the vast majority of our employees feel they’re doing meaningful work and are proud to be part of ICF.
As a company, we’ve steadily increased our commitment to sustainability, diversity, and equity, while broadening our philanthropic reach to support our communities. We’ve been carbon neutral since 2006, recognized as a best employer for diversity, and contributed over a million dollars last year to charitable causes that improve lives.
ICF’s dedication to corporate citizenship has certainly inspired my personal philanthropic efforts to improve public health in some of our most underserved communities and develop the next generation of public health leaders.