In light of former Governor of Texas and GOP Presidential hopeful Rick Perry’s surge in national recognition, WashingtonExec interviewed Washington, D.C.’s very own Rick Perry. Perry is Vice President and General Manager at Array Information Technology.
WashingtonExec asked Array’s Rick Perry his company’s secret for ranking on INC’s 500/5000 list for 5 consecutive years, as well as his outlook regarding the federal IT industry in 2012.
“Industry and government are wasting billions on government procurement processes that simply take too long. In a world that changes as quickly as ours does, we just can’t afford the lost opportunity cost and mission cost that come from delaying value with issuing awards one or two years after vendors have submitted their proposals in response to large procurements,” said Perry.
WashingtonExec: Has anyone ever commented on your having the same name as the current governor of Texas?
Rick Perry: Well, it is an interesting thing to frequently hear your name in the national news. Friends are having some fun with it for sure. I get comments like, my name seems to get more respect in Texas, or that I am the Rick Perry already in Washington, D.C., and he is still dreaming of getting here.
WashingtonExec: How is your position at Array Information Technology going?
Rick Perry: Very well. As COO of a company that provides premier IT services almost exclusively to the Federal Government, I feel privileged in two ways. I am privileged to work with customers whose missions are humbling and to have the opportunity to apply all the top- notch resources of Array toward helping these public service managers have a positive impact in a government environment that often does not often show appreciation for the efforts of its employees.
I am also privileged by being a part of a successful and growing company that has been built on integrity since 1997 in an industry that sometimes lacks integrity. Array’s CEO, Brian Leung, has shown leadership in firmly ensuring integrity while enabling his executive team to have the latitude needed to succeed and grow. Array was named 26th on CRN’s Fast Growth 100 list. This is a list of companies with an average of $172 million in annual sales and 130% growth. And, I recently accepted an award for Array from the INC 500/5000 for being one of the Fastest Growing Companies on their list. We were ranked #133 in our industry with a 3- year growth rate of 250% and we have been on INC’s list for 5 consecutive years.
WashingtonExec: What was your career progression that led you to your current position with Array?
Rick Perry: I started out in the U.S. Air Force, spent some quality time in Vietnam, and ended up supporting systems at Eglin AFB. Systems and technology became my passion and I moved into the commercial world as a software developer and systems engineer enjoying technology for the sake of technology. I quickly realized that developing systems was great fun, but the brass ring was to successfully direct those systems toward the organizational mission. Armed with a BS in Computer Science and an MBA, I shifted my career interests toward aligning technology with the mission and it is there that I found real and sincere satisfaction. I became the CIO of a medium size company for a couple years and then CIO of a large company driven by technology for another ten years. This led to spending several years among the premier “Big 5” consulting companies, Coopers and Lybrand (later PWC) and Cap Gemini Ernst & Young. As a managing executive of consulting businesses, I was able to apply what I had learned as an IT executive of single organizations to the challenges of multiple customers across multiple business areas.
I then was offered the opportunity to manage the civilian programs for Keane Federal Systems and discovered that all the commercial best practices that had been second nature to me at that point in my career were not being applied well in the federal government. I came well equipped with applying those practices toward a breadth of IT challenges learned from my former “Big 5” customers and my own challenges from 12 years as a CIO. There is no substitute for having ownership of IT from an enterprise perspective to get clarity as to the enormity and complexity of the issues facing IT executives. Applying commercial best practices along with my foundation of multiple experiences became a key to my success in the public sector and I have never looked back. Following Keane, I was the Vice President and General Manager for Enterprise Solutions & Technology for Nortel (Avaya) Government Solutions before ultimately joining Array. There is no greater reward than watching the results of applying successful IT management practices to the challenges of government.
WashingtonExec: Have you ever thought about a public service career?
Rick Perry: Not seriously, however, I will say that each time I work with an agency and gain a greater understanding of their mission that I gain a new respect and interest in the great work that our government agencies perform. To have some ownership in achieving some of the results of those important missions must be very fulfilling.
WashingtonExec: What would you like to see in the future for government contracting of IT Services?
Rick Perry: There are a couple things I would hope to see in the future. Industry and government are wasting billions on government procurement processes that simply take too long. In a world that changes as quickly as ours does, we just can’t afford the lost opportunity cost and mission cost that come from delaying value with issuing awards one or two years after vendors have submitted their proposals in response to large procurements. Unfortunately, this is becoming the norm and not the exception. I realize that this situation has been caused by the need to make the procurement process fair. But my experience as a CIO for more than a decade taught me that IT procurements can be fair AND done quickly by ensuring that all parties are united in focusing on the business value to be achieved. Nearly everyone loses in those long cycles and I would like to think that Government procurement/acquisition offices will recognize the unnecessary cost and loss to the mission by continuing to doing business this way and that they will speed up procurements.
Secondly, I believe it is time to put our veterans, all veterans, on an equal priority with small disadvantaged 8(a) businesses. Our veterans have put themselves in harm’s way and make personal sacrifices that simply can’t be equated to any other career. And, simply by going into the military, they have put their eventual careers on hold for several years while those who do not serve move on immediately to gain experience in their career. When veterans enter the work force, they do so years behind their peers in terms of age. Our veterans do all of these things for the benefit of our society and we owe them much more than we are giving them. In the procurement process for small business prioritization, veteran-owned businesses are about as low as it gets. A brief review of set-asides for veteran-owned businesses that are not disabled veteran-owned will reveal they are insignificant when compared to all set-asides and noncompetitive awards for all other categories of small business. Senators Murray, McCaskill and Cantwell are recently began to draw attention to the issue. I would hope that more of our legislators would recognize the importance of our veterans and place veteran-owned small businesses on an equal footing with small disadvantaged businesses.
WashingtonExec: What is something most people might not know about you?
Rick Perry: Well, I have been happily married to my high school sweetheart since we were both 20 years old and we have two sons and one grandson. And, I like to play as hard as I work! I am a lover of the sea, always dreaming about the next long cruise somewhere in warm waters on our Mainship, “Saorsail.” To support my playtime, I have a US Coast Guard 100-ton master’s merchant marine certificate, an FAA private pilot certificate, and a scuba instructor’s certificate. All of these allow me to fly over, cruise on, or jump into and explore those warm waters.