Earlier this month Mac Curtis spoke at a breakfast roundtable for the WashingtonExec Federal Business Council about corporate leadership and growth. Senior-level executives from emerging and large government contracting companies were in attendance. Curtis is the former CEO of Vangent, Inc. and is currently a Senior Advisor and Operative Executive at Veritas Capital.
Curtis discussed what he is up to currently, lessons learned, how to create value for shareholders and the importance of a definitive corporate culture. Vangent, Inc. was sold to General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT) for $960 million in August 2011. Curtis is also a former Fed100 winner (2011) and Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce GovCon Award Winner (greater than $300 million business, 2011).
A few pieces of advice that Curtis gave to the group:
- Don’t lead only when it is convenient: lead in good times and in bad, and lead from the front, always!
- Never forget that as CEO you are responsible for all employees in the organization, their job security and career opportunities.
- Nothing is more important than the company’s culture and core values, ensure consistent communication and behavior in-line with both.
- You cannot run a company with the sole focus of just selling, because you will make decisions for the wrong reasons. Take care of customers, employees and partners and the sale will happen accordingly.
- At the end of the day, the value you create will be judged and evaluated by someone else.
“Mac has a fantastic story and legacy of success. It was great to hear his experiences and leadership philosophies that add value to an organization, which are not only relevant to the current market but universally applicable long-term. There was a wide variety of businesses in attendance – small, mid and large, and the insights shared were applicable to all of us,” said Karen Trowbridge, President and CEO of Trowbridge & Trowbridge.
The roundtable ended with Curtis providing some basic advice to those interested in working with private equity, including where to invest and what investors look for in the federal contracting market. According to Curtis, the cyber, intel and healthcare market are clearly getting a lot of attention, the energy sector is also starting to seeing solid growth.
