Government Contracting Runs in the Family: Meet the Suttons

It’s funny how certain things “run in the family.”

Maybe it’s just a hair color or someone’s personality. But for the Sutton, family, it’s the industry they work in that runs from parent to child.

The family of six now has two of their four adult children — Nicholas Sutton and Amy Sutton — working in the government contracting field like their father, John Sutton, who is the Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Defense Group at Vencore. Eldest daughter Cassandra Matos has also benefited from the work experience of her father and has helped guide her siblings along their own professional path.

WashingtonExec interviewed the three siblings on their careers, the advice they’ve received from their father and what lies ahead for each.

First, meet oldest sibling Cassandra Matos.

Prior to graduating from Radford University in 2007 with a Bachelor of Science in communications, Cassandra began interning in 2006 in the public sector for the small government agency, Farm Credit Administration. She moved into a permanent position with the agency after completing her degree. He new role in the IT and customer service area led her into the area of training and development, where she still works today and says she “thoroughly enjoys.”

“Teaching soft skills and transferring knowledge is invigorating,” Cassandra said. “When I can help others and get them on the right track in their training/development needs, it’s a wonderful feeling of accomplishment.”

She recently moved into a part-time role in order to spend more time with her two-and-a-half-year-old daughter, but anticipates one day returning full-time.

Growing up, Cassandra always saw herself as being a mom — a goal which she has realized and hopes will continue to grow, in in addition to pursuing her career in the training and development industry. But as the oldest, she noted, any career advice she received came from her dad. She hopes to take his advice of being persistent and never giving up, and one day, perhaps, start a family business.

Next in line is son Nicholas Sutton, whose journey has led him from the hockey rink to the arena of government contracting.

“From an early age, I had always wanted to become a professional hockey player,” he said. “My dad had played hockey through college, and even still does to this day — he had me on skates as soon as I could walk.”

“My first job was during my senior year of college, as a business operations intern at Blue Canopy in 2009,” Nicholas said. But after graduating and seeing where the job market in the D.C. area was going, he decided to pursue a career in cybersecurity instead.

Blue Canopy hired Nicholas for a full-time role supporting business operations and development.

“After a few months of becoming familiar with the firm’s various capabilities and programs, I decided to pursue a career in their growing cybersecurity business unit. I’ve been here ever since, leading cyber security assessments for both public and private sector clients,” Nicholas said. “Being in the industry for [more than]six years now and seeing firsthand the growing demand for cybersecurity services in the public and private sector, my dream job has become running my own cybersecurity services firm.”

“Although, I’ve still made sure hockey is still a big part of my life – from playing in an adult league to coaching my brother Alex’s high school team with my dad.”

From Nicholas, we jump to the youngest sibling, Amy Sutton.

As a child, Amy dreamed of working in Florida as a marine biologist for Sea World. Although she still hope to become a marine biologist one day, her dream job now would be to own a winery/brewery on the beach, Amy told WashingtonExec.

Amy attended Ferrum College, where she majored in liberal arts with a minor in elementary education and psychology. After graduating in 2013, she started as a management trainee at Enterprise Holdings.

“That helped me with understanding how a business is run from a management perspective,” she said.

Advice about the working world trickled down to Amy.

“My older brother and sister always told me that hard work pays off, no matter how many hours you have worked that day stay until you have completed everything, giving it 120 percent,” Amy said. “They also told me to never accept failure.”

Amy said she always knew her sister and she would both be involved in working with HR, since they share similar interests and a similar personality.

“Government contracting is very interesting to me, especially in the D.C. area, since we are surrounded by it, so I wanted to be involved in recruiting and helping people find jobs that they will love,” Amy said. She is now employed as a recruiting specialist and manages Agilex Technologies’ recruiting agencies.

Despite creating her own path, she says her last name is still a road of familiarity for many.

“Most people know my father and so people approach me and say, ‘Oh, you are John’s daughter!’ and they may know my brother and sister through him, as well,” Amy said. “It feels like I have some big shoes to fill especially since my dad sets the bar pretty high!”

For now, Amy is happy where she is. “At my job I enjoy the opportunity to meet tons of talented and unique candidates that I speak to everyday and feeling rewarded when I see them around the office, knowing I helped get them there,” she said.

Looking ahead, Amy said she hopes to be in charge of running a business. “I may not work directly with my siblings, but we are a tight knit family to where I think if we all happen to work together, we could be very successful.”

And for the next generation of Suttons?

Don’t be afraid to take risks and jump at opportunities that may seem outside my comfort zone,” Amy said. “And ALWAYS accept challenges because every opportunity is a learning experience.”

Related: John Sutton’s Advice to His Kids: “Perseverance, Respect and Professionalism”

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