WashingtonExec Annual Greater Washington GovCon Awards Finalist Series
The clocking is ticking. With just a few days away from the “Oscars of the Government Contracting Community,” the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce and the Professional Services Council will both share the winners of the 13th annual Greater Washington Government Contractor Awards.
As we count down to the grand event at The Ritz-Carlton Tysons Corner, WashingtonExec is interviewing “Executive of the Year” and “Contractor of the Year” finalists about how they’re setting their businesses apart in the government contracting arena, and how they’re attracting a new generation of workers to implement their mission.
WashingtonExec spoke with Atlas Research CEO Dr. Ryung Suh; the Washington, D.C.-based company is a finalist in the Contractor of the Year category, for businesses valued up to $25 million.
WashingtonExec: What is your organization’s plan for growth during the next three to five years? What is the fastest growing component of your business?
Dr. Ryung Suh: Our corporate growth strategies include a focus on the federal markets where our expertise and experience are strongest; diversification within our core agencies; and pursuit of meaningful projects with national impacts at the nexus of public policy and business strategy.
For example, during the past year we wanted to expand into enterprise-level core business lines and services within the Dept. of Veterans Affairs and recruited four senior leaders with extensive relationships and a track record of success in this VA market. Since then, our VA portfolio’s fastest growing service lines are in management consulting and analytical services supporting enterprise-level VA business operations. We have seen new growth in our Project Management Office work, policy and planning, program evaluation, national deployment of IT applications and other business lines, with a strong pipeline for future years. We anticipate that our expanded senior leadership, extensive capture experience and growing organizational capacity will continue to drive growth in the years ahead.
Matching today’s capabilities to tomorrow’s needs while maintaining the integrity of our valued corporate culture is challenging, but we have learned that culture is the ultimate strategy — and worth protecting.
WashingtonExec: What was your organization’s largest accomplishment in the last 12-18 months?
Dr. Ryung Suh: Healthy expansion, in the form of 98 percent revenue growth, a high number of new contract wins and a near doubling of our staff size.
Our success has been the culmination of ongoing strategic planning that seeks to grow deliberately by continued excellence in client service delivery, adding robust operations infrastructure, building productive contract vehicles and capture communities and recruiting top industry talent and expertise at key points in our growth.
We have built an impeccable reputation among clients, a reliable and independent network of partnerships and a broad history of stellar past performance across our primary market spaces. We moved our corporate offices to be within 1 block of the VA Central Office, to be closer to many of our clients. We have experienced leader teams that have left large, established firms to join Atlas and to help fuel our strategic growth.
WashingtonExec: What are the largest challenges that you predict your business will face in the next three to five years?
Dr. Ryung Suh: Managing growth and change is challenging. We have always focused on our clients and on performance, but our organizational culture has been characterized by an expectation that everyone care for each other, act accountably, conduct oneself with fairness and respect and to enjoy the pursuit and delivery of purposeful and meaningful work. We have always believed that growth plus purpose equals outcomes and that loosely coupled, but aligned, processes that encourage freedom and responsibility while having a clear strategic azimuth are necessary to lead the company to success. Rapid growth means a dynamic mix of new leaders, new managers and new employees constantly joining our team, and it requires very thoughtful and deliberate efforts to ensure that new leaders leave their egos at the door and integrate and align themselves to the corporate value system. We’ve learned that you must plan and invest carefully to build capacity and to maintain the agility needed to adapt to change. Matching today’s capabilities to tomorrow’s needs while maintaining the integrity of our valued corporate culture is challenging, but we have learned that culture is the ultimate strategy — and worth protecting.
WashingtonExec: How does your organization maintain engagement with all levels of employees?
Dr. Ryung Suh: We have an open office work environment with multiple meeting spaces. We invested in mobile tablets for all staff to allow flexibility and the ability to work collaboratively. Tools like Skype for Business and Adobe Connect help us to easily connect via video and instant message with our colleagues across the country, so we can come to the virtual table no matter where we are. We have internal task forces that are designed to address discrete topics or issues, such as knowledge management or human capital. They contain cross-disciplinary members with a variety of experience levels, giving staff a chance to work with people outside their normal project spheres.
WashingtonExec: How is your business involved in the community?
Dr. Ryung Suh: We feel an obligation to be good corporate citizens and have a strong community engagement program focused on veterans issues. For the past five years, we’ve sponsored and volunteered at the Winterhaven Stand Down at the Washington, D.C. VA Medical Center, supporting homeless veterans. We are a freedom sponsor and on the leadership team of the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS) Honor Guard Gala, which provides assistance to families who have lost a loved one serving in the Armed Forces. We sponsored and volunteered at the National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic in Colorado and sponsored the Easter Seals Advocacy Awards, where we also serve on the planning committee. We provide a free webinars series for military caregivers, support Honor Flights to help veterans of World War II and volunteer at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall. Through the Adopt a Veteran Family program, we donate gifts, funds and other resources. Collectively, we have contributed financial donations to our various charitable efforts, as well as countless labor hours and off-duty time during the past six years. We have always believed that we must do well by doing good through Atlas.
