Navigating to Industry Seminar: How to Transition from Government to Private Sector

John Sutton, Vencore.

Earlier this summer, WashingtonExec hosted its third “Navigating Your Transition to Industry Seminar” for government executives looking to shift their careers to the private sector. Held at Attain’s office, the event was attended by GS-14 executives and above who will head to a director, vice president, or higher position in the defense industry.

The seminar was divided into five sessions. The speakers for the afternoon were Mark Chadason, former CIA SIS-4, senior vice president of ManTech and MacB, and founder of TCG; Jeremy King, president and founder of Benchmark Executive Search; Ed Glabus, executive director at the Veterans Consortium and former senior VP of ManTech International; Balan Ayyar, President and COO of Sevatec; and John Sutton, SVP and general manager of the civilian and defense group at Vencore.

The first session focused on transition techniques and paradigm shift, with Chadason as speaker. King spoke at the second session, sharing insight on the executive recruiter perspective and the dos and don’ts of interview preparation and building a personal brand in the government contracting industry.

The third session was from a business executive perspective, on the topic of business acumen fundamentals. The fourth session, instead of just one speaker, featured comments from Varun Malhotra, CEO of Changeis, and a Linkedin personal branding presentation from WashingtonExec.

Titled “Public, Private and Private Equity Corporate Culture: What to Know Before You Go and the First 90 Days in Industry,” the final session featured Sutton, speaking about the perspective of an executive hiring manager.

A special thank-you to the event sponsor Changeis, an award-winning 8(a) certified, woman-owned small business that provides management consulting and engineering services to both public and private sectors.