Paul Leslie is the kind of executive who’s no stranger to transitions. Long before he assumed the helm as CEO of the software development and solution company Dovel Technologies, Leslie helped build and grow multiple information technology companies around the Northern Virginia area.
Now, with the transition of power to a new administration, Leslie is trying to gauge the impact to Dovel’s business strategies.
“Our stakeholders always ask us what impact the presidential election will have on the business,” says Leslie, who became CEO five years ago. “In the past, you could analyze the platform policies of the president-elect and at least plan around budget and long-term mission impact, but with this year’s election, there is just too much unknown. Given the fact that we are in the heart of technology and modernization, I don’t expect an impact – we’ll be tracking the policy decisions very closely.”
With nearly 90 percent of its revenue and growth now generated through work with the Health and Human Services Department, Dovel has grown from a small, woman-owned small business with about 40 employees, into a mid-tier company with over 800 employees.
“Once a company understands the rules, it is relatively easy to grow a business within a set-aside status,” says Leslie, speaking from Dovel’s McLean, Virginia-based headquarters. “The big challenge comes when that company begins to grow out of their small business threshold and now needs to compete as a large company”
The key, in Dovel’s case, has been maintaining its focus as a technology company in the health and life science market, and implementing a well-defined growth strategy that includes both organic and acquisition growth.
Bolstered by a round of strategic acquisitions – Dovel’s current capabilities span data analytics; cloud computing; data migration; lifecycle IT; software development; grants management; and, in the health and life sciences arena, laboratory information management systems, bioinformatics, precision medicine, vocabulary/taxonomy, and translational and clinical research.
Then, there is Dovel’s work with bio-surveillance tools.
In collaboration with AABB, Dovel provided the technical expertise to develop the functionality for the Zika Biovigilance Network. The web-based application is intended to disseminate information to blood collection organizations, transfusion medicine professionals, persons interested in the epidemiology of the Zika virus, and the public.