Marisa Daley, COO of The Mil Corporation
The Greater Washington Government Contractor Award winners will be announced at the Nov. 1 annual gala. The Executive of the Year ($75 million to $300 million) category has seven contenders. Among them: Maurice “Butch” Long, president and CEO of MIL Corp.
“MIL is a rising star, having established a solid foundation of contracts and trusted customer relationships,” said KippsDesanto’s Marc Marlin, a sponsor of this year’s awards. “Most importantly, the customers recognize MIL for its ability to help them achieve mission objectives. It’s rare in this market environment to see a firm achieve consistent growth irrespective of the contracting temperature, and even more impressively, break through that $100 million revenue ceiling in a F&O competitive way. This recognition for Butch is well deserved and a precursor of continued success for MIL. Congrats to Butch and the MIL team on this well-deserved recognition.”
WashingtonExec sat down with MIL Chief Operating Officer Marisa Daley to discuss what makes MIL a success in an ever-changing industry.
WashingtonExec: MIL was recognized as a top workplace by The Washington Post; how did the company gain this recognition?
Marisa Daley: For 37 years, maintaining and enhancing synergistic relationships with our employees has been a core MIL principle. Every day, we work to build exceptional alliances with our employees. We extend this same commitment to relationship-building to our customers and vendors as well.
WashingtonExec: What is the most dramatic change in your industry since the launch MIL in 1980?
Marisa Daley: The federal contracting industry continues to consolidate around large, prime contractors, creating both opportunity and challenges for the mid-tier sector.
WashingtonExec: What projects are you looking forward to most in the years to come?
Marisa Daley: MIL continues to focus on constantly improving and enhancing our corporate infrastructure in all aspects of our customer service delivery. This continuous improvement not only enhances our competitiveness but also provides increased efficiencies and productivity to our valued customers.
WashingtonExec: How important is community service to MIL?
Marisa Daley: We believe in giving back to the communities in which we live and work — it’s the right thing to do. To make sure this happens, each MIL operating sector includes community service in their annual budgets. These local efforts are in addition to community service initiatives supported by the corporation and executive management through the MIL CARES program.
WashingtonExec: What are some of the biggest challenges the industry is currently facing? What future challenges do you predict?
Marisa Daley: Our industry is constantly challenged to provide superior customer solutions while maintaining cost competitiveness. These economic demands are compounded by increasing pressure to recruit, retain and continuously train highly specialized staff. We strive to never lose sight of our goal, which is to provide the best value for our customers and, ultimately, the nation’s taxpayers.
WashingtonExec: What is something about MIL most people do not know?
Marisa Daley: We are a highly diversified firm, equally concentrated in defense and nondefense sectors. MIL operates as an independent, decentralized set of locally managed business units where business autonomy and acumen are encouraged and rewarded.
