The finalists for WashingtonExec’s Chief Officer Awards were announced April 15, and we’ll be highlighting some of them until the event takes place virtually May 27.
Next is Chief Legal Counsel Award finalist Matthew Madalo, who’s vice president of legal, contracts and compliance of Siemens Government Technologies. Here, he talks professional achievements, career turning points, primary focus areas and more.
What key achievements did you have in 2019/2020?
The key achievement was watching the entire SGT team navigate through the COVID pandemic. Whether it was working through the issues of operational shutdowns, employee matters, or helping our customers serve communities in need due to the pandemic. The entire organization truly made a difference, and I couldn’t be prouder of this achievement.
What has made you successful in your current role?
I owe much of my success to my team at SGT. I regularly depend on their expertise and insight to help me navigate the day-to-day challenges of my role.
I am especially proud of the passion, knowledge and creativity that my team brings to the job. I feel that I am more successful when they are out in front of the business demonstrating their expertise. My success comes through that open and collaborative environment.
What was a turning point or inflection point in your career?
The turning point in my career happened while I was still in law school and was selected to write an article for my school’s Law Review. I had never written an article for publication before and really didn’t know what to expect from the process.
I chose a topic (Russian land reform) that I had a vague notion of, but I truly didn’t know how to proceed with writing about the topic. Nonetheless, I applied myself to the task at hand and began work. The major lesson that I learned from creating this article was the importance of being organized.
I had to do a lot of research and write many drafts before I was ready to present an article to the editorial board, but it was my organizational skills that helped me the most during this process. My organizational skills gave me the foundation upon which to build the article, where to research and how to present the material in a clear and concise manner while not getting the main point of the article lost in the forest of information.
I’m proud of this achievement; and moreover, confident that I can undertake the most difficult tasks from the ground up.
What are your primary focuses areas going forward, and why are those so important to the future of the nation?
I’m always focused on ways to improve our company’s compliance program. I have learned that compliance is an ever-evolving and shifting environment. In many ways, compliance is the key to ensuring that the strength of our business ethics is reflected in our nation’s values. Integrity and accountability in all that we do at SGT will ensure that our nation has a business partner that they can rely on to do the right thing.
How do you help shape the next generation of industry leaders?
By giving back and taking those opportunities to share your experiences with others. I am especially proud in participating in the Government Contracts Steering Committee on the D.C. Bar. This is a great honor within the legal and government contracts community and a genuine reflection on my interest to regularly help the next generation of industry leaders.
What’s one key thing you learned from a failure you had?
The key thing that I’ve learned from failure is to never let failure dictate who you are or what you’re capable of achieving. I think everyone has experienced some form of failure in their professional life, but it only remains a “failure” if you let it prevent you from trying to achieve your goals. Self-reflection and introspection can be powerful tools, but if you can’t get past the fact that you have failed, you’ll never know success.
What’s the biggest professional risk you’ve ever taken?
Early in my private sector career, I had to tackle an issue concerning several late payments from our largest customer. The customer felt that the issue of making late payments was minor, but it clearly impacted our cash flow and operations. The contract clearly required interest due on the late payments and the CFO of my company demanded that this customer pay the late interest payments. I realized that this would severely impact the business relationship.
To further complicate matters, my company had a contractual obligation that it could not meet and would cost a significant sum once the customer found out. I set out to try to work out a compromise with this important customer, putting all the issues on the table.
I resolved the issue by signing the customer to two new contracts and resolving our missed performance obligation. Therefore, I’m proud of the fact that I was able to take a difficult situation and turn into a business opportunity.
Looking back at your career, what are you most proud of?
The professional accomplishment that I’m most proud of was achieving a Department of Homeland Security service excellence award for my participation in the Pan Flu Task Force. This task force was set up to devise international security screening protocols for pandemic diseases (e.g., bird flu, tuberculosis, etc.), so that the United States would abide by its international obligations.
This task force was unique in that such protocols had never been devised for outbound international passengers. I was the legal adviser to the group and was tasked with ensuring that all TSA efforts and cooperation with other agencies was legal and ethical. I’m proud of this achievement because it was truly created from scratch and required innovative and creative thinking from all parties who participated.
What’s your best career advice for those who want to follow in your footsteps?
The best advice that I can give is that there is no one definitive path that you must take to achieve “success” in your career. The most important thing is to know yourself and be true to the professional path that you want to pursue.
All too often, we find ourselves chasing someone else’s idea of success or we lose sight of what motivates us about our work. I would advise those who wish to pursue a career in the legal field to find that harmony between your passion and what your skillsets are to find career success.