Paul Dillahay

President & CEO, NCI Information Systems Inc.

Over the past few years, NCI has enjoyed significant growth, with the company winning more than $1.6 billion in new business since Paul Dillahay joined as president and CEO in 2016.

In leading NCI through its evolution from a traditional IT services provider into a full-service technology-enabled firm with solutions in artificial intelligence and other transformative technologies, Dillahay has tapped a vast industry network to recruit technology leaders from commercial and federal businesses, established deep partnerships with leading AI developers and system integrators, and led a rebranding effort that highlights the company’s leading-edge AI capabilities.

The strategy has paid off in a number of ways, including the award of NCI’s largest contract in its history — valued at $807 million — to support digital transformation at the General Services Administration’s Office of Digital Infrastructure Technologies. And NCI was awarded three additional contracts from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, worth $150 million.

“The evolution of NCI over the last few years — from a mid-tier systems integrator to a leading AI technology company — has been an incredibly rewarding experience,” Dillahay said. “To see our shared vision become our customers’ reality is something we’re all very proud of. I’m truly grateful for the dedicated team at NCI that always puts teamwork ahead of their own personal goals. Their work, results and continuous strive for excellence are inspiring.”

Why Watch

This year, Dillahay and his team are focused on delivering advanced capabilities to customers with the release of the Empower 2.0 platform.

“We also believe AI can and will enable significant mission support to civilian agencies whose missions can be greatly improved through hyper automation and other AI technologies,” Dillahay said. “The AI tools that NCI provides through the Empower AI Platform™, which are being implemented with nearly all of our customers, provide almost endless opportunities for the federal workforce to free up their time and resources to focus on mission outcomes.

John Harroff, principal with H.I.G. Capital and NCI board member, called Dillahay a “visionary leader.”

“The innovation and digital transformation that NCI is spearheading across the government is exciting to be a part of,” Harroff said. “Keep watching Paul and NCI in 2022 and beyond — there are even greater things on the horizon.”