The finalists for WashingtonExec’s Chief Officer Awards were announced March 25, and we’ll be highlighting some of them until the event takes place live, in-person May 11 at the The Ritz-Carlton in McLean, Virginia.
Next is CEO (Private Company, Annual Revenue >$150M & <$500M) finalist Joe Logue, CEO of Two Six Technologies. Here, he talks key recent achievements, primary focus areas going forward, shaping the next generation of industry leaders and more.
What key achievements did you have in 2021/2022?
In February 2021, Two Six Technologies was formed as the combination of Two Six Labs and IST Research, after both companies were acquired by the global investment firm The Carlyle Group. With the August addition of Trusted Concepts, we developed and expanded our strategic combination of interconnected business activities that drive further innovation, growth and support for our partners’ missions.
In April 2022, River Loop Security joined Two Six. We continue to grow our team of outstanding staff and expand our spectrum of technology with a focus on innovative, practical and fielded technology for national security and human security missions. We want to do everything we can to help the U.S. government and the intelligence community.
The company mission is to deliver technological superiority for our nation, allies and partners through rapid, impact-focused innovation. Since our formation in early 2021, Two Six Technologies’ contract portfolio has expanded to exceed $600 million in total available contract ceiling, has driven total revenue growth of over 50% in 2021 compared to 2020 and our workforce has grown to over 500 talented professionals.
Additionally, the company has expanded to new customers across the Defense Department and intelligence communities and transitioned multiple technology systems to operational customers.
What has made you successful in your current role?
The talented and dedicated employees at Two Six are what make me successful as CEO. We are very lucky to have a team of outstanding people who are both incredibly talented and passionate about the critical missions of national security. These are the innovators and people who were once in the field, so they know what is needed, what is missing and how we can best support the mission.
What are you most proud of having been a part of in your current organization?
Two Six Technologies was born from an idea; how do we solve critical national security problems in innovative ways that are operational, fielded and differentiated from what is being done today?
The combination of Two Six Labs and IST Research brought us closer to this answer, and then the additions of Trusted Concepts in August 2021 and very recently River Loop this month allowed us to build an industry-leading team developing innovative technology solutions that serve critically important missions of national security.
We deliver specialized expertise and innovative products to fulfill immediate, pressing needs from customers, and we transition concepts from pure R&D to fielded operational tools. We continuously work to fulfill project requirements for which there are no existing solutions or products, from research and rapid prototyping to field operations and supported deployments. Our design efforts react swiftly to customer and client feedback, iterating and improving systems based on real-world field usage by operators, including first responders and warfighters.
What are your primary focus areas going forward, and why are those so important to the future of the nation?
Going forward, our primary focus areas are on growth and innovation. We’re growing because our products and expertise are what’s needed right now and we’re running full speed, but we’re not taking on efforts that don’t belong here.
We have new companies and their talented teams coming into the fold who will build on our technical and operational capabilities to address the mission needs more rapidly of a broad set of intelligence customers.
Two Six Technologies is also stepping into the large opportunity arena where we are seeking to deliver on a larger scale. We believe our solutions are what our clients need right now.
How do you help shape the next generation of government leaders/industry leaders?
To shape the next generation of government and industry leaders, passion and supporting new ideas is critical. To be innovative, people need to have the drive to seek a different solution from what is currently in place. The U.S. government is immense, but the threats we face daily are constantly evolving and changing.
At Two Six Technologies, one of our core values is for our staff members to be brave enough to fail; to have the opportunity to try something new and different and learn from those experiences to continue to push innovation and develop as professionals.