Sudhakar Kesavan’s began his career at ICF in 1983 as an associate working on climate issues, only to rise through the ranks and become CEO just 16 years later. And during his 21-year tenure as CEO, the company doubled its revenue every five years ⏤ an ode to Kesavan’s focus on continued growth and a “speed and scale” mindset.
Today, Kesavan continues to help companies grow and improve, as chairman of the board of directors at ABM Industries, Inc. and as a board member of Cadmus Group and Dexis Consulting Group.
He does so, he says, by leveraging his years of both professional and personal experience, which begin with his life in India.
The Road to CEO
Kesavan grew up in Delhi, India, and in high school, he realized he had an affinity for science and math. He joined the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur to study engineering and technology. Kesavan graduated from IIT with a Bachelor of Technology degree in chemical engineering.
Kesavan then got an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. He started working in Delhi and then Mumbai, but wanted to see the world.
“Let me find out whether I can do technology and policy work rather than . . . just pure engineering,” he tells WashingtonExec. That’s how he ended up in the U.S., at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He graduated in 1984 thanks to transferrable coursework with a Master of Science degree from the Technology and Policy Program.
That same year, he joined ICF as an associate, when the company was working on regulating the chemical industry.
“I basically was trained as a chemical engineer,” he says. “I had worked in the chemical industry, had a public policy and now technology policy degree from MIT, so they thought that I would work well on those issues.”
At the time, the Environmental Protection Agency was looking to regulate all industries manufacturing chemicals deemed toxic, so Kesavan began working on issues associated with chlorofluorocarbons. An international treaty, the Montreal Protocol, called for the phase-out of the use of chlorofluorocarbons, as it was depleting the ozone layer.
Working on the issue and with the U.N., Kesavan traveled the world to help countries strategize how to wind down and substitute the use of chlorofluorocarbons ⏤ a rather big feat as these chemicals were used in everyday life, like in home and auto air conditioners.
This led Kesavan to work on broader climate change issues within ICF. From a business perspective, ICF was doing well in that area, Kesavan says. It had won many contracts with federal agencies and the private sector to work on climate and other things. At that point, ICF needed someone to head up the consulting business ⏤ and Kesavan was the right person for the job.
That’s how he took the reins of the company’s then-consulting business, ICF Consulting Group, in 1996. At the time, there were three large divisions within ICF Kaiser, as ICF was owned by the engineering company Kaiser. The other two divisions were Kaiser Engineers and Kaiser Facilities Management.
Soon after, Kaiser decided it wanted to be a pure engineering business and decided to sell the consulting firm. Kesavan helped buy out the consulting firm in partnership with CM Equity Partners, a private equity firm, in June 1999, and was tapped as CEO of the free-standing ICF.
Twenty-One Years of Growth
Kesavan began growing the business right off the bat.
“While at ICF I had learned what to do and what not to do, how do you look at your areas of competence, your core areas of competence, what you should look at before you grow the business and what not to get into,” he says. The firm went public in 2006.
“I had a great career substantively in terms of working on client issues and then on business issues including formulating the strategy needed to grow a professional services business.”
He also learned many dos and don’ts from the company going independent and private in 1999. He understood the company’s strengths and the business areas it should avoid.
With that knowledge and mindset, Kesavan knew the company needed to grow rapidly. “Speed and scale,” he says. “Scale up quickly to the extent you can financially do it. That’s what we decided to do.”
Taking the firm public grew it even faster. After winning a series of large contracts, ICF pulled in nearly $1 billion in 2011 ⏤ within five years of going public. And amid all the growth, Kesavan said cultural consistency was key.
“People who work on environmental issues or energy issues or public health issues don’t traditionally want to work in a company that manufactures fighter aircraft,” he says. “We stayed close to our knitting and we hired people who liked what we did. This allowed us to grow with cultural consistency.”
ICF stuck to doing work in the energy environment, public health and technology associated with the federal civilian world, as well as with commercial contract clients in mission-oriented businesses of improving the quality of life.
Implementing technology also became critical. “Anytime you do anything for anyone, you need technology support,” Kesavan says, “So, we grew our technology business primarily to make sure that we can help support all these different clients of ours in those areas.”
ICF services adopted technology platforms that helped customers achieve their missions better, faster, and cheaper. “That was basically our focus and we stuck to that,” he adds. The firm remains focused on its strengths in the federal civilian market, and private and commercial sector clients, with operations in the U.S., Canada and Europe.
In fact, during Kesavan’s tenure, ICF grew from $100 million in revenue and 550 employees in 1999 to over $1.5 billion and 7,000 employees in 2019. The firm’s average annual shareholder return in 2018 was 14.3%, compared to the NASDAQ company average of 9.2%. And the firm progressively diversified its portfolio.
“None of this stuff is done on your own,” Kesavan says. “You have very good people who work for you, and you work with, and I think that the people we hired were very focused on doing the right thing.”
Kesavan retired from ICF in December 2020, handing the firm over to John Wasson, the current CEO. They had worked together for 30 years, and at age 65, Kesavan knew it was time for a change. He prepared the board for his retirement to ensure a smooth and proper transition and succession, considering this would be ICF’s first succession.
“Being a good manager, you have to grow the business, make it profitable, make it successful, but also make sure that you have successors who can take it over so that it can continue on that path,” he says.
Kesavan knew that person was Wasson. “John is a strong leader and his management team is very strong,” he says. “There’s a good mix of people coming in laterally as well as people who’ve grown up in the company. The institutional culture is extraordinarily strong.”
A strong retention rate and consistent culture are the undergirding of the business. “We grow, but we’re also stable,” Kesavan adds. “I’m quite proud of the culture we developed.”
Kesavan believes the mission of ICF’s work helps to keep employees within the company. “I think that people always like to work in companies with a mission to help others,” he says. “Even if you’re in technology, you like to work on something which you think is bigger than yourself.” He is proud that ICF has maintained that culture as it has grown. “We try and make it a career, not a job,” he says.
Giving Back and Passing it Forward
Today, Kesavan spends most of his time serving on different boards, for-profit and non-profit. He is involved with the Institute for Data, Systems and Society at MIT and serves on the boards of the Shakespeare Theatre Co., Washington D.C.
Kesavan believes that by giving back this way, he can use his perspective and experience. “I think I can lend ⏤ not only from a financial perspective, but also from an experiential perspective ⏤ that sense of what will work and what will not work,” he says.
And part of growing up as a company and as an executive is to take considered risks and stay curious. It’s what he has learned throughout his professional career, and what he passes on to those he advises and mentors. “You may not be successful every time, but you learn from it,” he says about taking risks. “You have to take some risk in your career growth.”
A lack of curiosity can also stunt growth. “Curiosity is key to ensuring that you at least try and understand why things are the way they are,” he says. “Within the company and outside, it’s important to be curious.”
Kesavan and his wife, Alka, have also made a gift to his engineering school, the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. The gift has enabled IIT to set up a center on climate and energy issues and policy named after his mother, the Chandrakanta Kesavan Centre for Energy Policy and Climate Solutions.
A Curiosity-Filled “Retirement”
At this point in life, Kesavan, a Washington, D.C., resident, hopes to start traveling more. He also enjoys reading, particularly about foreign policy issues and how countries interact with each other. He hopes to use his learnings and newfound perspectives as he sees the world to help institutions grow and connect more in a multidisciplinary world.
And Kesavan is looking to diversify the activities in his own life while continuing to make a difference.
“I’m just trying to do something completely different from my comfort lane and do things in organizations which don’t do what I have done in the past,” he says. “It gives you a broader insight into how people’s minds function. So, satisfy my curiosity, is the way I would say it.”
Kesavan will be honored May 10 with a Lifetime Achievement Award at WashingtonExec’s annual Chief Officer Awards, celebrating the career of a longtime, influential and impactful CEO who continues to share his perspective and expertise within and outside the GovCon industry.