The finalists for WashingtonExec’s Chief Officer Awards were announced March 28, and we’ll be highlighting some of them until the event takes place live, in-person May 10.
Next is Ram Ravi, chief growth officer and partner at FedTec, and finalist in the Chief Growth Officer Private Company (annual revenue greater than $20 million and less than $100 million) category. Here, he shares key achievements, focus areas going forward, career advice and more.
What key achievements did you have in 2023?
I am focused on driving the growth initiatives, solution offerings, and strategic investments to accelerate the customer objectives in a rapidly changing technology and business environment. In the last one year, I took over a portfolio of $35 million per year revenue as a CGO and almost doubled it to the current $60 million per year revenue adding one new customer, three new contracts, two capability-based acquisitions and investing in FedTec labs to build and refine our existing capabilities.
The creation of FedTec Labs was a key development under my leadership. This in-house innovation hub has been instrumental in integrating cutting-edge AI technologies into our solutions, enhancing efficiency and reducing costs for our government clients. This initiative is particularly crucial as it tackles some of the U.S. government’s most challenging issues in a sandbox format, such as the urgent need for advanced digitization and modernization across various agencies.
At the labs, we developed and implemented AI-driven tools for text extraction and semantic search, accelerating key government projects. We developed our capabilities in Pega, ServiceNow and Salesforce. We already had a huge impact in our marketing by adding a $30 million single award BPA to implement ServiceNow agencywide in AmeriCorps.
To align our mission more closely with our customers’ needs, my strategy included helping to recruit top executives from industry leaders and expanding our business development team with former IRS executives. This move significantly enhanced our understanding of and alignment with the customer missions we serve. I recruited senior executives from the industry including Booz Allen, BCG and Peraton and expanded the business development team with six ex-IRS executives to get closer to the customer mission. This increased our IRS domain knowledge and was a key factor to win the $6 million per year IRS Clean Energy award.
I have taken up multiple quality improvement and process improvement initiatives in the BD/capture/proposal development processes to accurately identify, market and bid high win opportunities positioning FedTec to grow in double digits this year. We have positioned ourselves to identify and seize high-value government contracts more effectively.
Overall, my efforts throughout the year not only propelled significant financial growth but also strengthened FedTec’s position as a leader in delivering innovative solutions to the government sector. This strategic direction and commitment to leveraging technology and talent have been vital in driving our success and exemplifies why we are poised for continued growth and leadership in the technology and business landscape.
What are your primary focus areas going forward, and why are those so important to the mission?
Moving forward, the primary focus areas include deepening our technological capabilities, expanding strategic partnerships and enhancing customer engagement.
These focus areas are integral to our mission because they enable us to maintain a competitive edge and continue providing value to our clients in meaningful ways. As we move forward, these priorities will guide our strategic decisions, ensuring that we remain aligned with both our growth objectives and our commitment to supporting government functions with the best technology solutions available.
What is your best career advice for those who want to follow in your footsteps?
I always found developing relationships with customers, system integrators, product vendors and other businesses is a necessity. Sometimes, these vendors/system integrators are our competitors, and sometimes they open doors to new customers. Building strong relationships helped me close deals, get introduced to new customers and obtain valuable insights.
Fun Fact: What is something about you that most people do not know?
I am a motorcycle enthusiast. I love fast bikes and use them to explore the world and connect and network with new people sharing the same passion.