Richard Montoni’s life, both at home and in the office, is built on hard work, education and family. These values shaped his upbringing and early decisions, leading to his C-suite success.
Montoni is a director on Maximus’ board of directors and was the company’s CEO from 2006-2018, and chief financial officer and treasurer from 2002-2006. He’s recognized for driving significant growth during his tenure, taking Maximus from just under $600 million in annual revenue to more than $2.4 billion in fiscal 2017 ⏤ achievements Montoni attributes to teamwork.
Yet the Salem, Massachusetts, native was no stranger to working ⏤ and living ⏤ with others.
The eldest of six siblings, including four caring sisters and a brother, he comes from a generationally hard-working family. He enjoyed team sports growing up, including baseball and football ⏤ but a very influential part of his formative years was attending a Catholic all-boys preparatory high school in Danvers, Massachusetts.
Montoni lived at St. John’s Preparatory School for his first two years.
“I had 30 roommates for the first year in one room,” he tells WashingtonExec. “It was, at times, more than academic, and a lot of fun. But mostly, it was very influential.”
This experience helped solidify and strengthen the values instilled in him from his early upbringing, prepared him well for college and taught him how to get along well with others.
“I think that planted what I’ll refer to as the teamwork gene,” he says.
Montoni’s family always encouraged him to set educational goals, leading him to attend St. John’s Prep and focus on college. He also learned the value of hard work early, working an overnight assistant baker shift at Dunkin Donuts in high school (where he once ate 12 jelly rolls his first night on duty) and taking roofing, construction and landscaping gigs.
“My parents were encouraging, ‘You got to work for a living,’” he says. “I suspect there were moments there that made me ambitious about going to college and not having to do that for the rest of my life.”
Montoni attended Boston University for undergraduate studies with an initial focus on chemistry, as he had early sights on becoming a doctor. But then he changed his mind. “It just didn’t resonate,” he says, reflecting on his academic switch two years in.
“I had taken one business course and really liked it. So, I switched to economics.”
With a bachelor’s degree in economics, Montoni sought to enter the job market. He stumbled upon a brochure from a firm called Peat Marwick Mitchell & Co., today known as KPMG.
“It had a glossy color and young people with construction hats on and pens and paper. And I said, ‘I want to work for that firm,’” Montoni says.
The Boston University career placement center told him he didn’t have the right courses to qualify. It recommended Montoni get a master’s degree in accounting from Northeastern University.
Driven by hard work and the importance of education, Montoni did just that. Ironically, admission to the graduate program required a favorable interview with one of the big eight CPA firms at the time. Montoni interviewed with Peat Marwick Mitchell & Co. and got into the 15-month program. Twelve months were spent academically, and the remaining three were internships at the firm. After the internship, Montoni was offered a job at KPMG.
“That Northeastern University program was a very significant and helpful step in my career,” he says. “It prepared me well for the CPA exam, but the real benefit was that internship, which really ended up being my first real job.”
Building a Community of Interest
As Montoni progressed academically and professionally, the values of hard work, education and family blended into what he now refers to as a “community of interest.”
His experience at KPMG built on those values, adding technical capabilities and enhanced business knowledge to his repertoire. He spent nearly 20 years at KPMG, working in the Boston and Denver offices, and eventually serving as an audit partner responsible for international audits of large publicly traded companies.
At KPMG, he gained experience is multiple industries and learned different approaches to revenue, production and HR cycles; gained training in computer auditing; and enforced the concepts of teamwork, communication, accountability and integrity.
“Integrity, at the end of the day, is the cornerstone of the public accounting profession. And I think these aspects became an important aspect of my approach to future opportunities,” Montoni says.
By the end of his time at KPMG, Montoni still greatly valued the demanding work of an auditor. But he wanted more excitement and challenge.
“I made a resolve to make the role more interesting by making a concerted effort to not only deliver a first-class audit, but to meet with the company’s chairperson, CEO and CFO at the front end of the audit and learn what their business priorities were and look for ways to provide them observations and recommendations that they may find helpful,” he says.
This made auditing more exciting for Montoni. Eighteen months later, a client offered him a CFO position.
“That became a fork in the road in my career, which ultimately led to my career at Maximus,” he says.
He served as CFO and executive vice president for CIBER, Inc. from 1996-2000, and as director of the company until 2002. He was also CFO and EVP for Managed Storage International from 2000-2001.
During these years, he formed a relationship with an analyst at a brokerage firm that covered Maximus at the time. When Maximus needed a new CFO, the analyst connected him with the leadership ⏤ and “the rest is history,” Montoni says. He moved from Denver to Northern Virginia to begin his Maximus tenure.
His wife and son played an important role during these transitions. Montoni had been married since 1982 and says his family was instrumental during his career journey.
“They supported moves from Boston to Denver to Virginia and now back to Boston, and they endured all the time away from home and the travel,” he says. “They deserve as much recognition, frankly, as I do. And to them, I say, ‘Thank you very, very much.’”
C-suite Success
Joining the C-suite felt like a natural progression for Montoni, as it wasn’t always his plan. It was his wife who told him early he should be a CEO someday. At the time, he brushed it off. It was his reputation and relationships that led him to Maximus.
“Success is when preparedness meets opportunity,” he says.
He felt ready for the CFO role after servicing audit clients for some time and building confidence in the role. As CFO, he gained insights into the business side, proving helpful as he transitioned to CEO in 2006.
“I believe that a first-class CFO is an invaluable partner to the CEO,” he says. “With time, the CEO-level insights and skills are built even within that CFO.”
One of Montoni’s many favorite sayings is: “If you don’t know your numbers, you don’t know your business.” As CFO, he lived by this.
“I sought not only understand the numbers, what’s going on with the top line, what’s going on with the bottom line, but more importantly, why are the numbers doing what they’re doing? Why are revenues going up or down,” he says. The hallmark of a great CFO, he adds, is knowing what is driving the financial results and what the organization can do to improve results.
This, he says, is the mindset that helped take him to the top. After four years as Maximus CFO, he felt well prepared to be CEO. The board agreed.
“I recall meeting with a chairman at the time, Peter Pond ⏤ who I considered to be a mentor and a good friend ⏤ he asked me why I should be considered for the CEO role. And I answered, ‘Because I know I can do it,'” Montoni says.
Team-Driven Growth
Montoni’s accomplishments at Maximus, as he emphasized, are a team effort. His team includes members of the board of directors, business unit leaders, general managers, call center associates and more.
“There were many accomplishments that resulted in not only significant stabilization at Maximus, then growth at Maximus and then some significant shareholder value creation from roughly 2006 to 2017 when I served as CEO,” he says.
Maximus’ workforce grew from roughly 5,000 people in 2006 to over 20,000 people in 2017. The company’s post-split share price increased from about $9 a share to about $66 a share, an annualized return on investment to shareholders of about 18%.
It’s no surprise that after growing up in a large family, spending his youth in team sports, and sharing a room and forming camaraderie with 30 fellow students in high school, the spirit of teamwork would follow Montoni to leadership. He’s a “tell it like it is” open communication-style type of leader, who understands the benefits of cross-team collaborations.
“We share not only our negative learnings but our positive learnings as well,” he says. “We share those with our clients too, and it’s built a reputation not only outside in terms of customers recognizing Maximus has good values, but also internally with the leadership and all of the associates at Maximus.”
Staying Mission- and Valued-Focused
Today, Montoni sits on Maximus’ board of directors. When it was time to pass the torch, he was ready.
“I’ve had the opportunity to work with many mentors and associates that constitute my experience in my professional growth,” he says. “Several of them were peers, several reported to me at Maximus. We were fortunate to have those individuals running the business units.”
One of those individuals was Bruce Caswell, current president and CEO of Maximus, whom Montoni helped hire in 2004 to run a business unit. Caswell worked under Montoni for several years before he took on the role of president before Montoni retired as CEO.
When it was time to retire, Montoni says Caswell was the natural choice for CEO.
“It was really time to give Bruce the opportunity, and I was pleased to help him get that opportunity,” he says.
Montoni remains dedicated and driven by Maximus’ mission, rooted in the values he’s carried with him his whole life.
“We help people improve their lives,” he says. “The mission statement is: ‘Moving people forward.’ And under that mission statement, the company is focused on helping millions of people get access to government services they need.”
He’s also involved in several organizations outside of Maximus, including serving as chair of the Dean’s Executive Committee of the Northeastern University d’Amore-McKim School of Business; as a trustee of St. John’s Prep; as chair emeritus of the Northern Virginia Technology Council; and as vice chairman of the Corporate Fund Board for the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts.
He and his wife are also honorary board members and longtime supporters of the Denver-based nonprofit Raise the Future, which supports children in foster care as they navigate finding a home. Montoni felt especially connected to this organization when he first moved to the area and was looking to volunteer. His appreciation for his family drove him to want to help others find that love and support, too.
Through this work, he gives back, helps kids find loving homes, supports the arts and stays connected. For Montoni, his engagements embody teamwork, community of interest and ethical service by providing opportunities for others.
“I think in today’s world, that’s more important than ever,” he says.
Montoni will be honored May 10 with a Lifetime Achievement Award at WashingtonExec’s annual Chief Officer Awards, celebrating his decades of leadership experience. The event will be held in person at the Hilton in McLean, Virginia.